Nursing Home Injuries: Being Present Is A Present
by Neil S. Siskind, Esq.
Leaving an elderly person in a nursing home without regular check-ins is like leaving your house unlocked with nobody home. The bad guys know there is an easy target and little chance of getting caught. If a house has alarms and people at home, criminals will skip to the next house that is an easier target with less risk of getting caught. The same applies to human targets.
Typically, employees in nursing homes are low wage workers. Because most nursing home residents pay with Medicare or other governmental payment program, the nursing home must be run very leanly in order for an owner to make a profit. Employees that are regularly around elderly residents include nurses, nurse assistants, cleaning staff, janitors and clerks. While for financial reasons you may have no choice but to place a loved on in a nursing home, you should not think that it is a place that they will be safe from harm. On too many occasions the opposite is the case. Elderly residents in nursing homes are targets for abuse, theft and harassment. According to governmental statistics and documented cases, residents may be victims of any of the following:
Bedsores * Ulcers * Fractures or broken bones * Unexplained bruises or injuries * Accidents of unknown origin* Inappropriate use of retraints * Physical abuse * Sexual abuse * Verbal abuse * Failure to turn patients in bed or move them from wheelchairs * Slip and fall accidents * Malnutrition * Dehydration * Failure to use bedrails resulting in falls * Medication errors* Theft
If any of these actions occurred with intent (many can only be intentional) there is of course recourse under the state criminal laws. But even in cases where no harm is intended, negligence can be the cause of the harm. Negligence may occur as a result of both the lack of quality and quantity of staff. They may be under-skilled, lacking in thought, or overwhelmed with work. There are of course caring, hardworking, intelligent, skilled and honest people working in nursing homes. This is probably the majority. But the minority is the problem. It only takes one person with financial or emotional problems, or one unskilled or incapable person, to hurt a loved one.
The best and only way to really protect a loved one from abuse is to be present. A family member or other outside person needs to either make regularly scheduled check-ins or random unannounced visits. Either way, the staff needs to see that someone is checking in, checking up, and checking out the personal property and physical and emotional condition of the resident. Unfortunately there are many elderly nursing home residents that have noone to check in on them, so be sure that the staff knows that your loved-one is being monitored from the outside with regularity.
If you have good reason to suspect that a loved-one who has spent time in a nursing home or assisted living facility has been injured or even died as the result of intentional abuse or negligence in that facility, contact The Siskind Law Firm today. We can help you look into the facility, the staff, the facts, and the possibility of compensation for harm.
