A report on nursing home abuse is proof that investigative journalism is alive and well at the Star Tribune.

Like many companies, newsrooms at major metropolitan newspapers across the country have faced severe cutbacks and layoffs during the past few years. The Star Tribune in Minneapolis is no exception. Yet in the face of all of these challenges, the Star Tribune appears committed to giving their reporters the time and resources needed to do hard-hitting investigative stories. One such example is the recent story by Brad Schrade that examines whether Minnesota is meeting its responsibility of protecting those who live in nursing homes from elder abuse.

According to the Star Tribune editor Nancy Barnes, the nursing homes story was several months in the making and required Schrade to sift through hundreds of state and federal records – many of which were not readily available – to find a pattern of failure on the part of the state in the way it reviews and investigates nursing home complaints about elder abuse.

One of the nursing abuse cases this firm is handling –a case that is involving sexual abuse of senior residents of the Evangelical Lutheran Good Samaritan Society nursing home in Albert Lea, Minnesota – is cited in Schrade's article as a prime example of a pattern of elder abuse overlooked by both the nursing home and by the state. Gregory M. Weyandt, the arbitrator in a related civil case criticized the home for staff shortages and lax enforcement of policies aimed at protecting vulnerable residents, stating that "Good Samaritan not only failed in protecting the residents of its facility, but it failed its employees."

Our hats are off both to the Star Tribune for devoting the resources necessary to expose this growing problem of nursing home abuse and to Schrade for devoting his time and effort to this story. If you have a loved one you suspect is the victim of nursing home abuse or elder abuse, please contact one of our nursing home abuse lawyers.

For more information about the Star Tribune's "Violates: ‘Broken' System Fails Eldery Abuse Victims" article, visit StartTribune.com. For more information about nursing home abuse and negligence attorneys, visit Know Your Rights.