In long-term care institutions or other services that provide housing or treatment for older persons, it is relatively common to find deplorable living conditions or overcrowding, or treatment that may harm physical or mental health or infringe other basic human rights and fundamental freedoms with frequently irrevocable consequences (Vasquez, 2004). All residents of institutions have rights and liberties protected in international covenants and national laws, regardless of whether they suffer physical or mental disabilities. Recent research carried out by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) on the social exclusion of institutionalized older persons with physical and mental disabilities in three Southern Cone countries (Argentina, Chile and Uruguay) shows a heterogeneous situation in terms of these services. Argentina has the highest proportion of admittances decided by someone other than the older person him or herself (12%), while Chile has the highest percentage of older persons admitted because they have nowhere to live (12%). Institutionalized older persons in Uruguay have a lower level of functional and mental capacities (45%), while in Argentina 65% of residents display no cognitive or physiological degeneration.