Nursing home smoking harmful

Based on Centers for Disease Control data about second-hand smoke and my experiences with getting threatened for wanting an elderly person to avoid, second-hand smoking in nursing homes could be responsible for many more than the 67,000 deaths the CDC estimates.

Illinois has more nursing home beds (799 in 2006), according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, than most states except Ohio and California.

In Illinois, at least one nursing home I have experience with defends the right to smoke, but not the right to avoid smoke.

Nursing homes like these charge $4,300 or more for this kind of treatment.

Second-hand smoking could be said to be a factor in all associated nursing home mortality -- 500,000 nursing home deaths a year, or all cases of pneumonia, lung cancer and heart disease in nursing homes.

Nursing homes sometimes have confined rooms for smoking in certain areas. CDC information says this smoking room smoke circulates throughout buildings and nursing homes.

Big Tobacco is blamed for second-hand smoking deaths, but nursing homes and government actions are factors.

James T. Struck

Chicago