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What is Nursing Home Abuse?
Nursing home abuse or neglect seems to be in the news more often these days, and there seem to be more lawsuits about it. This could be because the huge baby boomer population is reaching retirement age, so perhaps there are more nursing homes and more people entering them.
Any time it does happen though, nursing home abuse is a crime, not unlike child abuse. Babies and the elderly are among the most vulnerable and helpless groups of people. Abuse in a nursing home setting can take many forms, some obvious and some more subtle. Neglect is a form of abuse too.
One of the reasons it may occur in the form of neglect is understaffing. Nursing home staff are sometimes overloaded and must rush through their work to get it finished and be able to report to the next shift. They may cut some corners and leave some tasks to be done the next day or next week. This might be understandable if the task relatively minor like applying skin lotion to a resident's legs or curling their hair.
But if the postponed task is turning the resident over in bed, and if this is neglected repeatedly, it's not understandable. Bedsores are not minor. They need to be prevented, because once they start in a patient who cannot turn him- or herself in bed, they are very hard to treat successfully.
Some examples of nursing home abuse
Misuse or over-use of restraints
A physical restraint is a kind of vest with long ties which can be tied around the back of a wheelchair or to the bed frame. These are sometimes necessary to prevent a patient wandering off the premises, or trying to walk but falling.
A busy staff might sometimes use them to keep patients stationary as a way of reducing their workload. They could cease monitoring or walking those patients, knowing they were restrained. But too much inactivity and motionless sitting can impair circulation and in an elderly person could certainly contribute to blood clots forming in the legs.
Drugs are another type of restraint and could be over-used with excitable patients.
Dehydration
Each patient should have a water jug and tumbler next to their bed. It's part of the staff's job to keep it filled, and in some cases to also offer water to the patient. As we age, we tend to lose our ability to perceive thirst, and many nursing home residents are stroke victims with impaired speech.
This all means that an elderly patient unable to ask for water could become dehydrated without anyone noticing. Adequate hydration is essential for good blood circulation, good digestion and elimination, and good brain function.
The whole body needs adequate water continuously, and if a patient is unable to reach their water, or unable to pour it and lift the glass to drink, a staff member must do it for them.
Decubitus Ulcers
When the skin is left in pressured contact with a fairly hard surface such as a bed mattress, the blood circulation is impaired in that area. The capillaries are compressed. This is why it's so important to regularly turn a bedridden patient. For lack of blood supply with its essential oxygen, the skin deteriorates and infection can set it. Without treatment, the sore will expand and deepen.
Things to look for
When you visit your loved one in a nursing home, always discreetly look for any signs of nursing home abuse or neglect. Check their skin for bruises, check their water jug, ask them how they feel, and listen to the answer if they are able to give you one. Occasionally a nursing home staff member becomes too impatient with elderly patients and mishandles them.
Elderly skin is thin and can bruise easily. A person unsteady on their feet is more likely to fall if not properly supervised. Take note as to whether they seem to be losing weight and if so, ask about their diet and eating habits. Some nursing home patients are unable to feed themselves and a busy aide must feed them.
If you have a family member in a nursing home, one of the best things you can do for them is to visit unexpectedly. And fairly often. First, that makes the staff aware that you are interested in your family member's well-being; and second, by coming unexpectedly you can keep them on their toes.
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If you are really concerned about your family member's health and safety, contact an experienced nursing home attorney.
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