A geriatric doctor recently brought attention to cancer diagnosis rates, treatment and quality of care among elderly people who have recently entered a nursing home. According to the data from his study of more than 145,000 nursing home residents, cancer is often misdiagnosed in elderly nursing home residents.

Approximately five percent of the elderly in the U.S. live in nursing homes that are said to offer a high level of nursing care. What this study has brought to the fore is the fact that in a facility that is expected to provide significant nursing care, the actual outcomes for patients are worse than for those live at home, not only in terms of diagnosis, but also in terms of survival rates and pain control.

"Cancer appears to be ignored in the nursing home," Dr. Giuseppe Colloca told an audience of cancer treatment professionals. "We saw that late and unstaged cancer was more prevalent in nursing home patients than in other elderly patients."

When it is diagnosed, it is usually at an advanced stage and therapy is not provided. But even when cancer is found early, it is more likely to go untreated. Perhaps the most shocking finding is that 20 percent of patients in pain received no pain medication, regardless of the degree of pain they were in.

The national news media has carried a number of stories about staff stealing patient medications. Is that more likely to happen in nursing homes than in hospitals? Or is it simple negligence, that nurses fail to respond to pain. Why residents are not receiving pain medication is a question that should be investigated.

Source: Family Practice News, "Cancer Often Goes Untreated in Nursing Home Residents," by Sara Freeman, November 11, 2011.