LOS ANGELES: Retirement communities and skilled nursing homes imply a level of elevated safety in their commercial pitch to prospective customers.
But evidence is mounting that age-apartheid compounds are increasingly becoming soft crime targets and the care sector is trashing its reputation by doing nothing to effectively counter the growing threat:
229. Eight elderly residents have died in a fire that ripped through a skilled nursing home.
Twelve other people including a carer were injured in the blaze believed to have started when a mattress caught fire at the home.
Victims are, for the most part, thought to have died of carbon monoxide poisoning.