Nursing home abuse is more common than anyone wants to consider. Families trust these facilities, their administrators, and the staff to care for their aging loved ones and meet their needs. Learning they are suffering because of abuse or neglect can be heartbreaking, frustrating, and angering.
If you believe your loved one is experiencing nursing home abuse or neglect, take steps to ensure their immediate safety and then contact a Jenner Law Clinton nursing home abuse lawyer for advice and guidance on your next steps, such as gathering evidence. This could protect your loved one as well as other residents.
What Do the Statistics Tell Us About How Common Nursing Home Abuse Is?
Nursing home abuse is a significant concern in the U.S. It affects many senior or disabled residents annually, and many have no way to defend themselves or report the abuse to authorities. Families must carefully watch for signs of abuse and take them seriously.
Nursing Home Abuse Is an Issue Worldwide
One in six older adults worldwide experiences some form of abuse in community settings, including nursing homes, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). This figure represents a global issue, but it also indicates similar trends in the U.S.
Residents Report Experiencing and Witnessing Abuse and Neglect
In a research review published in Cureus, several studies confirmed that incidents of abuse in the United States could hover at or under 45 percent. One study found that 50 percent of the nursing home staff interviewed admitted to mistreating residents. It also found that 44 percent of residents reported experiencing some type of abuse, and 95 percent reported witnessing or experiencing neglect.
Nursing Home Abuse Often Goes Unreported
Unsurprisingly, given these statistics, a U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) report shows that nursing home abuse is severely underreported and likely occurs more often than families or government oversight agencies know.
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How Does Nursing Home Abuse Occur?
Nursing home abuse occurs in several ways. This includes:
- Neglect: Neglect is the only type of unintentional nursing home abuse. Many staff members want to provide the care and support residents need, but they have too many residents and insufficient time. The facility may be overcrowded or understaffed, and the residents suffer. Neglect can also be intentional.
- Physical Abuse: Physical abuse varies widely in type and severity. It could include pushing, shoving, hitting, unnecessary restraint, and more. The victim could suffer significant injuries but be afraid to report them or even allow family members to see them. Physical abuse often occurs alongside emotional abuse.
- Emotional Abuse: Emotional abuse could include threats, humiliation, verbal abuse, shaming, mocking, shouting, or other actions that scare or embarrass the resident. While emotional abuse does not cause physical injuries, it can affect the resident’s physical and mental health and might be a stepping-stone to physical or sexual abuse.
- Sexual Abuse: Sexual abuse in long-term care facilities could range from exposing oneself to a resident to inappropriate touching to rape. Residents can suffer physical and psychological harm.
- Financial Abuse: Financial abuse can involve anything from stealing cash or valuables from a resident to coercing a resident to change their will or power of attorney.
If you suspect any type of nursing home abuse or neglect, gather evidence to support your belief and document what you have seen. When possible, have private conversations with your loved one to ensure they feel safe in the facility and with staff. However, abusers often target residents who cannot talk or are unlikely to report or remember abuse due to physical disabilities, cognitive issues, or memory concerns.
What Should I Do If I Suspect Nursing Home Abuse?
First and foremost, ensure your loved one’s health and safety. If your family member or other residents are in immediate physical danger, dial 911 and report the abuse or neglect to the police.
Once you are sure your loved one is not in immediate danger, it is time to report the nursing home abuse. You have options for how to approach this, but many people feel that reporting the concern to the facility administrators will not make a difference. Instead, they choose to report it to the local adult protective services, the long-term care ombudsman, or the appropriate licensing authorities.
If you are not sure of who to contact, you can enlist the help of a nursing home abuse lawyer. They can discuss your next steps, which might include filing an official report and building a civil case against the facility and its owners or administrators.
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How Can a Lawyer Help With a Nursing Home Abuse Case?
When you enlist the help of a nursing home abuse lawyer, you are gaining significant resources for your case. This includes not only time and money but also the knowledge and experience of the law firm and attorneys who have handled similar cases and recovered compensation for other families.
They will investigate what happened and gather evidence to hold the facility accountable for the abuse. You can count on your lawyer to manage the case. At the same time, you focus on ensuring your family members get the care and support they need, including medical care for any physical and psychological injuries they suffered.
How Soon Do I Need to File a Nursing Home Abuse Case?
You should act quickly to report nursing home abuse if your loved one has injuries. Evidence could disappear soon. The nursing home administrators are legally required to investigate any allegations and address them as quickly as possible. However, this does not always solve the issue.
It also fails to address the genuine costs of recovering from abuse, such as the medical and mental health care your loved one might need. You only have a limited time to sue the facility for compensation, so it pays to act quickly.
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Contact Our Team for a Free Nursing Home Abuse Consultation
Jenner Law provides free consultations for families whose loved ones were victims of nursing home abuse. If you believe your aging or disabled family member suffered injuries from abuse or neglect, contact us today. We can assess your options and discuss how our nursing home abuse lawyer can help you fight for justice.
Call or text (888) 585-2188 or complete a Free Case Evaluation form