Nursing homes are profit-driven businesses and during tough economic times good business practice and quality control can suffer in favor of short-sighted profits, quotas, and corner cutting. Businesses in trouble do not generally announce this, rather, they simply cover their tracks as best as they can. Cutbacks in hours and wages have a great impact on employee attitudes, which can easily translate to mistreatment, neglect, and even abuse in nursing homes.
Nursing home abuse falls into two categories: intentional harm and neglect. The intentional harm includes physical attacks, sexual assaults, emotional abuse and financial abuse. Nursing home abuse or neglect includes failure to provide for basic needs which can result in serious health issues like dehydration, weight loss, overdosing medication, life threatening falls, infections, bedsores, serious skin ulcers, decubitus ulcers, osteomyelitis, septicemia and gangrene.
Nursing home abuse occurs when a caregiver or employee in a nursing facility knowingly, intentionally, or negligently acts in such a way that causes harm or a risk of harm to adults who are weak, feeble, or otherwise vulnerable. There are many different forms of nursing home abuse as explained below.
Unexplained bruising, injuries or bedsores may indicate physical abuse. Emotional abuse tends to be harder to identify and challenging to prove, but the effect of emotional abuse on an elderly person can be more severe than physical abuse. An onset of depression, becoming withdrawn or forgetful may indicate emotional abuse or neglect. While elderly people also suffer from some of these symptoms naturally, the effects can be exacerbated by abuse. The law is very clear on the liability of nursing homes and companies employing healthcare workers who commit abuse against vulnerable elderly people.
Mental abuse of the elderly, while perhaps not as visible as physical abuse, can be just as debilitating. One must be vigilant to uncover mental abuse, as the consequences of such abuse may not be immediately apparent. Mental abuse includes, but is not limited to, verbally harassing or intimidating the resident, intentionally not speaking to the resident, and isolating the resident from friends and family.
Physical abuse of the elderly has occurred often enough that legislatures have passed laws increasing sentences and punishments that are in line with similar abuses of children. Both groups of individuals sit within a special class of citizens that deserve extra diligence when seeking to protect them due to their general inability to defend themselves in certain circumstances. Now, the financial abuse of the elderly is receiving increasing attention because of our aging population and the increased risk of Alzheimer’s disease and other illnesses that affect our mental capacities.
Sexual abuse in nursing homes can occur when the resident is forced or tricked into unwanted sexual contact or when the individual is too weak or ill to give consent. A nursing home resident can be sexually abused by a staff member, another resident, visitor, stranger or a family member.
Several things cause physical abuse in nursing homes. Nursing homes are required to take precautions to prevent physical abuse from occurring. Nursing homes need to run background checks on new and current employees, provide adequate supervision of employees, maintain adequate numbers of staff, and train their employees on how to identify signs of physical abuse.
Most studies of the causes of abuse in nursing homes have focused on characteristics of patients, workers or interactions between the two. Some have assumed that patients with cognitive and physical impairment, as well those who have infrequent visitors, are at greater risk for abuse and neglect, although these assumptions have not been substantiated.
The Nursing Home Complaint Center, an organization of advocates for senior citizens that aids in the report of elder abuse in nursing homes, is urging loved ones to watch for signs of abuse or neglect. The group specifically notes that sepsis, a very dangerous infection that can lead to death in some seniors, can be a sign of nursing home abuse and neglect.
Elder emotional abuse can happen within a nursing home or assisted living facility. It could come from a caregiver, a volunteer, or any other person working at the elderly facility. Elder emotional abuse can also happen at home, with family members or an in-home nurse. Emotional abuse in nursing homes encompasses any psychological distress or emotional pain caused by a caregiver.
If the victim is not in imminent danger, the person reporting elder abuse should call the Eldercare Locator toll-free at 1-800-677-1116. This service aids persons reporting elder abuse in finding the appropriate local agency to best meet their needs.
It is important to have physical proof of abuse. The best way of doing this is to use a covert hidden camera. The camera shown below is the perfect choice to capture Abuse Of The Elderly.
This nondescript wicker basket box blends right in with any nursing home setting. But beneath the classic wicker design is a camera capable waiting to catch anything you point it at. The motion detection functionality and remote control operation make it easy to use and saves time when going to review your video.
Covert. Even though this unit conceals a hidden camera there is still plenty of room to use the basket to hold small items such as candy or Pop-tarts or tissue, making it fit right in a nursing home ready to catch elder abuse.
Just put on the basket, “Get Well Soon”. No one will ever suspect you are using this covert hidden camera for reporting elder abuse. The best model to use is the 30 hour model which will record for over 1 day.
Quality video. Records VGA quality (1280 x 960) video. Either record continuously, or use the motion detection setting to only record what you want to see.
Plenty of storage. Supports up to 32GB microSD. The handy auto-overwrite feature makes it easy to use on a daily basis.
After reporting elder abuse to the proper authorities it is important to contact an attorney immediately. Just like any other lawsuit, there are statutes that cut off your legal right to seek compensation for nursing home and elder abuse. In fact, since some nursing homes receive public funds they may be protected under the tort claim notice statute which requires that you file notice of your intent to sue within six months of the abuse.
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