Nursing Home Neglect by Jasmine Catrib

Crazy to think you would possibly find yourself filing a lawsuit against the people you thought would take care of your grandma, but instead they used her Parkinsons’ disease as an advantage and didn’t do their job right. Nursing home neglect, it’s real and a huge problem. While many would disagree, considering nursing homes are said to be filled with caring people who would truly lookout for the loved ones 24/7 but in reality, your closest one could be the next victim.

Nursing home neglect is when the resident is treated unfairly. There could be multiple ways the resident is neglected. Either way, this isn’t right. If we are sending our elders to a nursing home it usually would be because we need help taking care of them, not someone who’s going to treat them badly. This makes the resident feel degraded and disrespected. It could ruin their mental and physical health. Carol, a Collections/billing office manager, believes that “We need more compassionate people in those positions” If you aren’t going to take care of the resident properly, don’t take up the job then. 

Let’s look deeper into this situation. Neglect is not just assault/sexual abuse and harassment. It includes disrespectful staff/understaffed, not enough medication/wrong medication, abandonment, injuries that aren’t properly handled, bad food. It is the staff’s job to keep the loved ones safe considering not many of them are going to have anyone to visit them. If you are looking to have a job career like a Nursing Home Nurse, take proper training to ensure the safety of loved ones.

 

Carol agrees, she complains, “They need to have more government help and the proper training for people to help our loved ones in there.”

What is the consequence though? If you were to participate in Nursing Home Neglect, you could get a lawsuit filed against you, fined, your job can be taken(you won’t be able to take care of anyone anymore). If the facility in all allows this behavior, they can get a nursing home lawsuit filed up to a payout of $1million dollars.

However, some people feel that this is ok and if you don’t want your loved one mistreated, simply don’t put them in a nursing home. They say because they are older in age, that can be used as an advantage. But nursing home neglect is not a joke and shouldn’t be taken as one. In 2020, the World Health Organization sent out a survey. 

This survey showed the 12% of the nurses admitted to neglecting residents just within the past year. In just 2014, over 14,000 complaints were filed about nursing home neglect. Studies also show women are more likely to be abused by men in nursing homes.

  • 27.4% – Physical abuse
  • 22.1% – Resident-on-resident abuse (physical or sexual)
  • 19.4% – Psychological abuse
  • 15.3% – Gross neglect
  • 7.9% – Sexual abuse
  • 7.9% – Financial exploitation

If you start to realize (any of these signs) broken bones, bruises, strange transactions, a change in the elder’s mood,  sexual injuries/mistreating there’s a chance your loved one is being neglected. Sadly, if you find yourself in this position there are a couple of things you could do. 

  • Dial 911 to report nursing home abuse
  • Call a nursing home abuse hotline
  • Contact your states APS (adult protective services)
  • Work with doctors or other medical professionals
  • Possible to hold nursing home facilities legally accountable
Physical Warning SignsEmotional Warning Signs
Broken bones, bruises, and weltsChanges in behavior or sleep
Cuts, burns, and soresDepression
Missing medical devices such as hearing aids, glasses, and medicationsFear or anxiety
Poor nutrition and dehydrationUnresponsiveness

Overall- nursing home neglect needs to start being taken more seriously. This shouldn’t be happening and it is. We want our elders to feel loved and cared for, if they are being harmed it will cause the opposite. In their final years, they should be filled with love and people who will treat them as their own.

Jasmine Catrib

8th grade Journalism

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