Markus Breitscheidel

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Markus Breitscheidel on an event poster of the CDU parliamentary group in the Hessian state parliament

Markus Breitscheidel (* probably 1968 in Cochem ) is a German investigative author who denounces the conditions in German nursing homes in his bestseller Ripped off and cared for to death. In Arm durch Arbeit he reports on the conditions under which temporary workers dependent on unemployment benefit II have to work.

Life

After training as a tax assistant, Breitscheidel worked as a sales manager for a tool company. Here he met Günter Wallraff , who encouraged him to work as an undercover author in 1999/2001 in several German nursing and old people's homes , which the employment office arranged for him to work as a nurse. Wallraff also wrote the foreword to Breitscheidel's book, in which Breitscheidels presents his experiences.

Breitscheidel lives in his home town of Cochem .

In an interview, Breitscheidel tried to summarize in a few words: I cared for over 450 people and got to know the dire consequences of the care level model. The scientists who invented it may have followed humane motives, but their construction is naive at best. In practice, the three levels of care model has devastating consequences. In essence, it says: the more people in need of care, the more time the caregivers have to devote to them. Since the cost of care depends on the time spent, this means in plain English: the worse the condition of the home residents, the more the home management can charge for the care of a resident. Conversely, if the condition of a person in need of care improves, the home is “punished” for this, from an economic point of view. The consequences of this in care facilities that work as profit-oriented commercial enterprises are obvious: the systematic neglect of the people in need of care, which I report on in my book, is worthwhile. The example I have given of the woman who comes to rehabilitation after a pelvic fracture and who “can” be upgraded to a higher level of care within a few months thanks to the “care” given to her, is anything but an isolated case.

His core message: It is not individual home or care scandals that are the scandal, but the system of care for the elderly in Germany.

The "Unveiling Book" published in September 2005 caused a sensation. Breitscheidel was a guest on various television programs. On the non-fiction bestseller list of SPIEGEL 42/2005 (October), his book was number 5 (previous week: number 3).

In the Deutsches Ärzteblatt on October 14, 2005, Birgit Hibbeler commented: His "disclosure report " [...] leaves no one indifferent. Nobody wants to "vegetate" old and helpless in a home or see relatives in this situation. Breitscheidel's criticism may be partly justified, but his descriptions are subjective snapshots, often superficial and undifferentiated. It is hard to believe that he was out and about in the homes as a neutral observer.

Works (selection)

  • Ripped off and groomed to death. Everyday life in German nursing homes . Econ, Berlin 2005, ISBN 3-430-11572-8 .
  • Well cared for instead of being ripped off. Ways to dignified care for the elderly . Econ, Berlin 2006, ISBN 3-430-30011-8 .
  • Poor by work. An undercover report . Econ, Berlin 2008, ISBN 978-3-430-30027-8 .

Movie

  • Temporary work undercover; C WDR 2008, last broadcast on Feb. 8, 2009 on Phoenix : Film for the book "Arm durch Arbeit"

See also

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. aerzteblatt.de Birgit Hibbeler: Nursing homes: scandals instead of solutions Deutsches Ärzteblatt 102, issue 41 of October 14, 2005