Nursing Home Neglect

No nursing home patient should ever become a victim of nursing home abuse. Nursing home residents' rights are guaranteed by the federal 1987 Nursing Home Reform Law. The law requires nursing homes to "promote and protect the rights of each resident".

Nursing homes must meet federal residents' rights requirements if they participate in Medicare or Medicaid. New York State also has residents' rights and regulations for nursing homes, licensed assisted living, adult care homes, and other board and care facilities. A person living in a long-term care facility maintains the same rights as an individual in the larger community.

Nursing Home Abuse and Negligence at Epidemic Levels

In spite of the law, nursing home abuse continues to be a serious problem. The National Center on Elder Abuse estimates at least one 20 nursing home patients has been the victim of negligence and or abuse, though it concedes that the number is probably higher. According to the National Center's study, 57% of nurses' aides in long-term care facilities admitted to having witnessed, and even participated in, acts of negligence and abuse.

Nursing home abuse takes a serious toll on residents. Data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show that nursing home neglect played a role in the deaths of nearly 14,000 nursing home patients from 1999 and 2002. Even when the consequences are not fatal, nursing home negligence robs victims of a sense of security and dignity. Unfortunately, the signs of nursing home abuse are not always easy to discern. Call our firm to help your family determine if a loved one has been the victim of nursing home abuse.

A sure sign of nursing home abuse is physical neglect where the nursing home staff fails to provide residents with the necessities of living. Residents who suffer from frequent falls may not be receiving adequate oversight from the nursing staff, or they may be victims of poorly maintained equipment or facilities. Withdrawal or isolation can be a sign that staff is failing to provide a nursing home resident with adequate assistance so that they can fully participate in activities offered at the nursing home. Frequent infections among nursing home residents could mean that nursing home staff is failing to employ proper hand washing techniques.

Why Have Nursing Home claims become an Increasing Problem?

Now that people are aware of nursing home abuse, many want to know why it is happening. There are multiple reasons for the increase in incidents of abuse in recent years. Some of these reasons may be staffing issues, inaccurate record keeping of incidents, care facilities focus on profit, the growing number of elderly persons in our country and the lack of care for our nation's elderly or nursing home resident populations.

The growing demand for nursing home placement is a concern. There is an ever-growing number of potential patients and not enough health-care facilities to meet the demand. Standards fall through the cracks when there is a scramble to meet this need. One standard concerns the staff members in long-term care facilities. Many nursing homes are understaffed and poorly trained. The under staffing may be due to the low wage offered employees, high employee turnover or a lack of job satisfaction. There are not enough skilled caregivers to meet the care facilities needs.

Nursing homes are in the business of care giving. In some cases, care facilities focus on the business and not the patients. There is a focus on profit. Less care and under staffing may lead to higher profits. Although healthcare professionals should be making decisions based on patient care, it is often the corporate accountants who are making decisions for the company's bottom line and not for the resident's well being. This may also lead to inaccurate records being kept by nursing home facilities. Paper records required by state and federal law may be altered. Often regulatory authorities require written incidents of abuse and altering these records may make reporting numbers inaccurate. This in turn ensures that facilities continue to receive their state funding, which also helps the bottom line.

Along with our growing number of nursing home patients and profit-based facilities, is society's lack of care for our elderly citizens. As a country, there has been a decline in respect and care of our elderly family members over the years. This may be shown in conscious disregard or wanton conduct by employees. It is also shown by family members who leave their loved one in the control of a long-term care facility and forget about them. When this occurs, the nursing home has no accountability to family members. Nobody is watching out for signs of abuse, neglect or exploitation of their loved ones and nobody is taking responsibility for taking care of their elderly or infirm family members. Without this responsibility, residents may become easy targets. They are dependent on their caregivers and may be infirm or frail, mentally incapacitated or easy to intimidate. Often, these leads to unreported cases of abuse and adds to the growing epidemic of nursing home abuse in our country. If your loved one is a patient who has been harmed in a nursing home, contact us today at 852-1888 to learn about your legal options.