Families move loved ones into nursing homes for many reasons. Sometimes, an older adult needs around-the-clock care, but their family members have careers or children who require support. Other times, they may need intensive medical support, such as the regular administration of injectable drugs.
Concerned family members often assume that nursing homes can protect a vulnerable older adult from falls, medication errors and other injuries that are possible if they try to live alone or with family members. Unfortunately, moving into a nursing home or similar facility leaves an older adult vulnerable to abuse.
There are several kinds of abuse that occur regularly at nursing homes. To start, family members need to watch for warning signs of the three types of abuse outlined below.
Physical abuse
The physical abuse of an older adult might involve hitting, pinching or otherwise intentionally inflicting pain as a way of punishing an older adult. In some cases, staff members might also engage in sexual abuse. Physical abuse may leave behind physical injuries, which family members can document to prove what their loved one has experienced.
Financial abuse
There are many ways for nursing home workers to financially abuse the people in their care. They might steal assets like jewelry from older adults or take cash from their rooms. They might copy credit card information and make unauthorized purchases. They could also write themselves checks or extort generosity from older adults by withholding care or threatening to mistreat them. Financial abuse can directly harm older adults and can also impact the legacy that they leave for loved ones after they die.
Emotional abuse
Emotional abuse is perhaps the hardest type of abuse to prove. It may also be the most common form of abuse in nursing homes. Frustrated and underpaid workers may lash out at the people in their care. They may call them names, threaten them or belittle them. Emotional abuse could entail telling someone that their family members no longer love them or trying to make them feel guilty about the medical needs that they have.
Family members who hear complaints of mistreatment – or otherwise observe concerning signs – from their loved ones may need to start investigating and documenting if they hope to intervene. If the company managing a nursing home isn’t proactive about preventing and correcting abuse, then a lawsuit might be necessary.
