Nursing Home Abuse | Phoenix Personal Injury Law Blog
When Nursing Home Understaffing Leads to Abuse or Neglect
Much like the rest of the western world, the United States has a large aging population, meaning there is a whole generation of people who are needing extra care and assistance from experts via assisted living environments. This means the demand for quality nurses and nursing homes is more important than ever before, in order to support the health and wellbeing of our elders.
Elder Self-Neglect: Who Is Liable?
The concept of someone being to blame for another person’s self-neglect is a difficult one to wrap your head around. After all, if an adult becomes ill or injured due to his own actions, who could be liable but that adult? Well, elderly people require a great deal of care, and when an elderly person is allowed to self-neglect, then his or her caretakers should be held responsible.
How to Spot Elder Neglect
The elderly need constant care and attention in order to remain healthy and safe. That is often why families may decide that an elderly loved one would do better in a retirement home that can care for them than alone in a house. Few people are able to provide their older loved ones with constant support, especially if all members of the family are working or in school. Nursing homes and retirement facilities are designed to provide round-the-clock care to their residents. However, not all staff do their jobs and not all facilities enforce proper care standards. Knowing what neglect looks like can help you keep your loved one safe and hold those who mistreated them accountable for their actions.
Arizona Is Home to 17 of the Country’s Worst Nursing Homes
Choosing a nursing home to take care of our loved ones is a stressful process. You want to make sure the facility is safe, comfortable, and affordable. Unfortunately, nursing homes are not always up to snuff and many turn out to be hazardous for those who rely on them. To try and combat the dangers of bad nursing homes, the group Long Term Care released a report detailing which nursing homes have been given a one out of five-star rating by the federal government.
Alarmingly, Arizona is home to 17 of those one-star nursing homes.
Abuse Remains a Danger in Arizona Nursing Homes
In 2003, Arizona’s Adult Protective Services investigated over 8,000 reports of elder abuse throughout the state. Of those complaints, one-third were found to be legitimate.
Recent stories in the news have sparked fear among those with loved ones in nursing homes. If you suspect Phoenix nursing home abuse, there are ways to report it, and you may be able to file a claim for compensation for a loved one’s injuries.
Be Careful in Choosing a Phoenix Nursing Home
Placing a loved one in a nursing home can be one of the most difficult decisions for any family. It can be difficult to know which nursing home will provide the best care, and if your family member will really get the help he or she needs while there.
You can definitely go online and read reviews for each facility online, and those can be helpful. However, it’s a good idea to take anonymous comments with a grain of salt.
Online research can be deceiving. It’s important to get the whole story.
How to Prevent Phoenix Nursing Home Abuse
Stories about nursing home residents being mistreated or neglected are heart-wrenching to hear. Unfortunately, in every city where there are nursing homes, the potential for abuse exists. Recently in Florida, during the hurricane, several nursing home residents died and dozens more were hospitalized after being abandoned without air-conditioning, power, or water.
While Arizona doesn’t experience hurricanes, it does experience severe heat waves. Air-conditioning, power, and water are all necessities, especially for older people who are prone to heat-related illnesses and use machines to help them survive.
Finding the Best Retirement Home in Scottsdale
Although retirement homes differ from nursing homes in the way that they’re designed (for elderly individuals who can live independently and don’t need as much medical care), the decision to place a loved one there can still be extremely difficult. After all, the retirement home staff will see your family member on a daily basis and provide him or her with care. So how do you know which retirement homes are the best?
When reading online reviews, are you really getting the whole story?
Emotional Abuse Found in Nursing Homes in Phoenix
The Arizona Attorney General’s Office launched the Taskforce against Senior Abuse (TASA) in efforts to heighten awareness and enforcement of many types of abuse directed toward seniors, one of which is emotional abuse. Their Elder Abuse Information and Training Guide defines it as follows:
Improper Wound Care in Nursing Homes
Nursing facilities provide a variety of personal care services that are necessary for day-to-day activity such as getting in or out of a bed, bathing, using the bathroom, getting dressed, and eating. These facilities also provide many medical care services or skilled care, which is to be performed by those with the necessary skills and training. One common function of skilled care involves wound care, which may involve pressure sores, ulcers, burns, surgical entry sites, fistulas, tube entry sites, and tumor erosion points.
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