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One
of the best gifts you can give to an older loved
one is protection from possible elderly abuse,
neglect, and mistreatment at the hands of a caregiver
or nursing home staff. At the heart of elderly
abuse prevention lies your choice in the facility
to place your loved one in. (Please refer to Choosing
a Nursing Home to see a more complete explanation
of what to look for in a nursing home.) Staff
that are properly trained and are aware of the
legal and moral consequences of their actions
are ideal to provide proper nursing home care.
In addition, they should be supported by an administration
that actively prevents elderly abuse and insists
on filing any and all incidence reports.
Prevention
Steps Against Elderly Abuse
Monitor
to make sure the nursing home follows its personalized
health and care plans for your loved one.
Make
sure that the home conducts an initial assessment
of the resident's functional capacity. If anything
changes for the worse, address the problem as
soon as possible in order to stop anything that
may be happening and anything that could cause
serious trouble down the road.
Keep
a copy of a resident’s federal and state rights.
If anything appears amiss, or you find out that
something has occurred that violates these rights,
immediately bring them to the attention of the
administration.
If
your loved one has difficulty moving around or
is bed ridden, check often for bed sores that
the staff may have missed. If you do find bed
sores, treat them early on to prevent them from
worsening and inform the staff or administration.
Follow up to make sure they have been handled
correctly.
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Elderly
abuse prevention can also involve safeguarding
your loved one from falling, which can cause serious
problems to the short and long term health of
a nursing home resident. Make sure that your loved
one stays active and undergoes some physical conditioning
in order to maintain or develop strength and balance.
This is one of the surest ways to prevent falls.
As well, talk to the nursing home about adding
stabilizers or hand bars for the resident to grasp
in living areas, bathrooms, and showers.
One
of the reasons that nursing homes benefit from
taking preventative steps to avoid potential problems
is that they risk losing their Medicare dollars.
They must be in compliance with state and federal
regulations for this to happen. You can leverage
this to insure that your loved one is properly
cared for and does not experience institutional
neglect of institution elderly abuse.
If
You Fear Elderly Abuse Has Occurred
If
you fear that elderly abuse may have occurred,
you should be aware that defendants often deny
liability for their actions or place the blame
on other residents or on the resident themselves.
In the majority of cases, elderly abuse or neglect
is the fault of either a staff member or the facility
itself.
As
soon as you fear an elderly abuse injury has occurred,
begin collecting as many facts about the case
as you are able. The nursing home, especially
if they know they are guilty, will not cooperate
in this process. The perpetrator of the elderly
abuse or neglect may change their stories, alter
paperwork, or commit other acts if they fear they
are facing legal action. This is why it is important
to gather material now so that it makes it difficult
for them to forge documents, etc. later on.
If
you would like to contact an Elderly Abuse Attorney,
Click Here to CONTACT US.
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