Nursing Home Abuse – Facts & Resources
Guest Post by Amber Paley
Today, there are about 16,000 nursing homes across the United States according to the Center of Disease Control (CDC) with an estimated 1.5 million residents and 936,000 nursing staff members [5/20/2024 TCV Update: URL to PDF document no longer available] who care for these residents. This means there is 1 staff member for every 1.6 residents.
The nursing home industry is plagued with very serious staff shortages with 9 out of 10 nursing homes being understaffed. This is believed to be one of the leading causes of abuse and neglect in facilities.
Ninety-one percent of nursing homes were guilty of deficiencies between 2005 and 2007 according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human (HHS). Deficiencies included neglect and abuse. About 33% of nursing homes have been reported specifically for abuse including emotional, physical, sexual, financial, and neglect. According to The Journal for Elder Abuse and Neglect, about 21% of nursing home residents have experienced neglect in the past year; and this is believed to be an underestimate.
The figures we see about elder abuse are an underestimate. According to the National Center for Elder Abuse, 5 out of 6 or 83% of elder abuse cases go unreported in the U.S.
Resident abuse and neglect in nursing homes are often caused by staff members. A staff member with criminal past is not unheard of in the nursing home industry. According to the HHS’s analysis of FBI criminal data as reported in Nursing Facilities’ Employment of Individuals with Criminal Convictions, “Ninety-two percent of nursing facilities employed at least one individual with at least one criminal conviction …Overall, 5% of nursing facility employees had at least one conviction in FBI-maintained criminal history records.”
Staff members aren’t the only violent abusers of residents; other residents are also guilty of abuse. According to a Cornell study, in a two-week period, 2.4% of residents had experienced some form of physical abuse while 7.3% had experienced verbal abuse at the hands of another resident.
Yet, nursing home residents aren’t the only ones being abused. Nursing home staffs find themselves in an environment known for its high incidence of workplace violence. Twenty-seven percent of all workplace violence takes place in U.S. nursing homes. Studies have shown that members of nursing home staffs are assaulted at least once every month, and 38 percent will stuffer an injury that requires medical attention at least one time in their careers.
The difference, however, between abused staff members and abused residents is that residents do not usually have the physical or mental ability to defend themselves, nor do they always have others on which they can rely on to protect them or to report signs of abuse. Staff members, on the other hand, can generally defend themselves and have other staff members if they need assistance.
If you suspect your loved one is being abused in a nursing home, take these 3 steps.
1. Approach the Situation Rationally
Act rationally and calmly to the situation, but also act swiftly. If your loved one needs immediate medical attention, call 9-1-1. If not, immediately contact the manager of your loved one’s facility to report that abuse in as much detail as possible. If there is obvious evidence of abuse, notify the police so that they can collect evidence. It is imperative that you do not corrupt the evidence if possible.
2. Contact Your State’s
- Adult Protective Services Department.
- Department of Health Licensing or Certification office.
- Department of Social Services.
- Health Agency.
3. Contact A Legal Professional
If you feel your loved one’s abuse or neglect necessitates legal action, contact a medical malpractice lawyer. Be very careful, however, who you hire; some malpractice lawyers purposely pursue cases that have little chance of winning; these are known as frivolous cases. Look for attorneys who are actually winning these types of cases and to get general information on medical malpractice cases. And always do research before going to a lawyer.
Amber Paley’s guest post on nursing home abuse is an outgrowth of her outrage at the abuse and neglect the elderly endure in some U.S. nursing homes. She devotes much of her professional life writing about Nursing Home Abuse in an effort to bring this problem to light through public education.
For a related story click on Tips to Prevent Nursing Home Abuse.
Article edited by TCV.
Folks usually appear to feel that medical malpractice is unable to happen to them, where it is only a thing they see in
the news from time to time. Nevertheless the fact is that it does take place,
and it may happen to you. Certainly you do not want to consider it, but there are certain
things you must do in order to have any hope of winning a malpractice suit if
things come to that, and if you are not doing those actions, the likelihood of
winning a medical malpractice lawsuit are really
small.
Nursing care or Assistance living is very crucial & responsible job.
Without creating family environment, we can’t handle to all those patient’s who are there from different environment.
Physical harassment or abusing are very common things in nursing home if we are not able to treat according there behavior like, if they are paying us for something different & not getting that committed service, they will ignore or boycott against your services.
It is very sad that there is so much elder abuse in nursing homes and assisted living. Many of the people in nursing homes and assisted living do not even need all the services that they pay for while in there and on top of that they are subject to physical and mental abuse. We need to bring more people out of nursing homes and assisted living facilities. Bring them back to their home and give their families the ability to care for them.