Sadly, nursing home abuse is more common than most people realize, and it takes several different forms. Get informed on nursing home abuse and what you can do if you witness it.
Types of Nursing Home Abuse
In a study of 2,000 nursing home residents, 44% indicated they had suffered from abuse and 95% reported neglect by their caregivers. The most common forms of nursing home abuse include physical, sexual, emotional, financial, and neglect.
Physical Abuse
Physical abuse of an elderly person involves the application of physical violence that results in impairment, pain, injury, or bodily harm to the individual. Several kinds of physical abuse may happen to a nursing home resident, including scratching, biting, slapping, shoving, striking, pushing, using restraints inappropriately, and more.
Sexual Abuse
Sexual abuse of an elderly person is defined as any action against the elderly person that is unwanted and sexual in origin. It typically involves any sexual contact with an elderly person who cannot communicate their disapproval for the behavior against them. This also makes it difficult for them to report the crime.
Emotional Abuse
Emotional abuse of an elderly person may be more difficult to detect, since it does not typically involve physical symptoms or signs. There are, however, behavioral signs that may help you identify emotional abuse of an elderly person. Keep an eye out for the caregiver blaming, scapegoating, humiliating, or ridiculing the elderly person. These are all telltale signs of emotional abuse.
Financial Abuse
The financial abuse of an elderly person involves taking or using their monetary assets without their consent. This includes forging the elderly person’s signature on checks or other documents, forcing the elderly person to sign a will, deed, or power of attorney, stealing money or property from the elderly person, and more.
Neglect
Neglect is one of the most common forms of abuse that occurs in nursing homes. There are four main types of nursing home neglect, including:
Medical neglect: This happens when the nursing facility fails to attend or prevent medical concerns of the resident.
Neglect of basic needs: This is when the nursing facility fails to provide the resident with a reasonable amount of food or water, or provide a clean and safe environment.
Neglect of personal hygiene: This happens when nursing home residents do not have adequate assistance with personal hygiene needs.
Social or emotional neglect: This occurs when staff members repeatedly ignore or yell at nursing home residents.
If you suspect your loved one is a victim of any of these forms of nursing home abuse, our Kansas City nursing home abuse attorneys can fight for the justice you and your relative deserve. At DiPasquale Moore, we’re prepared to pursue your interests without compromise.
Contact us today at (888) 743-1030 to learn how we can assist you.