Scranton Nursing Home Abuse Attorney

There are more than 16,000 nursing homes in the United States, housing approximately 2 million residents. When we make the difficult decision to put a loved one in a nursing home, we expect the facility to provide a safe environment and skilled care. However, many fail to meet this expectation. Instead, for some reason or another, our loved ones are abandoned by the caretakers. This is considered nursing home abuse and negligence.

But no one has to stand by and let it happen. You don’t have to allow a nursing home to get away with improper care of your loved one. You can get their custody, fight for your loved one to get compensation, and even seek justice for those who neglected them. No two cases of nursing home negligence are the same. It can be caused by a number of factors and those factors can help us discover who is responsible for the harm that came to your loved one.

If you need help seeking justice for your loved one, the medical malpractice and personal injury attorneys at Scartelli Olszewski, P.C. can help.

What is Nursing Home Abuse and Negligence?

Nursing homes are for people who need a place to live and receive care while they’re rehabilitating or suffering from an illness, injury, or condition. The elderly make up the main population of nursing homes, but they are not the sole people who can be entered into nursing homes. It’s also common for the physically and mentally disabled to be put in special nursing homes to receive the care their families and loved ones can’t provide.

When the caretakers who work in nursing homes don’t properly care for the nursing home residents they are responsible for, this is negligence. Negligence is considered a type of abuse, but not all abuse is negligence. Other types of nursing home abuse can be physical, emotional, sexual, and financial. If you’re loved one has been abused and/or neglected, don’t wait. Collect them from the nursing home, gather all the evidence you can, then come to the attorneys at Scartelli Olszewski, P.C.

Types of Nursing Home Abuse

Abuse leaves scars and proof. Some can leave near permanent marks on the bodies of our loved ones and their minds, depending on the type. When you visit your loved one or they tell you about the abuse they’ve suffered, there are pieces of evidence that you can record. These can help us identify what type of abuse they suffered. This includes:

• Bedsores
• Malnutrition
• Dehydration
• Poor personal hygiene
• Bruises
• Cuts
• Burns
• Sprains
• Fractures
• Frozen joints
• Infections
• Medication errors
• Sudden behavioral changes
• Fear
• Depression
• Theft
• Unexplained changes in account balances or documents

These are signs of multiple different types of nursing home abuse.

Physical Abuse

It may sound simple, but the physical abuse is rarely something as simple as being attacked. It usually takes the form of being punched and kicked in places that are easy to hide, restrained with straps or ties, or pushed or shoved around. These can leave marks on someone’s body and even cause long-term injury.

Emotional Abuse

Emotional abuse is when a staff member or nurse insults a resident or uses threats to control them. This is the most common type of nursing home abuse, and commonly takes the form of:

• Controlling a resident’s activities
• Insulting their appearance and intelligence
• Isolating them from family, friends, and other residents
• Making threats

Sexual Abuse

Sexual abuse is any form of unwanted sexual contact, touching, or groping. Residents who cannot consent or are physically disabled, are common victims of sexual abuse. This can leave behind bruises, scratches, sexually transmitted diseases, and emotional trauma that the resident did not have before.

Financial Abuse

Some people will emotionally manipulate the elderly to get money from them or steal from them directly. This can take the form of

• Using power of attorney to change a resident’s will
• Preventing residents from using their banking accounts
• Stealing cash, credit/debit cards, valuables, financial records, and/or banking statements from residents

Negligence

Nursing home negligence is a bit different from other types of abuse because other types of abuse refer to actions caretakers are committing against their residents. Negligence is the absence of action to care for their residents. This doesn’t always come from a place of malice either but from mismanagement of the nursing home’s staff or overworking them. It can be on purpose, and it’s important to know what sort of situation your loved one is suffering from before filing a lawsuit.

Nursing home negligence can lead to errors in a resident’s medication, failing to maintain a resident’s personal hygiene, or letting them suffer from dehydration and malnutrition.

What Should You Do if Your Loved One Suffered Nursing Home Abuse?

Our team of attorneys has successfully counseled and represented injured victims in state and federal courts, as well as alternative dispute resolution proceedings such as arbitration and mediation. We strive to hold wrongdoers accountable for injuries sustained by our loved ones who are helpless to protect themselves.

If you or a loved one has suffered from nursing home abuse or neglect, we encourage you to contact us today.