5 Reasons for Nursing Home Resident Abuse

Nursing home residents are some of our society’s most vulnerable people. Nevertheless, they are subject to the worst types of abuse. Here are five reasons why this inexcusable behavior might take place.

Putting a loved one into a nursing home is a horrendous experience. Those who have been through it already know that it is a monumental decision. Your loved one has reached a stage of life when they cannot take care of themselves any longer. They are not able to run a household. As such, we place them into residential care where we believe that they will be safer. But what happens when they are not?

Residents in nursing homes cannot protect themselves from their caretakers. In fact, sources say that about 40% of all nursing home residents will experience some form of abuse. Bed sores, maltreatment of patients with declining mental health, and injuries due to negligence are all commonplace.

5 Reasons Nursing Home Residents Have High Rates of Abuse

If you think your loved one is suffering abuse or neglect in their care home, call a nursing home bed sores lawyer who can help you get to the bottom of any potential resident abuse in the suspected site. Meanwhile, here are five reasons why abuse is so rife in the care system.

1. Aggression and Short Staffing

One of the reasons highlighted all the way back in a 2003 study, is that nursing home residents are victims of aggression at the hands of carers. This is potentially due to understaffing within the care sector. A Forbes report showed us that only 1% of all care homes in the USA claim to be fully staffed.

2. Poor Supervision

As a result of short-staffed facilities, residents in care homes can suffer neglect when they’re not taken care of properly. If you can imagine that someone of an elderly age has lost their toilet functions, poor supervision could result in sores and worse health problems if nursing staff does not regularly supervise them.

3. Exhaustion

Most days worked for nurses in care homes are 16 hours plus. Some do double shifts; some do twelve hours. Occasionally, a short shift of 6 hours becomes available. Imagine if you are at the end of a 12-hour shift and a resident suddenly needs something. You might as well go home and assume that the next shift worker will take care of it – only to find that they do not.

4. Isolation

According to the World Health Organization, abuse of elders is far higher in nursing and care homes than it is in their own homes or with a family member. Isolating the elderly from the people who love them makes it difficult for family members to spot signs of abuse. If we do not notice it, we cannot stop it.

5. The Massive Nature of the Problem

We do not have enough carers for our old people. This leads to neglect and therefore abuse. The problem is set to get worse, with an expected global population of two billion people over the age of sixty by 2050.