By placing your elderly loved one in a nursing home or long-term care facility, you’re also putting your trust in the people who run it. You expect medical professionals, nurses and assistants to constantly work around the clock to ensure your loved one is safe and cared for. However, people often misplace their trust and, as a result, their loved ones suffer from nursing home abuse.
Nursing home abuse can lead to many medical complications and declining health. In many common cases, as a result of elderly abuse, people have suffered from skin issues, such as rashes and bedsores from a lack of hygienic cleaning. Some elderly patients in nursing homes have suffered from malnutrition, leading to rapid weight loss and balance issues.
To ensure your elderly loved one gets the proper care that they deserve, it may be in your best interest to document any signs of nursing home abuse. While this shouldn’t be necessary for a nursing home with adequate health care regiments, unfortunately, many health care facilities don’t provide for their residents. Here’s what you may need to consider
Copy medical records
Some medical conditions resulting from nursing home abuse and neglect can be recorded after a visit to your elderly loved one’s doctor. Their doctor should have all the necessary documentation needed to prove that your loved one is, in fact, suffering from a medical condition and that its cause may be the direct result of nursing home care and the lack thereof. Included in these medical records you may find a history of medical conditions your loved one has had that may prove they didn’t enter the nursing home facility with the issues and instead developed them under their care.
You may consider taking pictures, talking to other nursing home residents and filing a complaint with the nursing home. However, you may need to know your legal options if your elderly loved one has already suffered from nursing home abuse and neglect.