Types of Nursing Home Abuse and Neglect

Contact Our Elder Abuse Lawyers in in Los Angeles Today!

Regardless of what nursing home that residents choose to reside, they have legally protected rights. One of their most basic rights is the opportunity to live in a nursing home without being physically or emotionally harmed. When residents suffer from nursing home abuse, this basic right is violated.

Nursing home abuse is when a staff member intentionally inflicts harm upon a resident, and there are several different types that people should know.

Staff members, residents, and family members should be aware of nursing home abuse so that they can easily recognize unhealthy behaviors, actions, and treatments and contact elder abuse lawyers in Los Angeles if necessary. 

People Who Typically Commit Nursing Home Abuse

When learning about nursing home abuse, it’s important to know who are the most common abusers in case you need to contact a personal injury lawyer Los Angeles. Most people are surprised to learn who typically engages in this type of abuse.

Nursing Home Support Staff

More often than not, nursing home abuse is typically committed by those directly responsible for residents’ care. Many of these staff members are in frequent contact with residents through medication administration or routine care, so it’s really easy for them to commit nursing home abuse. These potential abusers are also usually the ones responsible for documenting health care concerns like falls, infections, accidents, and changes in medical condition. Support staff can commit the many different varieties of nursing home abuse.

Administrative Staff

Although administrative staff aren’t typically the ones who physically take care of residents, many of them are still in the position to abuse a resident. Some administrative staff may commit financial abuse in nursing homes because he/she may have access to residents’ personal accounts and information.

Administrative staff can also abuse a resident verbally by yelling at them, refusing to respond to important concerns, and withholding crucial information.

Nearby Residents

Nursing home abuse can also be committed by other residents in the facility, especially by those who suffer from a cognitive illness. Due to this extremely important fact, professional staff should always monitor all of the residents in the nursing home. If professional staff suspects that a resident is abusing another resident in the facility, he/she should take the appropriate actions to protect the victim.

Family Members

While it’s typically not a common occurrence, some family members may commit nursing home abuse while visiting their senior relative. Even when the abuse is carried out by a family member, the nursing home should protect the resident. When it comes to protecting its residents, nursing homes must always take residents’ complaints seriously

Types Of Nursing Home Abuse

There is a wide variety of abuse that can occur in nursing homes throughout the country.

General Neglect

When healthcare staff fail to provide quality care to residents, they are at fault for nursing home neglect Los Angeles. In most cases, nursing home neglect is caused by the indifference and carelessness of healthcare staff.

Here are some examples of nursing home neglect Los Angeles:

• Forgetting or inaccurately administering medication
• Refusing to keep residents’ rooms properly cleaned
• Keeping residents in an unsafe environment
• Allowing residents to be unattended for several hours
• Avoiding cleaning residents when they have a bowel movement
• Failing to help residents with activities of daily living such as bathing, toileting, eating, dressing, and transferring

Physical Abuse

Physical abuse occurs when a staff member causes harm to a resident by bodily contact. Any resident can be physically abused, but those with cognitive or physical limitations may be more susceptible.

Depending on the severity of the physical abuse, a patient can experience severe and life-threatening injuries. If victims are not given the proper medical care, physical abuse may even result in death.

Physical abuse can occur in an extensive array of ways:

• Hitting, kicking, pushing, or grabbing residents
• Using forms of restraint on a resident
• Causing injury to a resident with an object

Emotional Abuse

Emotional abuse is the act of using words or actions to intentionally cause a resident mental harm and distress. Over time, this type of abuse can significantly damage a resident’s self-esteem and ability to enjoy life.

These are the ways that a person can engage in emotional abuse:

• Calling a resident destructive names
• Keeping residents from their families
• Ridiculing residents’ medical condition, character, or look
• Threatening to have residents removed from the facility
• Yelling at residents
• Isolating residents from family members and friends
• Manipulating and excessively controlling residents’ decision

Sexual Abuse

Residents who are sexually abused through unwanted touching or groping are often left traumatized. Many times, this type of abuse occurs when residents are incapacitated and unable to provide consent.

When residents are abused sexually, they may suffer from bodily injuries like scratches and bruises around their private parts as well as emotional and psychological symptoms. Some residents may even contract a communicable disease from this type of abuse.

There are a few ways to carry out sexual abuse:

• Full intercourse
• Oral intercourse
• Unwanted touching

Financial Abuse

An unscrupulous staff member may carry out financial abuse by befriending residents and gaining their trust. Those who commit financial abuse typically exploit and manipulate residents to obtain unauthorized use of their personal finances. When residents are victims of financial abuse, they will often feel distress from the financial loss. Many victims are concerned that they won’t be able to pay for their nursing home care and other important responsibilities.

Residents can suffer from this type of abuse in the following ways:

• Preventing residents from accessing their funds
• Misusing residents’ personal financial documents
• Manipulating residents by making them give staff money or material items
• Stealing residents’ money or other possessions

Trust Los Angeles Elder Abuse Lawyers

If you suspect that someone may be abusing a resident in nursing, please don’t hesitate to give a personal injury lawyer Los Angeles a call.

Elder abuse lawyers in Los Angeles are highly qualified to handle this situation in a professional manner. Los Angeles elder abuse lawyers can’t wait to help you.