As time passes, more and more people need the services of nursing homes. This means that the possibility of being exposed to nursing home abuse and injuries is going up. It is never too early to learn about how to identify nursing home abuse to protect yourself or your loved ones. And it is never too early to contact nursing home abuse lawyers Detroit whenever you suspect that something bad is happening.
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Understanding Nursing Home Neglect And Abuse
There are numerous environments and situations in which nursing home injuries and abuse can appear. Usually, abuse falls into 4 categories. They are financial exploitation, emotional abuse, physical abuse, and sexual abuse.
In a nursing home setting, we define neglect as being the failure to offer the needs the older person needs. This includes clothing, health care, hygiene, shelter, food, and more.
Is Nursing Home Abuse Common?
Yes. Unfortunately, surveys showed us that close to half of nursing home residents actually suffered some sort of abuse in the past year. Also, over 90% of people asked said they saw someone being abused or neglected. We simply cannot deny these statistics and we have to do all that we can to react whenever neglect is suspected since there is a pretty good possibility this actually happens.
How Do You Spot Nursing Home Abuse?
The good news is you can see several warning signs of neglect and abuse in a nursing home. What you look for should depend on the type of problem present.
When suspecting sexual or physical abuse, you should look for:
- Unexplained appearance of sexually transmitted disease.
- Unexplained appearance of cuts, welts, bruises, burns, sores, and fractures.
When suspecting financial exploitation, you should look for:
- No affordable comforts or amenities are present.
- Uncharacteristically excessive gifts.
- Very high financial reimbursement.
- Caregivers control the money of the elder and do not take care of needs.
- Older adults sign property transfers but cannot comprehend what they signed.
When suspecting signs of emotional abuse, you should look for:
- Uncharacteristic or unexplained behavior changes.
- The elder is isolated by the caregiver.
- You see demeaning, uncaring, controlling, or verbally aggressive behavior.
When suspecting signs of neglect, you should look for:
- Inappropriate clothing or hygiene.
- A lack of good food.
- No medical aids like hearing aid, medications, or glasses.
- Unsupervised elder when suffering from dementia.
- A dirty or cluttered home.
- The elder is confined and not offered care.
- Adequate facilities like cooling, heating, electricity, or refrigerator are missing.
- Pressure ulcers and bed sores are not treated.
Dealing With Nursing Home Neglect Or Abuse
Whenever talking about an emergency, you need to call 911. When you want to file a nursing abuse claim or the situation is not an emergency, the best thing you can do is to contact a nursing home attorney. He will be able to advise you on the best course of action, based on the exact problems the elder is facing right now.
Never assume that you cannot do anything since you can help someone in trouble. The lawyer is more than knowledgeable and will genuinely be interested in helping you help the elder.