Nursing Home Abuse: A Crime Against the Elderly

With an aging population that continues to grow and with that same population living longer, more and more people will be placed in nursing homes, assisted care facilities, and other senior care centers set up to help them. Often, the elderly residents of such facilities cannot communicate well, due to physical or mental frailties. These same people have little in the way of defenses if they are subjected to neglect, abuse, or medical malpractice. They are, unfortunately, the most vulnerable of citizens in this country, with only outside family members or friends who may act as allies in times of need.

What You Should Know about Abuse and Neglect in Nursing Homes

If you have an elderly family member  who shows signs of nursing home abuse, you should take the matter seriously. What are the signs that you should be alert to? They may be indicators of physical abuse, neglect, or verbal or emotional abuse. Signs of physical abuse may be open wounds, cuts, bruises, bed sores, welts or other unexplained injuries. Other forms of physical abuse include unreasonable physical restraint, the use of chemical restraints or psychiatric drugs, forced isolation in one's room, and reports from the elderly person of being slapped, shaken or otherwise physically mistreated.

Neglect can show up as neglect of a medical condition, including medication errors, infections, or failure to properly treat. Physical neglect can include unsanitary conditions, lack of care for the person's basic needs, such as nutrition, hydration, and hygiene. Indicators that the elderly person has been emotionally abused may include depression, withdrawal, agitation, a desire to be isolated from others, and strange and unusual behavior towards family members.

Legal Assistance in Cases of Nursing Home Abuse

 If you suspect that a loved one has been subject to abuse or neglect in a nursing home or other senior care facility, you should talk to an attorney who is familiar with these type of personal injury cases. Greensboro attorney James Roane in North Carolina has litigated many cases of nursing home abuse across the state with excellent results. He has an outstanding reputation as a Greensboro personal injury attorney, having been voted a "Legal Elite" attorney by his peers in the Business NC Magazine of 2007. His firm is devoted exclusively to the practice of personal injury and wrongful death cases; this concentration has resulted in formidable legal skills and a comprehensive command of this legal field.

No one wants to know that his or her loved one has been harmed, whether through negligence or abuse at a nursing home or in some other situation. If it has happened, however, it is better to confront the fact and seek legal remedies with the help of a dedicated attorney such as you will find at Roane Law.