A Goldwater nursing home abuse lawyer fights for you
America's nursing home population isn't just growing. It's exploding. At least 1.4 million Americans now live in nursing homes, and with America's over-65 age group expanding at record rates, nursing homes' ranks only will swell.Yet with increased residents come increased demands for America's 16,100 certified nursing homes. Already such facilities are rife with abuse and neglect, and with today's over-65 population of 36 million doubling to 72 million by 2026, the problems may get far, far worse.
The American Geriatric Society estimates that 700,000 to 1.2 million elderly Americans are subjected to abuse each year, including 450,000 new cases per year. It's also believed that only a fourth of all nursing home abuse cases are reported. Also, since 1996 the number of nursing homes reported to adult protective services has increased three-fold.
The disturbing breadth of this problem makes it vital to pursue legal remedies today, thus securing rights of nursing home residents in the future. Only via nursing home abuse lawsuits will many nursing homes be held accountable and compelled to correct institutional problems. Only then can we ensure that Americans in nursing homes, or headed that way, are not subjected to blatant abuse and neglect.
Actually, the average age of a person first entering a nursing home is quite older than the customary retirement age of 65. It's 79. Yet this older group is growing, too. In fact, with 5.3 million Americans being 85 or older, that is this nation's fastest-growing age group.
Staffing problems spark much nursing home abuse and neglect
Not only that, but their jobs can be emotionally demanding, given the near-helplessness of many nursing home residents. These Americans require help being fed, bathed and dressed. When a thin, hard-pressed staff must deal daily with thankless and sometimes unpleasant tasks, hurtful reactions sometimes erupt. Indeed, nursing home staff members may vent their frustrations on residents who cannot defend themselves.
Such abuse can take many forms, including sexual abuse. An estimated 1,600 registered sex offenders work at nursing homes, assisted living homes or other long-term care facilities.
Other nursing home staffers may inflict other physical violence on residents, or simply allow them to suffer via neglect. This may involve failing to turn a patient, who then suffers bedsores; failing to give a patient proper cleaning; failing to provide a patient with needed medication; and allowing a patient to suffer malnutrition, dehydration or damaging falls. Some staff members also come from a history of familial or personal abuse, which they then re-enact in the nursing home.
Not all nursing homes harbor such heinous behavior. It's estimated that two-thirds of nursing homes do not have abusive or neglectful staff members. But that leaves many thousands of residents elsewhere who are, in fact, at risk of nursing home abuse or neglect.
Fight nursing home abuse with a nursing home abuse lawsuit
Use the free case evaluation form on this Web page and a legal representative of the Goldwater Law Firm will get back to you promptly to explore your nursing home abuse lawsuit options. You may be entitled to a large cash award or other financial compensation And perhaps when accountability is enforced, future residents of nursing homes or other long-term care facilities will have a greater chance to enjoy their later years with peace and dignity.
Common misspellings of nursing home abuse and neglect: nersing, nurseing, nurcing, hoam, hom, abuce, aboose, abus, negleckt, niglect, neglict, neglecked.
Bruises, malnutrition, dehydration among signs of nursing home abuse, neglect
Exactly what are the signs of nursing home abuse? The most obvious, of course, could be death -- particularly a sudden death. Certainly, many nursing home residents die of natural causes, but if and when there is any question about a resident's death, that death should be investigated for a case of possible nursing home abuse.
Other nursing home abuse or neglect can be manifested in a variety of physical signs. These include bedsores, broken bones, bruises, malnutrition, dehydration, a bedsore infection, a urinary tract infection, physical abuse and sexual abuse.
Nursing home abuse, neglect have many and varied causes
Why would anyone deliberately harm, via abuse or neglect, an elderly person who is relatively helpless? This question haunts the many thousands of persons whose loved ones have been subjected to abuse or neglect in a nursing home, assisted living or other long-term care facility. And the answers aren't easy.
One is that people who have endured abuse in childhood or their formative years often tend to perpetuate that abuse on others as adults. It's suspected that some nursing home staff members have suffered abuse themselves, which can make them more likely to inflict harm on others, such as innocent nursing home residents.