What to do After Nursing Home Neglect is Discovered

27 Dec What to do After Nursing Home Neglect is Discovered

Neglect in nursing homes can lead to serious consequences for the individuals affected by it. Neglect in nursing homes is most certainly a form of nursing home mistreatment. The outright abuse of patients can be a feature of nursing home neglect. If you discover that a loved one has been neglected in a nursing home setting, there are some steps you should take to make certain that the situation is remedied right away.

Reporting the Neglect

The first thing you need to do is to report the neglect. Most nursing home operators, for obvious reasons, would prefer that you speak to the administration of the nursing home rather than go straight to a regulatory agency. In fact, it might be in your best interest to skip the administration and to go to the regulatory agency first. In some cases, when somebody is being abused in a nursing home, the administration is either complicit in the abuse or negligent in the fact that they are completely ineffective in making it stop. If there is neglect going on at a nursing home, it indicates that there may be abuse going on, as well.

Depending upon the severity of the neglect and the health condition of your loved one, you may want to contact a doctor right away. In some cases, nursing home neglect is actually discovered when somebody has to be rushed to the emergency room because of an infection or another condition that arises because of being neglected. If this is the case, make certain that your loved one gets the best care possible and that everything that happens is thoroughly documented. You may need this information in the future, if you decide to file a lawsuit for negligence against the abusive facility.

If you discover that nursing home neglect is a problem at a facility where one of your loved ones lives, the first and most important thing to do is to make certain that the situation is remedied. After the fact, you may wish to contact an attorney. An attorney who handles these cases may be able to help you by filing a lawsuit against the facility and arguing your case in front of a jury. If you have a particularly strong case, there is a chance that you will be offered a settlement in exchange for dropping the case. There’s no way to guarantee that you will win any lawsuit you file, however.