Nursing Home Abuse

What is nursing home abuse?

Nursing home abuse is a very specialized form of elder abuse. It occurs in a nursing home and usually happens between a senior citizen and one of the staff members within the nursing home. Staff members are in charge of taking care of all of the different seniors living at a nursing home. There are a number of different things a staff member might do to a senior that would constitute nursing home abuse and a few of them are listed below.

Physical: Any sort of slapping, hitting, or pushing would constitute physical nursing home abuse.

Emotional: Emotional nursing home abuse is any inappropriate reaction that causes a strong negatively emotional response in the senior. This includes things like blaming the senior inappropriately, yelling at a senior, or anything else in that range.

Sexual: Any sexual harassment or sexual abuse of a senior that goes on in a nursing home is also a form of nursing home abuse.

What can I do about nursing home abuse?

The first step in these situations should always be a direct one as it is quite possible that people might not realize that they have abused one of the seniors. Because of the quick construction and licensing of many of the newer nursing homes, there are staff members that are qualified in all areas but inexperienced in actual practice; therefore, they might need to be informed about what constitutes as abuse in order to help prevent it from occurring.

Discuss the situation with the nursing home first and see if they will take actions to put a stop to it. If they are cooperative and do so then the problem is solved. If they do not, however, you should be prepared to escalate the situation and bring them to court in an effort to get them to pay for their actions. In such a situation, you will want to contact a lawyer.