Nursing Home Abuse

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Nursing Home Abuse

Nursing home abuse is sadly one of our nation’s most rapidly growing problems. Of the approximately 1.6 million nursing home residents, roughly one third of them will reside in nursing home facilities with reported cases of abuse. Nursing home abuse is not only characterized by physical abuse, but also cases of neglect, sexual abuse, emotional and psychological abuse and abandonment.

Types of Abuse

Physical

Nursing home abuse is often exhibited in cases of physical abuse. Physical abuse in a nursing home may include the beating, hitting, pushing, slapping, shaking, kicking, burning, inappropriately restraining, or pinching of any patient in the nursing home facility. Physical abuse may also occur in a nursing home through less direct ways of force-feeding or unsuitable drug use.

Signs of physical abuse may be easier to spot than other forms of abuse. In addition to visible signs, it is important to take notice of unexplained injuries, poor treatment by nursing home staff, over medication, dehydration, malnutrition and all other signs of physical nursing home abuse.

Neglect

Neglect is another serious form of nursing home abuse. Neglect may be occurring if you notice regular infections, poor hygiene, unsanitary living conditions, lack of medical attention, or signs of dehydration or malnutrition in a nursing home resident. If you or a loved one has been victimized by neglectful nursing home care, legal action may be available to obtain compensation and prevent this same thing from happening to other residents.

Emotional

Nursing home abuse is not limited to physical abuse. Sadly, nursing home residents are often the targets of emotional and psychological abuse as well. Emotional nursing home abuse comprises any form of verbal abuse, humiliation, intimidation, isolation, harassment or insult by a nursing home facilitator to a resident.

Important signs in a patient that may indicate psychological nursing home abuse are withdrawal, agitation, isolation, rocking, sucking, biting, strange behavior towards loved ones, and other uncharacteristic displays of aggression, fright or humiliation. Like physical abuse, emotional abuse can be traumatizing and should not be taken lightly.

And Others

There are several other types of nursing home abuse occurring regularly in the United States. Among them are sexual abuse, financial abuse, abandonment, exploitation and more. Nursing home abuse often is the result of poor staffing and training of the facility. Many consider nursing home employees to be highly underpaid, which is a likely contributor to the high turnover rate and often unstable staffing. In several cases, workers who were found guilty of nursing home abuse at one residency were actually hired at other homes without notice of their history.

Contact Us

Nursing home abuse is an unacceptable societal ill occurring regularly in nursing home facilities today. If you or a loved one has been a victim of nursing home abuse, you may be entitled to compensation for your pain and suffering. Please contact us to speak to a qualified nursing home abuse attorney for a free evaluation of your case. Our qualified legal professionals are prepared to help you deal with this sensitive matter and develop a plan to protect your interests and maximize your claims.

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