Identifying nursing home abuse is the first step to ending the mistreatment of your family member or loved one. It is important that you are able to recognize potential warning signs of negligence. If you suspect that someone you know has been the victim of nursing home abuse, please contact our experienced Western New York personal injury lawyers right away.
Identifying Nursing Home Abuse | Signs
Neglect and abuse can take many forms. It can be as obvious as bruising or less obvious such as bed sores that you must do some investigation because those areas are often the ones that are hidden from you. It can be as sudden as malnutrition and for those residents that can’t communicate that well, they are suffering silently because of mental abuse, being yelled at, scrutinized, ignored, and oftentimes residents who cannot get into the bathroom; one type of neglect is by having them wet themselves or not being able to change the bedding in a timelier manner.
We have complaints of residents who simply press the buzzer non-stop and not get any response to come and take care of their needs, get them to the bathroom, or to provide clean up. A friend or family member can look for these signs and notice the quality of the care. Are the sheets clean? Talk to your loved ones about what’s been going on. If they can’t communicate with you, look for the signs that are unspoken. Check for signs of abuse, check for bruising, check for bed sores, especially if a person has been previously interactive with you and is now despondent.
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Identifying Nursing Home Abuse | Document Evidence
Like all evidence, if documentation of nursing home injuries is not collected quickly, these injuries can disappear or fade. Because these injuries affect older people, victims of nursing home abuse may not have the same memory skills that they possessed twenty years earlier, and they may forget about their injuries. Documenting what you have witnessed or what these people have told you can be critically important. Take photographs with your cell phone and use notepads and pens to take notes and record dates and times. A calendar can help because it might refresh the memory of the patient whom you are interviewing. Recording devices such as cell phones and tape recorders can be necessities when recording a patient who alternates between lucidity and senility, as it is important to capture the evidence of the person who has suffered while it can still be collected.
If you or a loved one has been seriously injured due to nursing home abuse in Buffalo, or Western New York, it is important to seek legal representation as soon as possible. Contact our personal injury law office for a free consultation. Our team of dedicated attorneys will fight to get the compensation that you deserve.