Nusing Home Abuse
With over 1.5 million elderly and dependent adults now living in nursing homes throughout the country, abuse and neglect has become a widespread problem. Even though some nursing homes provide good care, many are subjecting helpless residents to needless suffering and death. Most residents in nursing homes are dependent on the staff for most or all their needs such as food, water, medicine, toileting, grooming- almost all their daily care. Unfortunately, many residents in nursing homes today are starved, dehydrated, over-medicated, and suffer painful pressure sores. They are often isolated, ignored and deprived of social contact and stimulation. Because of insufficient and poorly trained staff commonly found in nursing homes. Care givers are often overworked and grossly underpaid that often results in rude and abusive behavior to vulnerable residents who beg them for simple needs such as water or to be taken to the bathroom.
Federal and State laws require that nursing homes develop a plan of care and employ sufficient staffing to provide all the care listed on the care plan. Most corporate owned nursing homes today are not sufficiently staffed, and they can not provide all the care listed on the care plan. Consequently, residents are not taken to the toilet when necessary; they're often left lying in urine and feces. They also develop painful and life-threatening decubitus ulcers, and are not fed properly, they're not given sufficient fluids. They are also over-medicated or under-medicated, and dropped causing painful bruises and fractures, are ignored and not included in activities, are left in bed all day, call lights not answered. These are all forms of negligence, performed daily in nursing homes.
Nursing homes who receive federal funds are required to comply with federal laws that specify that residents receive a high quality of care. In 1987 Congress responded to reports of widespread neglect and abuse in nursing homes during...
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