About Nursing Home Abuse and Neglect

With over 1.5 million elderly and dependent adults now living in nursing homes throughout the country, abuse and neglect have become a widespread problem. Even though some nursing homes provide good care, many (far too many) are subjecting helpless residents to needless suffering and death. Most residents in nursing homes are dependent on the staff for most or all their needs such as food, water, medicine, toileting, grooming, stimulation and turning - almost all their daily care.

Unfortunately, many residents in nursing homes today are starved, dehydrated, over-medicated, and suffer painful pressure sores. They are often isolated, ignored and deprived of social contact and stimulation. Abuse and neglect in a nursing home may include the following:

Abuse includes:

• Assault
• Battery
• Sexual Assault
• Sexual Battery
• Rape
• Unreasonable physical constraint, or prolonged or continual deprivation of food or water
• Use of a physical or chemical restraint or psychotropic medication for any purpose not consistent with that authorized by the physician

Neglect means the negligent failure of any person having the care or custody of an elder or a dependent adult to exercise that degree of care which a reasonable person in a like position would exercise.

Neglect includes, but is not limited to:

• Failure to assist in personal hygiene, or in the provision of food, clothing or shelter
• Failure to provide medical care for physical and mental health needs
• Failure to prevent malnutrition

Federal and State laws require that nursing homes develop a plan of care and employ sufficient staffing to provide ALL the care listed within the care plan. Because many corporate owned nursing homes today are not sufficiently staffed, they can not provide ALL the care listed within the plan.

Consequently, residents are not taken to the toilet when necessary, they are often left lying in urine and feces, develop painful and life threatening pressure sores (decubitus ulcers), they are not fed properly, are not given sufficient fluids, are over-medicated or under-medicated, are dropped causing painful bruises and fractures, are not cleaned or groomed, are left in bed all day, are not turned, call lights not answered promptly or not at all, etc., all forms of neglect.