Playing the Race Card in a Strip Poker Game

   

I've basically been occupied, sleep-deficient, and burnt out.  Nothing to be overly concerned about, but it has sapped my creative juices, and I have come up with little worthy of posting on the blog.  Just going through one of those downer phases, I suppose.

 

Bernice Youngblood is a resident of the East Neck Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in West Babylon, NY.   She is afflicted with dementia.  The nursing home is a component of the Cassena Care Network chain of nursing homes.

 

Seems that the residents there took a vote and approved, as a recreational activity, the engagement of a male stripper performer.  This performer was photographed in the proximity of Bernice, and the photograph found its way into Bernice's belongings, and was subsequently discovered by Bernice's son Franklin.

  

So Franklin, on Bernice's behalf, is now suing East Neck.

 

Bernice/Franklin's Lawyer, John Ray, stated, "This might be great for 32-year-old single girls, but this is an 86-year-old traditional, African-American woman who doesn’t want white men sticking their private parts in her face.”

 

 

My take on the whole thing:

 

Firstly, I cannot really get upset about a nursing home accommodating the entertainment requests of its residents.  Having had to place my Dad into such a facility for the last few months of his life, and now, my Mom, I have had several occasions to observe some of these places firsthand, and even more occasions to compare notes with other Baby Boomers who are also dealing with the problems of their aging parents (including my wife, whose Mom is also in a senior residential facility and who needs a higher-than-average degree of care).  Unfortunately, there are too, too many nursing homes and senior residential facilities that do damn little to keep their residents occupied and engaged.  As with any other sample population of more than 10 people, there are bound to be a few unenthusiastic persons in the crowd for any choice of entertainment.

 

Secondly, nursing homes are expensive in the extreme, especially if the operator is a commercial venture with a motive to return profits to investors.  I do not per se object to such entrepreneurship if it is done responsibly, which Cassena seems to do at a reasonably acceptable level.  So, just as medical malpractice lawsuits are primarily a means to finance health care, so, too, are many tort lawsuits against nursing homes.

 

Thirdly, the plaintiffs' attorney, John Ray, is known to me mostly by reputation (though I have had occasion to say "hello" to him at various lawyer functions in the county).  John is not without his flamboyant qualities, but, unlike many of the legal profession who take on cases for the disadvantaged underdog, advancement of a partisan political agenda does not seem to be his primary objective in the cases he handles.  And now that John Ray has made a statement invoking race, it is relevant to note that he himself is white.

 

 

The way I call it:  The lawsuit should probably be booted out of the courthouse door with all deliberate speed.  Nevertheless, in light of my personal experiences with my parents and my mother-in-law, I do have a considerable amount of empathy for Franklin Youngblood.