Nursing homes are inspected on a regular basis. Depending on the outcome of a given inspection, you or your loved ones may be at increased risk of experiencing avoidable injuries, if the nursing home has failed to demonstrate competency in a given area of patient care and has failed to comply with state and national safety requirements. At Mishkind Kulwicki Law, we often hear complaints from family members that their loved one has been neglected in a nursing home or has developed bed sores that are being ignored. We often hear about unbelievable acts of disrespect that are unacceptable to anyone, let alone those that are most vulnerable. Constant complaints are registered that the caregivers are slow to or do not respond to a resident’s call for help. Repeated complaints about caregivers being rude or physically abusive are just not tolerable!
Falls in nursing homes occur when patients at increased risk of falls are not carefully assessed and provided with appropriate safety measures to reduce the risk of a fall. Call buttons or siderails are not properly used and patients are not protected from causing themselves harm or harm to other residents. Residents in nursing homes are frequently left unattended for hours and unless a caring and concerned family member is present to intervene on behalf of and to talk to their family member or to insist that the care their family member is receiving is inadequate, the family member is often neglected and remains at risk for physical and emotional harm and in the most extreme cases, death.
We know that nursing homes are very profitable and often put profits before patients. Staff members are frequently overworked and underpaid. Staffing issues create increased risk to the patient that is depending on caring and competent care. Instead the attitude of caregivers is often dictated by their own stress level or their dislike of their job environment due to staffing problems and low pay and at the end of the day, the patient is the victim.
Families need to be proactive with the well-being of their loved ones. At this stage in life, neglect or abuse is intolerable. Kindness and compassion should be the order of the day. When such issues are obscured by careless, overworked or unskilled aides, patients that are incapable of protecting themselves are at the mercy of those hired to do a job that they don’t like or feel does not pay enough to cause them to put up with the demands of the elderly.
We encourage anyone that has a loved one in a nursing facility to check on the inspection status of the home. There is valuable information that you can obtain by visiting our website or by going to the following link at: http://www.propublica.org/article/nursing-home-inspect-update-more-homes-more-violations. We all know someone that has lost their independence and is dependent on employees of a nursing facility to keep them safe. The cost of nursing home care has increased yet the level of care that some provide is deplorable. Should you know someone that you love that has been needlessly injured or neglected in their care at a nursing facility, call us and let us help them.