Nursing Home Abuse Lawyer

Despite what the professionally designed brochures represent, many nursing homes are not all about smiling faces, graceful living, and fun-filled activities. In fact, there are a lot of serious issues to contend with to make a nursing home run.

Nurses and administrators of homes need to be mindful at all times of the unique needs of all of their patients. They need to do their best to make sure everyone is happy, properly medicated, and satisfied with the facility. As you might imagine, this can be difficult with sometimes ornery patients and even more ornery families.

Therein lies one of the more subtle causes of nursing home abuse - the mistreatment of patients. It can come in the form of direct, for example a nurse, practitioner, or technician hitting a nursing home resident, or neglect, such as when a disabled nursing home resident is left without attention or help in a bed and develops bed sores, or decubitus ulcers.

Types of Abuse

Abuse can be physical, emotional, or both. Physical abuse often leaves signs of harm, such as bruising, cuts, or expressed pain.

Emotion abuse is sometimes harder to discover. The following are not prescriptive or all inclusive, but mainly to help you in identifying potential problems:

• Verbal Harassment
• • This constitutes a stream of insults, put downs, and slights. The patient is made to feel like a lesser person and can be made hyper-aware of their age and illnesses.
• Threat of Punishment
• • Sometimes physical abuse is never reported because it is never needed. The nurse or practitioner could simply threaten, yell, and scare the patient into compliance.
• Humiliation
• • Humiliation comes in many varieties, both public and private, whether name-calling, intentional embarrassment in front of nursing home employees, or other residents.
• Deprivation
• • Deprivation blurs the line between physical and emotional abuse. Much less physically obvious, deprivation can be  withholding of medication, food, water, or even attention.
• Abandonment
• • Successful living in a retirement home is more than just satisfying base needs. Mature adults require interaction and a feeling of fulfillment. Abandonment is an utter lack for these concerns.
• Intimidation
• • Much like verbal harassment, intimidation is the use of coercion and threats to gain compliance.

Signs of Emotional Abuse:

Part of figuring out if abuse is occurring is paying attention to certain signs and symptoms. Consider the following:

• Direct Reports of Abuse
• • First, and most obviously, is direct reports of abuse from your loved one. Whether they make the complaint to the home administrators or directly you, this is the best way to get a sense of what's happening. Unfortunately, due to physical/mental handicaps or just 'not wanting to make a fuss', direct reports or much less prevalent than one might think.
• Emotional Withdrawal/Non-communicative
• • If your loved one is normally openly communicative and you see a sharp drop in that, it could be because they are having problems they don't want to burden you with.
• Self Abuse or Deprecation
• • Some individuals begin to internalize the abuse and believe it. Watch for drastic  changes in levels of self confidence.
• Emotional Sensitivity
• • When abuse is occurring, there is often an increase in agitation and suspicion. Be especially aware of this if your loved one has a naturally positive demeanor.
• Unusual Changes in Personality
• • Adjusting to different surroundings can be difficult, but they shouldn't result in drastic personality changes.

Nursing Home Lawsuit

When we entrust our loved ones to 24-hour, around-the-clock care, to nursing homes and assisted living facilities, we rightly expect these facilities, their administration and staff, to comply with basic human decency and the minimum standards governing care. None of use expects our family member to become a victim inside the walls of a nursing homes or assisted living facility where care is the fundamental basis for admission.
 
Unfortunately, however, neglect and abuse at nursing homes and assisted living facilities appears to be on the rise. If you suspect your loved one is the victim of neglect, negligence, or abuse at a nursing home or assisted living facility, then contact an experienced nursing home litigation attorney and personal injury lawyer at our law firm.

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