Injury Lawyer New York. Medical Malpractice Articles
Nursing home abuse
Nursing home abuse is a crime which is increasing everyday and most of the abuse remains unreported.
Nursing home
Nursing homes are places where we keep a person who do not need to be in the hospital and cannot be taken care at home. They are incapable of taking care of themselves. They need constant and timely caring and help. We know the population of elderly people are increasing day after day and most people prefer nursing home against the in-home care because of many reason, but mainly that the elderly people would have company there too, and get people around to talk with and spend time with, whereas, at home they would be alone with the caretaker. Therefore, the demand for the nursing home is increasing day by day, as well as, the reports of abuse.
Finding a nursing home
When we place our loved ones in the nursing home, we try to find the best for them. We want them to be comfortable and safe. Therefore, we need to carefully enquire about and know the details of the nursing home before we admit our loved ones there. It might be a very stressful and time consuming job, but we should be really very choosy about the nursing home. Many nursing homes would look very beautiful, nice, and well-furnished from the outside but you really have to take a good look of their history, investigate about them thoroughly, and also check out whether they follow the state and federal regulation laws for nursing homes.
Types of nursing home abuse
Though lots of the nursing home abuse and negligence case goes unreported still the statistics of abuse and negligence is going up everyday for nursing homes. As the residents of the nursing homes are unable to defend themselves, they become victims easily. The forms of abuse can be:
1. PHYSICAL
These happens when physically forcing a resident of the nursing home for anything , like unnecessary pulling, pushing, etc. which may result in pain, sometimes serious injuries may happen, and sometimes may result in the death of the resident. Untreated injuries are also a form of negligence. Other physical abuse maybe inappropriate medications given to them, such as forced unauthorized medicines. Inappropriate nourishment is also a kind of abuse.
2. EMOTIONAL
These happens when a resident is threatened, shouted on, cussed, use of foul words, etc. which may cause psychological trauma and sometimes leads to depression or even mental breakdown.
3. SEXUAL
Hard to believe but this also happens often. The resident is sexually abused either directly or indirectly. Indirectly means unnecessarily taking off the cloths of the resident by the caretaker, inappropriate touching etc.
4. FINANCIAL
Elderly residents are often defrauded by the caretakers or other people who have access to the nursing home. They have lot of ways such as false charity, false lottery etc. just winning the trust of the resident. Also, their personal belongings are often stolen, as the caretakers know where they keep their money and other costly assets.
We just need to be careful in choosing the nursing home, and also always keep on visiting them to ensure that they are safe. If anything seems wrong, we should inform to the state and federal agencies. Also, there are NY attorneys who are always ready to take such cases and help protect the right of the elderly citizens.
However, you should not go for any New York personal injury lawyer. Look for a qualified and experienced lawyer. Avoid the many rookies that have of late invaded this sector.