It’s everyone’s desire to have their loved ones taken care of when they send them to a nursing home. They expect those people to be treated with respect, compassion, and consideration. Unfortunately, that doesn’t always happen in a nursing home environment. These are a few situations that you could interpret as nursing home neglect. You have the right to talk to an experienced attorney if your loved one experiences any of them:
Verbal or Emotional Abuse
Verbal and emotional abuse can come in many forms. One example of verbal abuse is when someone calls another person names, such as “ugly,” “fat,” or “useless.” Emotional abuse is a huge area of abuse that can occur in a variety of ways. Emotional abuse can come in the form of ignoring someone or treating them as if they are less than human. It’s sometimes difficult to prove emotional and verbal abuse. However, your loved one will have good chances if that person documents the incidents and has a few witnesses.
Physical Abuse
Physical abuse is cut and dry. Anytime a worker at a nursing home hits, slaps, strangulates, scratches, bites, or mushes a resident, that person is guilty of physical abuse. Physical abuse is not something that should be going on inside a nursing home. It’s definitely an incident that should fall upon the ears of a reputable attorney. You could sue nursing home for neglect and possibly have the perpetrator spend some time in jail and pay fines, too. Your loved one should see a doctor if he or she has received any injuries because of nursing home abuse. That person should also document the abuse and tell one of the administrators about it. The more witnesses and third-party people involved, the better the outcome of the case can be for everyone.
Financial Abuse
Financial abuse occurs when a member of a nursing home’s staff steals money from a resident. Alternatively, it can occur when a person takes advantage of an elderly or disabled person’s kind nature and talks them into something like a Ponzi scheme. This can inflict horrible damages on someone in a nursing home, and it will need to be addressed.
Outright Neglect
Abuse can come in the form of outright neglect. An example of outright neglect is if the staff refuses to feed your loved one when he or she is supposed to be fed. It can also occur if they do not help your loved one to the bathroom or help them bathe if they need help.
Vulnerability to Disease
All professional establishments are supposed to protect their customers and residents from the spread of COVID-19. Therefore, your loved one’s nursing home may be guilty of neglect if they are not doing everything possible to prevent that person from getting Covid-19. The facility could be looking at a huge lawsuit if your loved one contracts Covid-19 because the facility failed to take the necessary precautions. This could happen with other diseases and viruses, as well. The courts could see such an incident as a case of neglect and force the facility to pay all of your loved one’s medical bills and more.
Take Steps to Defend Your Loved One Today
You have a right to seek help for your family member or friend if you notice any of the above things happening to them. You can contact a reliable nursing home abuse attorney and schedule a consultation to talk to that individual. During the consultation, you’ll get to tell your story about what happened to your loved one. The attorney will let you know if the incidents can bring your loved ones a settlement.
