The Facts About Assisted Living Facilities and Nursing Homes

Asking a parent to move into an assisted living facility or nursing home can be a difficult decision to make but in some cases it is necessary.  Such facilities may be required because of health needs, financial costs, or personal limitations.  For example, moving to a nursing home may be necessary for seniors with limited mobility or serious health conditions such as dementia.  Additionally, the financial cost of in-home care may be too expensive for families of limited means.  Also, a child may no longer be able to care for an elderly parent because it may be too physically demanding or time-consuming.  Just because a senior citizen moves into an assisted living facility or nursing home does not mean their quality of life has to be negatively affected.  Unfortunately, the sad fact is that nursing home abuse and neglect occur every year all across the country.

Nursing home abuse can take the form of physical, emotional, or financial abuse.  Signs of physical abuse are bruises, cuts, burns, or physical restraint.  Emotional abuse can occur through insults, humiliation, and threats.  Extreme changes in emotional disposition or mood, may be a sign of emotional abuse.  In some cases nursing homes employees, have exploited residents by stealing or unduly influencing them for financial gain.  As a family member or concerned friend, you should look for the disappearance of personal items and unusual financial transactions.  Another red flag to be aware of is, the refusal or delay of a personal access during normal visiting hours.  Finally, if facility employees refuse to give your visit privacy or continually monitor your visit, then you may have cause to worry.

Nursing home neglect may be present when signs of dehydration, malnutrition, bedsores, falls, or bed-related suffocation are present.  Nursing homes are negligent when they do not follow nutritional plans that provide the residents with the water and food they need to thrive.  Additionally, neglect of physical needs leads to the deterioration of the body and aggravates injuries that have occurred or will occur.  For example, in the case of a fall a patient is more likely to suffer a severe injury if they are malnourished.  Bedsores are a telltale sign of nursing home neglect.  Bedsores occur when the resident is stationary for unreasonable amounts of time.  Nursing homes have a duty to mobilize and move residents in order to avoid bedsores.  Finally, government reports show that 20 to 30 deaths occur in nursing homes each year because the resident either suffocates or is strangled by a bed they are unable to leave.

d'Oliveira & Associates are Rhode Island lawyers with years of experience;  we work with some of the leading nursing home lawyers in the country.

d'Oliveira & Associates 2540 Pawtucket Ave, East Providence, RI 02914 (401) 431-1990