Imagine walking into a nursing home with a giant red mark on its front door. You would see it as an unmistakable sign that something has gone wrong. That’s essentially what the abuse icon on Nursing Home Compare communicates.

Just as Hester Prynne’s scarlet letter branded her in the eyes of society, the icon publicly signals a facility’s wrongdoing. But how fair is the system that applies this modern-day brand of shame?

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