Nursing Home Neglect Attorney Waterbury, Connecticut
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What You Can Expect from Us as Your Nursing Home
Neglect Attorney
The negligence in nursing care homes has reached epic proportions.(Can we cite a source?) This is of serious concern as these are the places where treating and caring for our elderly population should be of greatest important,. Indeed, it’s neglect—more than intentional abuse and maltreatment—that is the biggest threat to seniors in care homes. Whether this negligence takes the form of ongoing poor care, or an occasional failure to address “preventable adverse events,” (can we say this in simpler language) the results are extremely damaging, and may include serious and permanent injury, or in the worse case, the loss of a loved one.
The widespread occurrence and danger of elder neglect cannot be overstated. According to the Nursing Home Abuse Guide (citation), a staggering 30% of all nursing homes experience some form of resident abuse. Out of all of these forms of abuse, neglect is the most common. Over 90% of nursing home residents report either experiencing or witnessing neglect. More worrying still, these figures are far from being an exaggeration. On the contrary, experts believe that elder abuse and neglect are vastly underreported. Remember that many care home residents are not physically or mentally able to advocate for themselves. As such, even serious physical and sexual abuse often remains invisible.
When is Your Loved One Eligible for Compensation?
As our personal injury lawyers in Waterbury, CT know all too well, neglect and abuse can show itself in a variety of different ways. In addition to verbal, physical, and sexual abuse, the presence of the following circumstances may mean that you and your loved one are eligible for compensation:
- Your loved one has experienced a preventable fall. While a fall might seem like a harmless accident, falls can cause serious injury in frail elderly patients. Nursing home staff are aware of this. It’s their job to monitor residents and prevent serious falls. Failing to do so is a form of dangerous neglect.
- Your loved one has experienced a lack of treatment or delayed treatment for medical problems. It is the responsibility of nursing home staff to notice when a resident is unwell and seek prompt, thorough treatment. Even common conditions, such as the flu or bed sores, can quickly become emergencies for very elderly individuals. Close monitoring is therefore essential.
- Your loved one has been given inadequate medical care. Examples of inadequate medical care include over or under medicating and making nursing mistakes.
- Your loved one’s basic needs are not being met. Your loved one is entitled to adequate hydration and nutrition, as well as a safe, secure environment. If he or she becomes dehydrated or malnourished, or feels unsafe for any reason, immediate action needs to be taken.
It’s important to understand that you’re fully entitled to justice even if you do not feel the nursing home staff is acting with intentional malice. By seeking legal aid, you can force the nursing home to acknowledge issues that compromise the care of all of the residents. Problems like employing an inadequate number of staff, physicians, and administrative personnel, for example, are all common causes of elder neglect
Many times, administrative decisions like staff cuts are made for no better reason than to increase profit margins. Here at the Moynahan Law Firm, we have seen these issues become more and more prevalent in our 50-plus years of legal experience. Like you, we’re wholly committed to doing something about the problem.
When you work with our team of nursing home neglect lawyers in Waterbury, CT, you can rest assured that we’ll invest our time, energy, and expertise into helping you secure maximum compensation. By making elder abuse and neglect more costly and cumbersome than providing adequate care, we can work together to create safer care home environments for everyone.
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Nursing Home Neglect Form
Types of Negligence
Negligence is rampant in nursing homes because elderly residents either do not complain about mistreatment or are ignored when they do. This means that mistreatment is often only detected when the signs of neglect become clear. These signs include:
- Bedsores: Nursing home residents spend most of their time lying in beds or sitting on chairs. If their attendants do not move them regularly, they can develop painful ulcers on their backs, feet or hips. When bedsores go undetected and untreated, they can become infected and potentially deadly.
- Broken bones: The elderly are far more likely to suffer bone breaks and fractures after a fall, which means they should be always monitored closely. When nursing home staff are overworked or inattentive, falls and serious injuries are almost inevitable.
- Malnutrition: Nursing home residents who do not get proper hydration and nutrition are more likely to develop serious health issues. Therefore, the amount of food residents eat must be watched closely. In 2019, a nursing home in North Haven was fined after an attendant posted a video on social media that showed an elderly resident begging for food.
- Medication errors: Failing to administer prescribed medications to nursing home residents or giving them doses of prescribed drugs that are either too high or too low can be fatal. This often happens when nurses or nurse’s aides do not pay attention and make mistakes, but there are also alarming cases where elderly residents have been overmedicated intentionally to make them more manageable.
- Emotional detachment: Nursing home residents who only see their loved ones on rare occasions often feel isolated and lonely. This can cause their health to deteriorate rapidly, but kindness and interesting activities can keep them happy and engaged. This takes a great deal of work, and many nursing homes have staff who are either too busy to devote time to residents or simply do not care about them.
- Poor personal hygiene: Nursing home residents usually need help to complete basic tasks like brushing their teeth or taking a bath. When they are neglected, deteriorating personal hygiene is often the first sign. When the Associated Press looked into nursing home conditions in 2020, reporters found dozens of cases involving elderly nursing home residents who had developed debilitating bedsores because of soiled diapers.
HOW CAN I REPORT NEGLECT?
Doctors, psychiatrists, nurses and surgeons in Connecticut who witness nursing home abuse or neglect or suspect residents are being mistreated are required to report what they saw or suspect to the state’s commissioner of social services, and they can be fined up to $2,000 if they do not. Connecticut residents can report nursing home neglect by calling the Department of Public Health at (860) 509-7400. They can also submit a complaint to the department’s Facility Licensing and Investigation Section online.
When submitting a complaint about a nursing home, individuals should be able to provide information about the facility involved, the nature of the neglect or abuse and the patient who suffered as a result of the neglect or abuse.
The DPH gives confirmation numbers to people who make complaints about inadequate care in nursing homes that can be used to receive updates about investigations and sanctions. Connecticut residents can also report nursing home neglect to the long-term care ombudsman for their area by calling (866) 388-1888.
