When Something Doesn’t Seem Right: How to Spot Nursing Home Abuse
Finding a place for Mom or Dad to live once they can no longer care for themselves is one of the most difficult decisions a child may have to make in life, especially if the parent does not want to leave their home to enter a long-term care facility.
Strong emotions and defiance from a parent about the move can sometimes make it hard to tell whether they are being properly cared for at the nursing home. Because of modern medicine and a growing population there has been a tremendous increase in our elderly population and this continued growth has put a strain on the assisted living and nursing home industry, where most patients rely upon others to ensure that their health needs are met and to assist to them with the activities of daily living. Like any other industry, nursing homes are motivated by profit, and many times this leads to neglect and/or abuse of their residents. In many cases, these physically and/or mentally impaired residents cannot notify the officials of the neglect or abuse they are experiencing.
That’s why it is important to trust your gut and make sure you know the Georgia Bill of Rights for Residents of Long-Term Care Facilities. If an injury or serious medical problem occurred and something just doesn’t seem right about it, there’s a chance that the parent’s injury could have been caused by nursing home abuse, a very serious and life-threatening problem that often needs legal assistance to prove.
The following questions can help adult children identify abuse and relay what’s happening to a trusted lawyer familiar with personal injuries:
– Are there continued signs of dehydration or malnutrition?
– Is the resident always dressed properly for the time of day and weather?
– Does the resident receive their meals in a timely manner?
– Are their living quarters well-kept and clean?
– Is the resident given their medications at the same and correct time each day?
– Is the resident being treated kindly or as if they are a burden?
– Does the resident seem to be sick a lot with issues related to bacteria or infections?
– Is there open communication with the resident’s loved ones or decision-makers?
– If there is a problem, are the resident’s loved ones notified immediately or after the fact?
If there is a question as to whether or not the client’s loved one’s injuries or serious medical problems are related to the care – or lack of care – he or she was receiving at the nursing home, the above signs can shed a lot of light on what was really going on.
Under the Georgia Bill of Rights for Residents of Long-Term Care Facilities, nursing home residents are entitled to a number of basic human rights that were designed to prevent poor care and injuries from happening, including the right to:
- Get up and go to bed as desired
- Enter and leave as desired
- Participate in the development of his or her care plan
- Refuse medications, dietary restrictions, and treatment
- Associate with whomever they desire on or off facility grounds
- Choose or change physicians
- Choose a pharmaceutical supplier
- Vote in any election with no interference
- Receive visitors in private
- Participate in social, family, religious, and community activities
- Be free from discrimination based on source of payment
- Be free from discrimination based on physical or mental condition
The basic rights and dignity of an individual should not be lowered just because that person has reached an age where she or he requires help of others. Our firm has developed a comprehensive, aggressive approach to combat indignities suffered by this vulnerable segment of our society which often avoids the lengthy process of litigation. If you feel like your loved one’s injuries while at a nursing home are due to their rights being violated, contact us to let our family help yours.
