Abuse and Neglect
Nursing home negligence causes extreme emotional distress, psychological discomfort, physical injury, and contracted illness in elderly residents. Nursing home negligence can even led to permanent health problems or death. If you suspect that you or someone you love is a victim of such negligence, consider taking immediate action to document the situation at hand, secure the safety of your loved one, and learn what legal options you have. A personal injury lawyer with experience representing victims of nursing home neglect and abuse can help you understand the rights of nursing home residents and the obligations of nursing homes, and counsel you on the best course of action.
Rights of the Nursing Home Resident In 1987, the United States instituted the Nursing Home Reform Act. It states that all nursing home residents are entitled to receive quality care and live in an environment that maintains or improves the quality of their mental and physical health. This Act stipulates the rights of nursing home residents as the rights to:
- freedom from neglect
- freedom from abuse
- freedom from the misappropriation of their funds
Individuals who contract with a nursing home for their care don't give up these rights, and correctly expect the agreements they make with nursing homes for proper and dignified care to be upheld.
Nursing homes are subject to state and federal regulations, especially if they receive federal aid such as Medicare. They are also bound by the contractual agreements they make with residents and/or those that pay for such care. If a residential nursing facility is violating these contractual or other obligations, you may be able to seek compensation for their negligent actions, in order redress the injury you or your loved ones have suffered. If you suspect that a nursing home or residential facility is not meeting its obligations, or is guilty of abuse or neglect, consider contacting a personal injury lawyer familiar with nursing home rules and regulations to discuss your legal options.
What is Neglect?
Failing to care for a nursing home resident in a manner that prevents them from pain or harm is neglect. Neglect also includes any failure to react to or prevent a harmful situation. Neglect may or may not be intentional.
Neglectful behaviors leading to the injury of an elderly person vary. If a person is incorrectly positioned in their beds or wheelchairs, they can experience bruising or breaking of their skin due to the pressure put on their body by an incorrect position. Contracture of joints takes place when a limb is kept in one position for too long, such that the lack of movement in the soft tissues (muscles, tendons, and ligaments) causes the limb to become stuck in the improper position. Contracture is not only extremely painful to endure, but it can be permanent if not addressed quickly.
In some cases, nursing home staff fail to offer proper and medically correct assistance with a resident's hygiene, including neglecting to bathe the patient often enough to maintain safe hygiene, not changing disposable briefs or not changing them over prolonged periods, neglecting proper check-up of catheters or other equipment, or offering the proper toileting assistance. Such failure of action contributes to incontinence, increased agitation, infection, and the terrible trauma of suffering such indignity.
Failing to respond to an elderly resident who calls for help may be another example of neglect. Besides the physical danger the resident may be exposed to, the humiliation of having to repeatedly call for assistance that they cannot administer to themselves can lead to mental agitation, mood swings, anger, and even depression, causing even further damage to the injured resident. These are just a few examples of the types of neglect that may lead to personal injury cases.
What is Abuse?
Causing intentional pain or harm to a nursing home resident is abuse. Nursing home abuse can be physical, mental, verbal, psychological, or sexual abuse, corporal punishment, unreasonable seclusion, restraint or intimidation. Nursing home residents expect to be safe in their environments, and their loved ones should not have to worry that they will come to harm or be treated with disregard.
The types of physical abuse reported in some nursing home negligence cases include force-feeding patients, hitting, pinching, or slapping residents, and rough handling when administering medication or when transporting a resident to and from bed or wheelchair. It has also included locking residents in their rooms, restraining them to beds or chairs, physical threats and intimidation. In some extreme cases, staffs have been guilty of sexual abuse of nursing home residents, ranging from improper touching to forced participation in sexual acts.
Mental, verbal, and psychological abuse might include berating or ridiculing the resident, cursing at them, using inappropriate language, making threatening accusations, or implying that the resident will not be cared for unless they comply with certain behaviors.
