During the summer of 2019, a North Carolina woman began to harbor suspicions that her mother wasn’t receiving adequate care in the nursing home where the 86-year old woman lived. The woman worried that her mother was being left unattended for prolonged periods of time when she was in need of assistance. In order to have a better idea of what was and was not going on with her mother at the nursing home, the woman installed a portable camera in a picture frame that she left in her mother’s room. Within a day of placing the camera in her mother’s nursing home room, the woman retrieved the video from day one. She was horrified to see the video display not neglect in regard to her mother but deliberate, significant abuse or her elderly mother.
The mother residing in the Peak Resources Nursing Home is blind and suffering from advanced Alzheimer’s disease. Consequently, she requires significant assistance from the staff of the nursing home.
The video showed a nursing aide entering the elderly woman’s room to change her adult diapers. Immediately upon entering the room, the nurse’s aide began screaming at the blind woman. In a short amount of time, the nurse’s aide begins to violently manhandle the elderly woman. The nursing home resident cried out in very real pain as the nurse’s aide violently yanked her multiple times across the bed.
Ultimately, the elderly woman pleaded: “Have I done something?” The nurse’s aide responded to this desperate statement by screaming “Devil’s wife” to the elderly resident. Similar verbal and physical abuse perpetrated by yet another nurse’s aide was displayed on the video during a 24-hour period.
The elderly nursing home resident’s daughter took the video to the facility’s director. Upon being presented with the videoed evidence of significant abuse, the nursing home administrator fired the two employees captured abusing the resident. In addition, the facility administrator notified the state department of social services and local law enforcement.
Considering the short time frame in which two staff members at this particular nursing home abused one patient, odds are considerable that residents of this facility are being harmed by staff members with alarming regularity. While contending that this nursing home is an exception and not the rule would be a good conclusion, the shocking reality is that nursing home abuse is extremely widespread in this day and age.
Comprehensively, fully documenting nursing home abuse is impossible at this time. Another reality, and a terribly sad one, is that instances of nursing home are hugely underreported. Nursing home abuse is running rampant today and yet families and officials only learn of what likely is a fraction of the overall number of cases occurring every day.
Annually, about 33 percent of all nursing homes in business in the United States are cited for violation of federal standards, breaches that can result in residents suffering serious, and even fatal, harm. Indeed, 10 percent of these citations involve situations in which a nursing home residence died as the result of abuse or neglect.
Over 40 percent of nursing home residents report abuse. 90 percent of nursing home residents advise that they have been neglected or have witnessed another resident suffering neglect. An alarming 50 percent of nursing home employees self-report abusing or neglecting patients. As was noted previously, these numbers are below the level of actual abuse and neglect in U.S. nursing homes.
Family members nearly always need to become advocates for their older relatives living in nursing homes. If you’ve a family member that has been subjected to nursing home abuse or neglect, you can best protect that loved one’s legal rights and interests by consulting with a qualified, dedicated, experienced nursing home abuse injury lawyer, like a member of the legal team at The Doan Law Firm. You can connect with our firm right now by calling (800) 349-0000.
A nationwide law practice, the nursing home abuse injury lawyers at our firm will consult with any time at your convenience. We have offices from coast to coast in the United States. We can also arrange a virtual consultation online.
There is no charge for an initial case consultation and evaluation. In addition, our firm makes an attorney fee promise to you. Our firm never charge a fee unless we win for you.