Nursing home abuse and neglect cases can involve several complicated legal issues. To begin with, your senior may have signed a contract with the facility to provide certain services. This contract can be instructive in determining whether or not you have a claim. These cases can also involve complex legal issues such as negligence and the standard of care. In addition, the facts will be critical – personal injury attorneys have powerful investigative tools that they can use, such as subpoena powers. Your attorney can be a powerful advocate and ally for your loved one.
Types of Nursing Home Abuse in Georgia
Physical Abuse
Physical abuse is the first thing that comes to mind for most people when you mention nursing home abuse. Outside of a nursing home, this would be considered assault and battery. As unbelievable as it seems, seniors in nursing homes are subjected to physical pain and injury far more often than you might realize, which can include things such as hitting, kicking, shoving, or slapping. Because the men and women in nursing homes are typically elderly and frail, physical abuse can result in serious injuries that can take a very long time to heal.
Sexual Abuse
Again, it seems hard to believe, but many seniors are even subjected to sexual abuse in nursing homes, which can range from outright rape to offensive touching, and everything in between. Sexual abuse can lead to severe emotional and psychological trauma for the senior who is victimized by this reprehensible behavior.
Psychological Abuse
In other instances, seniors are subjected to psychological abuse. They are threatened with physical harm, berated, terrorized, or verbally abused. As with sexual abuse, this can result in have an adverse impact on your senior’s mental health, leading to severe depression, anxiety, and even PTSD.
Financial Abuse
While physical, psychological, and sexual abuse can occur seemingly without motive, many people see our seniors as an opportunity to enrich themselves. Financial abuse can run the gamut from having an inordinate amount of influence over their financial decisions to outright misappropriation and theft. The elderly are at risk for financial abuse when they suffer from Alzheimer’s, dementia, or other forms of mental or memory impairment.
Confinement or Restraint
Some nursing homes lack the resources to provide adequate care or supervision for their residents. As a result, they may resort to confining them to their rooms or actually restraining them to their beds. This inhumane treatment can lead to serious physical and emotional harm for our seniors.
Atlanta Nursing Home Accident Attorney for Nursing Home Neglect
Strictly speaking, neglect is not the same as abuse but is often closely related. Neglect is often experienced in facilities where there are allegations of abuse – the abuse can go undetected due to inadequate staffing, insufficient supervision, lack of resources, and poor employee screening, conditions that also foster neglect. Many nursing homes are unable to provide the necessary level of care, failing to provide seniors with necessary food, water, or medication.
Nursing Home Slip & Fall Accidents
Obviously, not all nursing homes engage in abuse or serious neglect. However, slip and fall accidents can happen at any nursing home. Seniors are often at risk due to mobility and balance issues, and if they fall, they are more likely to suffer serious injuries. If your senior was injured when they slipped fell, you may be entitled to compensation in the following situations:
- The accident was the result of the nursing home’s failure to repair or otherwise address hazardous conditions.
- Your senior has mobility issues and fell because they do not receive adequate supervision.
- Your senior fell and their injuries were made worse because they did not receive help in a timely fashion.
An experienced Atlanta nursing home accident attorney can review your case and determine whether the nursing home should be held liable for your senior’s injury.
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