Recognizing Signs of Nursing Home Malpractice

When our parents start to get older and lose control of their faculties, we want to help them as much as we can. It can be a difficult transition for older adults of all professions and dispositions, as the reality of needing to depend on someone else can be dramatically disheartening for them, it can also affect you, should they start to come down with a condition you can’t adequately treat at home.

While we would like to be able to take care of our parents the way they took care of us, it’s not always possible, requiring us to put them in the care of healthcare professionals with the equipment to treat them.

Photo by Andrea Piacquadio from Pexels

The unfortunate reality is that not every “qualified” healthcare professional has your older adult’s best interests at heart, and elder abuse is a prevalent problem in every kind of communal care setting. In fact, 2 out of 3 healthcare facility employees have confessed to inflicting some form of elder abuse on their patients, according to the World Health Organization.

If that statistic frightens you, it should. And the sad reality is that no amount of research on the facilities you’re considering as options might be enough, as abusers frequently worm their way into safe places and most elder abuse cases go underreported. The only thing you can do, short of refusing to send your older adult to one of these facilities (which likely isn’t an option), is get educated on the various forms of elder abuse and their common signs.

Stay vigilant, and if you start to see evidence of any of these signs cropping up, don’t be afraid to investigate and get a lawyer involved. In addition to attaining justice for your loved one, they can help establish a precedent that keeps others away from the enabling facility.

Physical/Sexual Abuse

Older adults don’t typically have the strength to fight back against abusers who use physical force against them, and so, may be intimidated by the perpetrator into silence. As such, the most common signs of physical abuse are broken possessions, unexplained bruises, repeated “accidents” of the same kind, or a notable fear of particular staff members.

If a facility is attempting to cover up an instance of physical abuse, they may decide to cast it as an accident. And while accidents do happen, and that is a reasonable explanation for an injury or two, if you notice a pattern of accidents cropping up repeatedly, you definitely need to look into it.

If you notice bruising or bleeding in sensitive areas, bloody or torn undergarments, or that your older adult has become withdrawn or suicidal, they may have been sexually abused. Extract them from that environment immediately and call a lawyer.

Emotional Abuse

Signs of emotional abuse are a little harder to catch, as emotional abuse rarely leaves behind any physical signs; the only way you can notice it is by paying attention to any changes in your older adult’s mental state or habits. Emotional abuse is any attempt by an abuser to dehumanize or demoralize their resident and can take the form of insults, threats, attempts to isolate them from others, and restricting them from using facilities.

If you notice that your older adult is becoming socially withdrawn, irritable, has a disproportionately bad opinion of particular staff members, or shows other signs of depression, they may be being emotionally abused. Make sure your older adult doesn’t have the opportunity to miss you. Frequently visit them and check up on their emotional state, the most reliable barometer you have of how the facility is treating them.

Neglect

When you send your older adult to a nursing home, you expect them to provide the services they advertise: maintaining healthy eating, sleeping, and hygiene patterns for your older adult, preventing accidents, and doing whatever else is necessary to maintain their health. Should they not deliver on any of these promises, they can be held liable as their charges aren’t there because they can take care of themselves fully.

If you notice that your older adult has developed unhealthy habits, is not receiving the help they need to use the home’s facilities, or that the employees are failing to provide anything else your older adults’ need, you may want to take a closer look at the facility’s practices.

Paying Attention to the Little Things

Above all else, the key to avoiding abusive situations is paying attention to your older adult, listening to what they have to say about where they’re staying as well as the subtle cues they may give you. If they appear unhappy or like the facility itself may be causing them distress, investigation on your end may be warranted.