If your loved one needs to enter a nursing home or assisted living facility you will need to do your homework. Make sure the facility has an excellent reputation. On your visit, make sure the grounds and rooms are comfortable, and more importantly, clean! Talk to the staff. Interview them casually. Make sure they are both competent and attentive. Trust your gut on this factor: Does this place feel like a home which I can trust to look out for the well-being of my loved one? Ask lots of questions and visit multiple facilities. It is like a college search for kids, you need to see them in person to find the right one. Sadly, even with the best interview process, you could have your loved one suffer from an injury, accident or abuse due to the actions of careless or evil employees at the facility.
Nursing home abuse and neglect is almost always a devastating, life-altering, or life-ending injury for seniors. Your loved one should never have to
suffer a serious injury or even death due to the careless, negligent or intentional acts of the exact people who were entrusted to care for them. To help stop or alleviate the risk you must understand the scope of the problem. It is important to understand what to look for so you can stop any mistreatment and hold the wrongdoer(s) accountable.
This is sadly a common problem. Look at the statistics from the National Center on Elder Abuse:
- Almost 1 in 3 US-based nursing homes were cited for violations that had the potential to cause harm or had actually caused harm to a senior. Almost 10% of all nursing homes had serious violations that caused their residents a serious injury, and/or placed them at risk of death.
- After interviewing over 2000 nursing home residents, 44% claimed abuse; while 99% said they had been neglected or that they observed another resident neglected.
- More than half of all nursing home staff admitted to mistreating residents. Mistreating was described as physical violence, mental abuse, & neglect within the last year before the study.
Why does this continue to happen? Obviously, the nursing home industry has access to this information. Why isn’t it changing for the better?
The big reason is MONEY! Running the perfect nursing home is expensive. There is probably a profit margin in running home well, but it doesn’t compare to the profits in running a nursing home at minimally well levels. The money issue comes into play in every area which causes nursing homes to fall down on their job. The reasons are as follows: Poor staffing choices; Failing to screen for predators or problematic employees; Failing to properly train and educate staff, Understaffing the facility; and allowing the facility to be poorly maintained or unsanitary.
These are difficult problems to detect. Residents and their loved ones must stay vigilant. Bring a checklist and always examine the facility for signs of nursing home abuse and neglect:
What should you look for?
- Any significant emotional or psychological change occurs rapidly and without medical explanation.
- Any failures by the nursing home staff to provide straight answers to your questions about your loved one’s care or condition.
- Any physical injury that goes unexplained
- Any time your loved one suffers a broken bone, a bruise, a major cut, or welt.
- Look to make sure your loved one does not develop a bedsore
- Keep a chart if your loved one has frequent infections or generally poor personal hygiene
- Absolutely be aware that dehydration and malnourishment occurs
If you believe that your loved senior is being abused, neglected, mistreated, or ignored by those who are in charge of caring for them! Please, for their sake, take action as soon as possible! Call our office. We will set you up with an in-person meeting with a nursing home specialist injury attorney. You will want an aggressive lawyer who is very experienced in a nursing home and assisted living facility abuse and neglect. We can advise you of your rights. We can take steps to prevent further mistreatment. We can get your loved ones the justice they deserve.
We are also involved in helping people report abuse to the Florida Department of Elder Affairs Abuse Hotline. Their number is 800-96-ABUSE (1-800-962-2873). We also report abuse claims online with our clients at the Florida Department of Children and Families.
Florida has an excellent governmental program that is focused on protecting your loved senior and making sure bad-acting nursing homes and assisted living facilities as well as their bad actor workers, are brought to justice. Let us help you get that measure of justice for your loved one and your family.
If you have concerns or wish to report abuse, you can call the LaBovick Law Group: South Florida’s BEST Nursing Home Abuse and Neglect Lawyers.
At LaBovick Law Group we know seniors are entitled to respect. They must be given respect, and they absolutely deserve justice if they are ever abused, neglected, or mistreated by the staff of a Nursing Home or in an Assisted Living Facility. Our lawyers are experienced in detecting, and uncovering nursing home abuse and will fight for our clients and their families. We will work tirelessly to make sure your family and your senior parent get the compensation they deserve for the injuries and losses which are caused by the exact people you entrusted with the responsibility of caring for your loved elder. One of the best forensic medical analysts I have ever worked with is Marcie Dodson who got her law degree at Cornell Law School. She will be happy to work with you on determining if and how your loved senior was hurt. Whether you’ve suffered injuries or a loved one has suffered an injury in a nursing home or assisted living facility, our dedicated team is ready to help.
Please give us a call at (561) 623-3681 or fill out our online form to discuss your case. We look forward to the opportunity to assist you.
