Too often nowadays adult children are busy working and raising families and must rely on senior care and nursing home facilities to care for their aging parents. As costs of care facilities are on the rise and budgets are being cut there are fewer healthcare professionals spending less time with our moms and dads in their care. What is more concerning is the possibility of fraud and abuse against our parents, whether that abuse be financial, emotional or physical. Nursing and senior care operations have a duty to provide care and not abuse and neglect the residents.
When abuse and neglect occurs, it can lead to damages including injury and death. Health law and litigation law firms such as ours advocate and enforce family members’ rights to the level of care and service that should be provided to our loved ones.
It is important to pay close attention to the facility and staff providing care for your loved one. If you know what signs to look for you may be better able to direct your attention and efforts to ensure the best level of care is given. Would you know what to do if your mother or father complained of mistreatment in a nursing home? Do you know if the facility is properly dispensing medications as prescribed? How could you detect a problem if your loved one is not naturally able to identify or report a problem or lack of care?
Keep in mind and be on the lookout for signs of nursing home neglect:
- Medical: How well is your loved one’s medicine chart maintained and how can you verify that all the medications are being properly consumed? Consider whether enough attention is given to current medical conditions and preventing them from becoming worse. Where physical therapy and exercise is a part of a health plan, make sure the opportunities are present and engaged.
- Personal Hygiene: You can often tell how well an individual is really being cared for when their hygiene and grooming is considered. Is your loved one being dressed properly and receiving a proper level of dignified care? If the staff does not care how the patients look, you might start asking some questions.
- Emotional and Social: Make sure the staff has a good relationships with your loved one. Ask questions to see what kind of things are discussed and whether family is brought up or discussed. Does mom or dad ask about their family or when people are coming by? Especially when dementia may be a factor in the socialization of an elderly parent, it is important to always make sure people are treated with respect and proper emotional attention.
- Basic Needs: Look to see if your loved one has any necessary restrictions to mobility or assisted mobility devices and is everything set up correctly. Find out about meals and how restricted and special diets are managed. Look around at other patients you observe because what may be experienced by one resident could be true for the others.
If you are concerned your loved one is not receiving proper care and treatment in a senior community or nursing home and you fear there might be a neglect problem, you can always ask for our help. You may not need to go so far as to file a lawsuit to achieve a desired result. Often we can work with care facilities to address problems and help find solutions to elder care concerns.
If you are interested in learning more about Michael V. Favia & Associates, serving Chicago and its suburban communities, please visit the Favia Law Firm website for resources and articles of interest. To contact the firm to speak to a lawyer about a healthcare-related concern, you may dial (773) 631-4580. For more information about the firm’s practice areas, you can also visit the firm’s Facebook and Twitter sites. Please “Like” and “Follow” respectively to keep in touch!
