Nursing Home Abuse

There are approximately thirty-four million people over the age of 65. Nearly one in twenty will require some form of assisted living. Unfortunately, our senior citizens are becoming victims of intentional abuse and neglect within nursing homes and assisted living facilities. While it is difficult enough to place a family member in a home, it is even more difficult to see that family member suffer under the care of an abusive, overburdened, and under trained nursing home staff.

The National Center for Elder Abuse and numerous nursing home abuse articles report that neglect of our senior citizens' basic needs is the number one type of elder abuse. Physical abuse by caregivers ranks as the second most common form of elder mistreatment. Almost one million senior citizens are victimized each year.

When abuse or neglect occurs in nursing homes and other assisted living facilities, it is often referred to as "institutional abuse." Institutional abuse can come in many forms, including physical, sexual, and emotional abuse. Physical abuse can be caused by hitting, unreasonably restraining, inappropriately drugging, refusing to transport, burning, and almost any other type of abusive physical contact imaginable.

General neglect of seniors is the most prevalent type of abuse. Neglect is the result of a lack of interest in the well being of the senior citizen. While physical, sexual, and mental abuse are the result of intentional and purposeful acts of the staff, neglect may occur when a caregiver simply does not care. Caregivers neglect their duty when they fail to provide some necessary element for the resident's survival. Such neglect can include anything from failing to provide food & water to not paying the heating bill.

The abuse can be at the hands of other residents or the staff. Some typical types of sexual abuse include sexual battery (including vaginal and anal intercourse without consent), forced nudity, and inappropriate photography.

Mental abuse of the elderly, while perhaps not as visible as physical abuse, can be just as, if not more so debilitating. One must be vigilant to uncover mental abuse, as the consequences of such abuse may not be immediately apparent. Mental abuse includes, but is not limited to, verbally harassing or intimidating the resident, intentionally not speaking to the resident, and isolating the resident from friends and family.

Failure to Warn

People are aware that they must sign forms before undergoing a surgical procedure at the hospital. These forms generally state that the patient is consenting to the operation after being fully informed of all the risks associated with the procedure and having discussed possible alternatives with their physician. These forms are generally signed by the patient without being fully read sometimes while under medication in preparation for surgery.

These forms are often not specific to the surgery being performed. They are, in fact, standard forms used for every procedure and they are frequently inappropriate.

The law expects your doctor to fully discuss the medical treatment he or she proposes for you. If that treatment involves surgery, then the surgeon must inform you of all the risks associated with it. In some procedures, there is serious risk of injury even if everything goes correctly. If there are alternatives to surgery, your doctor should discuss them with you, as well as all the risks associated with those procedures. If a doctor fail to give this information, he or she has violated the law.

Failure to Diagnose

Failure to diagnose a condition can be considered medical malpractice depending on the circumstances of the patient's medical condition. By failing to recognize symptoms of certain conditions, or failing to perform standard testing to screen for certain conditions, a failure to diagnose serious health conditions will allow the patient's health to continue to deteriorate. Often times, the failure to diagnose will allow the patient to suffer irreversible health effects.

Not all delayed diagnoses are failure to diagnose claims, but conferring with a failure to diagnose lawyer will allow the patient to learn if they have a strong case. A failure to diagnose lawyer has the knowledge of both legal and medical matters. Performing a thorough investigation, the failure to diagnose lawyer will need to provide evidence that negligence contributed to the failure to diagnose the patient's condition.

Emergency Room Care

Physicians and health care providers are pledged to perform to standards of care. When they do not, patients' rights have been violated. You and your family may be facing increased medical costs a living costs because of medical negligence that takes place in surgery, during birth or in the emergency room.

Medical mistakes include a range of examples, including:

• Failing to divulge information
• Misusing a medical device or implant
• Making a surgical error during an operation
• Failing to get informed consent from a patient
• Failing to perform a procedure

These are but a few instances of how inappropriate practice by a health care provider deviates from generally accepted standards of practice. Whether you have been misdiagnosed by a physician or injured during an operation, you may need help finding another doctor or paying medical bills.