Elder abuse is a serious problem, and it’s an unfortunate fact that older adults in nursing homes are at risk of abuse at the hands of caregivers. Elder abuse is illegal, and its victims and their families can demand justice and financial compensation through the civil courts as well.
If your elderly loved one shows signs of nursing home abuse or neglect, contact our experienced Peachtree Corners nursing home neglect lawyer for a free consultation. We’ll review your legal options and help you determine the best way forward.
Differences Between Nursing Home Abuse and Neglect
Nursing home abuse and neglect may often be spoken of in tandem, but these are two distinct categories of mistreatment. Nursing home abuse occurs when caregivers perform an intentional action that causes harm or puts a person at risk of harm. Nursing home neglect may be intentional or unintentional, and it involves the withholding of necessary care to the point of harming or risking harm to a person.
Nursing Home Abuse Statistics
According to a recent National Center for Victims of Crime fact sheet on crimes against older adults and nursing home abuse cases:
- Over 50 percent of nursing home staff admitted to engaging in abusive or neglectful behaviors.
- Physical abuse cases account for 30 percent of complaints against nursing homes.
- Cases involving elder abuse by another resident account for 22 percent of complaints against nursing homes.
- Elder abuse triples the risk of premature wrongful death, in addition to causing avoidable injury, illness, and emotional trauma.
- Only about 4 percent of elder abuse cases are reported to law enforcement or other authorities.
If your loved one is in a Georgia nursing home, it’s essential to pay attention to possible signs of abuse and take action if you notice any. A personal injury lawyer can advise you on the best course of action.
Common Signs of Nursing Home Abuse and Neglect
Family members should watch for signs of nursing home neglect and abuse when they spend time with their loved ones in assisted living facilities, including:
- Bed sores
- Indications of malnutrition or dehydration
- Rapid, unexplained change in weight
- Unclean or unsanitary living conditions
- Sudden change in mood, behavior, communication, personality, etc. of the nursing home patient
- Desire to isolate or withdraw
- Reluctance to speak around nursing home attendants
- Heavy medication or sedation
- Injuries requiring hospitalization
- Injuries resulting from incidents with staff or fellow residents
- Poor reporting of illness and serious injuries to family
- Unexplained injuries
These are just some of the common signs of nursing home abuse and neglect. You know your loved one better than anyone. If you notice anything unusual, it’s worth asking your loved one and any regular caregivers about it. Our nursing home abuse attorneys can help you determine what to do about these potential warning signs.
Types of Nursing Home Abuse and Neglect
Nursing home abuse is a broad category encompassing many intentional harms or exposures to harm. Some of these harms are physical, such as pushing, hitting, kicking, unreasonably restraining, or moving an older adult in an excessively rough manner. Adults in nursing homes are also at risk of sexual abuse, including rape and sexual assault and battery.
But abuse isn’t just physical. Emotional abuse and verbal abuse are also common in nursing homes, and unscrupulous caregivers often target older adults for various forms of financial abuse.
Nursing home neglect, meanwhile, involves the failure of caregivers to provide necessary care to the extent that it causes harm to the older adult. This includes failure to provide food and water, medical treatment, and other essential services. These failures don’t have to occur intentionally to be considered neglectful. In cases involving understaffed facilities, caregivers may accidentally overlook nursing home residents and forget to provide the essentials. This oversight falls under the category of nursing home neglect.
Proving Nursing Home Abuse in Georgia
Proving your loved one suffered from nursing home abuse begins with gathering evidence. You’ll need to gather as much documentation as possible related to your loved one’s injury, including photographs, medical records, personal accounts (such as journals or notes from conversations), written communication between your family and the nursing home, and insurance documents.
This is a complicated process, but it’s not one you need to embark upon alone. Instead, you can seek help from experienced nursing home abuse lawyers. Your attorney will be familiar with the types of evidence that typically factor into nursing home abuse and neglect cases, and they’ll have strong skills in evaluating that evidence and digging deeper.
For example, your attorney will likely be able to access records of past complaints against the nursing home, inspection records, records related to licensure, and other information that can be used to demonstrate a historical pattern of abuse or neglect.
Your attorney’s goal in evaluating the evidence of your loved one’s case is to prove the nursing home abused or neglected your loved one and your family deserve compensation for what they suffered. Nursing homes owe a standard of care to residents and their families. If the nursing home fails to abide by this standard and causes an injury to your loved one, they can be liable for the financial and emotional consequences of that injury.
When Should You Contact an Attorney About Nursing Home Neglect or Abuse?
Nursing homes have a responsibility to protect the older adults in their care. This includes not just performing their regular duties at a consistently high level but also doing everything in their power to ensure abuse and neglect do not occur on their premises. They should also be appropriately disciplining abusers and reporting offenses to law enforcement. Unfortunately, most cases of nursing home abuse and neglect go unreported.
If you suspect your loved one is suffering from physical, sexual, emotional, financial, or mental abuse, neglect, or other mistreatment in a nursing home, they deserve justice. Contact a Peachtree Corners nursing home abuse attorney as soon as you become aware of abusive or neglectful behavior on the part of nursing home staff or other residents. An experienced attorney will review your case and help you file a nursing home abuse claim on behalf of your loved one. They know how to prove nursing home negligence occurred, and they can hold the liable parties accountable for the harm they caused.
