Have you entrusted your parent or elderly loved one to a nursing home? Indeed, in the capable hands of a nursing home’s staff, your loved one can live out their golden years in the utmost safety and security.
Safety, care, and a therapeutic environment are all that a nursing home is expected to provide. Nursing homes need to meet the basic needs of your elderly loved ones, as well as provide stimulating activities tailored to their preference.
When a nursing home fails to render services pursuant to the well-being of your loved one, this is considered nursing home negligence. If you suspect nursing home negligence, you will need legal counsel from an experienced nursing home abuse lawyer.
Read on to learn more about what considered nursing home negligence and how to identify it. Continue reading until the end to learn how a nursing home abuse lawyer can help you.
What Is Nursing Home Negligence?
To understand what nursing home negligence is, let’s begin with the basic concept of negligence. There are several manifestations of negligence. However, one common characteristic that ties incidences of negligence together is the failure to carry out actions based on a standard. Often, this standard is in place to ensure safety.
Within the ambit of nursing home care or health care, this standard comes in the form of the standard of care. The standard of care for nursing homes and other health facilities has the well-being of residents at its core. By well-being, we mean physical, social, emotional, and psychological.
When we appropriate the concept of negligence to the context of nursing home care, nursing home negligence consists of a failure to provide care that’s based on the standard. As a result of such shortcomings, patients or elderly residents can sustain injuries and live in anxiety within the facility.
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Nursing Home Abuse vs. Nursing Home Negligence
There is a prevailing misconception that nursing home abuse and nursing home negligence are the same. On the contrary, while the two result in the same negative outcomes for patients and elderly residents, they are different. What separates the two is the element of inaction.
Nursing home abuse is defined as the willful activity of a nursing home staff to threaten or harm a resident. In other words, intention and action must be present in an incidence of nursing home abuse.
On the other hand, nursing home negligence, while also resulting in injury and harm, lacks the element of intention and action. Rather, it is the inaction and neglect of care staff that leads to injuries and harm.
In short, nursing home negligence differs from abuse in that the staff may not have the intention to harm but cause harm anyway due to inaction.
What Are the Types of Nursing Home Negligence?
According to the Nursing Home Abuse Guide, there are three different types of nursing home negligence. In detail, they are as follows:
Physical Nursing Home Negligence
Physical nursing home negligence is characterized by signs of physical neglect like bedsores and other injuries. Often, the loved ones of elderly residents will suspect physical negligence if the resident has unexplained sores, bruises, or wounds.
Physical nursing home negligence is the most commonly reported form of negligence because the signs are observable.
Psychological Nursing Home Negligence
Psychological nursing home negligence occurs when the inaction and neglect of care staff result in an elderly resident’s anxiety, fear, and worry. Unlike physical negligence, the signs of psychological negligence are not as observable. For this reason, its determination comes after seeing signs of physical abuse or neglect.
Nursing Home Neglect
Nursing home negligence does not always have to result in harm, injury, or psychological trauma. Negligence can also occur when there is a failure to provide for the basic needs of an elderly resident like nutrition and hygiene.
No harm generally comes as a result of neglecting hygiene and nutrition, but doing so is detrimental to the well-being of the resident. Most importantly, a failure to address hygiene and nutrition also constitutes a breach of the standard of care.
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Tell-Tale Signs of Nursing Home Neglect
Some of the signs your elderly loved one may be a victim of nursing home neglect include the following:
1. Poor Personal Hygiene
Many elderly individuals live in nursing homes because they need assistance with ADLs (activities of daily living). Part of this is ensuring residents’ hygiene needs are met.
Some residents require assistance clipping their nails, brushing their hair, bathing, brushing their teeth, getting dressed, and more. When someone is being neglected, they must try to do these things on their own, which is often impossible.
One reason that residents’ hygiene needs may be neglected is if the facility is short-staffed. Also, some staff members do not have the education needed to help with these tasks. It has been found that a lack of routine related to dental care is a serious problem in nursing homes across the country.
2. Unsanitary Living Conditions
Nursing homes must provide residents with clean and safe living conditions. If this is not provided, it indicates that residents are being neglected.
Based on federal law, nursing home facilities must provide an infection control program that provides a comfortable, sanitary, and safe environment for residents. They also have to meet the state requirements for security and safety.
You must ensure your loved one has clean bedding and clothing, that the bathroom and kitchen are sanitary, and that there are no obvious or clear signs of problems. If these duties are neglected, it can lead to illness and other health-related problems.
3. Physical Problems Due to a Lack of Nutrition
Neglect may also lead to physical problems like dehydration and malnutrition. This may be caused deliberately or because of a lack of oversight.
Issues related to poor nutrition impact millions of people in nursing homes each year. In fact, it has been found that approximately 20% of nursing home residents around the world are dealing with malnutrition.
Dehydration and malnutrition can be caused by problems that range from improper staffing to a lack of individualized care and high staff turnover rates. Medical issues like difficulty swallowing and depression can also lead to these issues.
4. Lack or Loss of Mobility
For many nursing home residents, mobility is often challenging. Quality nursing homes will ensure that staff members help residents move, exercise, and stay as active as possible.
Some facilities create walking programs to help build strength, and muscle tone, reduce contractures and spasms, increase balance, and improve circulation. If an elderly person is neglected, they may be left in their bed for long periods, which increases the risk that the individual will lose all mobility.
If routine movement is not provided for extended periods, residents can develop other serious health problems. Examples include infections and bedsores.
5. Unexplained Injuries
Things like head injuries, bruises, and broken bones are indications that neglect may be happening. If nursing home residents do not receive assistance to do things, they may try to handle things on their own. Sometimes, this is simple things like walking down the hall, which causes a fall or another preventable injury.
According to the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention), 20% to 26% of Connecticut nursing home residents will fall each year. If the fall is not fatal, the injuries it causes can lead to permanent disabilities.
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What a Nursing Home Abuse Lawyer Can Do for You
Seeking compensation and reparation for considered nursing home negligence is within your rights as the loved one of a neglected elderly resident. However, the claims process can be an uphill battle, especially if the nursing home has its own legal counsel. For this reason, you will need a nursing home abuse lawyer in your corner as you seek compensation for the nursing home’s negligence.
A nursing home abuse lawyer can help you in the following ways:
- Gathering evidence to help your claims case
- Ensuring that legal proceedings are fair
- Advocating on your behalf
- Proving that the nursing care home was negligent
- Determining the right amount of compensation for your claim
- Moving things along in the case within Connecticut’s two-year limitation of statute
If you see any of the signs of nursing home negligence identified earlier, reach out to a nursing home abuse lawyer immediately.
Guarantee the Best Possible Outcome for Your Nursing Home Negligence Claim
Nursing home negligence warrants a compensation claim. However, be aware that seeking compensation on your own can be an uphill battle. The claims process in Connecticut is riddled with procedures that can discourage you if you go about your claim alone.
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If someone you know is the victim of such negligence, do not hesitate to reach out. Call us now at Jonathan Perkins Injury Lawyers to receive experienced legal representation for your nursing home negligence claim.
