The Hidden Dangers of Nursing Home Abuse and Neglect in Texas: Protecting Your Loved Ones - Advice from a Dallas Attorney

When employees of nursing homes intentionally cause injury to their patients, it's referred to as nursing home abuse. What's more, this type of abuse in nursing facilities may refer to deliberate or accidental injury. But regardless of the root cause, trauma, medical crises, and even death may ensue from this kind of maltreatment, along with many other hidden dangers.

Unfortunately, nursing home abuse is common due to inadequate personnel, training, and staff turnover or exhaustion. In turn, employees may take their frustrations out on the residents. In fact, according to the World Health Organization's data on elder abuse, one-third of caregivers have neglected or abused their elderly patients.

But if you suspect that your loved one has been abused at a nursing home, you can take action. To ensure their safety, you may contact the police or an ombudsman in your area to report the abuse. And with the assistance of a nursing home abuse attorney at the Rasansky Law Firm, you may be able to file a claim for damages to cover your loved one's medical treatment and other costs.

Common Types of Nursing Home Abuse

Upon hearing the phrase "nursing home abuse," you might first think of physical injury. Sadly, neglect, sexual assault, emotional trauma, and other types of abuse also fall under this umbrella.

Of course, to protect and provide adequate care for your loved one, you must first identify the specific kind of nursing home abuse they are experiencing. Common types of nursing home abuse and neglect include the following:

• Punitive force: Pushing, kicking, and striking are all forms of punitive physical abuse carried out by nursing home staff to punish or hurt patients intentionally.
• Abandonment and neglect: Some nursing home residents and patients may be abandoned for long stretches of time. Dehydration, infection, and pressure ulcers are just a few of the potentially fatal outcomes of this type of nursing home abuse and negligence.
• Sexual assault: Any unwelcome sexual contact or conduct falls under nursing home abuse. The sexual assault of nursing home patients by staff members is shockingly common: more than a thousand nursing homes nationwide were penalized for improperly handling sexual abuse allegations, according to a 2017 CNN study.
• Financial and emotional or verbal abuse: Though these types of abuse aren't physical, financial exploitation and emotional or verbal abuse of the elderly also occur all too frequently. This abuse may not leave visible scars but still devastate your loved one's quality of life.

Signs of Abuse in Nursing Homes