{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://grothman.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=4866", "Grothman Introduces Randy Susen Nursing Home Visitation Rights Act", "2025-09-16", "2025", "2025-09", "Republican", "House", "WI", "Glenn Grothman", "G000576", "grothman.house.gov", "grothman", "https://grothman.house.gov/news/documentquery.aspx?DocumentTypeID=27", "scraper", "Congressman Glenn Grothman (R-WI) has introduced the Randy Susen Nursing Home Visitation Rights Act to ensure nursing home residents can never again be denied visits from their loved ones in times of crisis. Grothman worked on this legislation with Shirley Krause, Randy Susen\u2019s wife.\n\nDuring the COVID-19 pandemic, nursing homes nationwide imposed strict visitation bans in the name of infection control. These policies left many residents cut off from their families, leading to decline and even death in isolation without the comfort of a loved one. Prolonged isolation often leads to steep declines in mental, emotional, and physical health for nursing home residents.\n\nThe bill is named in honor of Randy Susen, a resident of Wisconsin\u2019s Sixth District, who passed away during the pandemic after being denied visits from his family. Randy\u2019s health deteriorated rapidly when separated from the people he loved most.\n\n\u201cTragedies like Randy Susen\u2019s must never be repeated,\u201d said Congressman Grothman. \u201cForced isolation robbed Randy, and other residents, of the very connections that give them strength and joy. Policies that were intended to protect instead caused devastating harm, leaving far too many patients to suffer without the presence of their families. This bill will ensure that no nursing home resident is ever forced to face that isolation again.\u201d\n\n\u201cAfter my 64-year-old husband Randy suffered a massive subdermal hematoma and stroke, doctors told me to let him go, saying he would never recover or even know me as his wife. Yet our love carried him into a remarkable recovery,\u201d said Shirley Krause, Randy Susen\u2019s wife. \u201cIn March 2020, COVID nursing home restrictions barred me from being with him\u2014I could only see him through a window. His health declined from loneliness, and I was emotionally shattered by the separation. No patient or family should endure such inhumane pain.\u201d\n\nBackground Information\n\nThe Randy Susen Nursing Home Visitation Rights Act would:\n\nAmend the Medicare and Medicaid provisions of the Social Security Act to require that every nursing home resident be allowed to designate no fewer than one \u201cessential visitor.\u201d\n\nGuarantee that this essential visitor cannot be denied access to the resident except by the resident themselves.\n\nProtect dignity, health, and accountability by ensuring that residents always have access to at least one trusted loved one, regardless of circumstances.\n\n-30-", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-07T15:07:37Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://grothman.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=4866"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.7576420903205872, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}