The Issue Of Nursing Home Negligence

Over five percent of the 65-year-old+ population make up those who occupy nursing homes or other long stay rehabilitation centers. The average stay time for these elderly residents is over two years, however many stay longer than that. People look to these facilities to care for their family members, hoping and many times assuming those residents will be treated properly and not neglected in any way.

As many as 5 million elderly people in nursing homes are abused by staff members within the facility. These cases can fall under criminal law if there is an act of violence against the victim. This can be either physical abuse or sexual assault. Many cases are due to wrongful death cases in nursing homes where gross negligence took place that caused the victims death. There is a breach of duty in the duty of care the residents and families expect from the facility. (McDonald, Sheppard, Hitzig, Spalter, 2015). Patient neglect is when a designated caregiver fails to meet the needs of the person whom they are caring for. The term is often used to describe poor patient healthcare or services that do not meet one’s health care expectations, within reason. Patient neglect can range from depriving those of food, bathroom and bathing rights, as well as not providing medical care when necessary and needed. Every facility should assure that their residents and patients are treated with compassion and dignity. (McDonald, Sheppard, Hitzig, Spalter, 2015).

Many facilities have new employees sign codes of conduct stating that they will stick to these policies and standards since many times employees are the ones whom neglect the patient’s needs and rights. This has become a political issue as well, since many politicians use this as a campaigning mechanism, as it is a well-known issue which needs to be corrected. These cases often include patient being physically abused, dehydrated, unfed, and with bad hygiene. Emotional abuse has also been an issue, their needs are often ignored causing the patients to fell not worthy or they experience a loss of dignity. Doing research on such cases can be difficult since many of the patients lack the ability to answer questions and are often not in a proper mindset. (Reader & Gillespie, 2013).

Patient neglect and abuse have fine lines and differences but both result in the same despair of the patient. Patient abuse involves physically and or emotionally harming a patient on purpose, which is malicious behaviors on the employees’ part. Negligent behaviors involve passive omissions such as laziness and plain not wanting to help the patient or assist them with needed care. However, both can be considered negligence and the facility and staff member can be prosecuted for it. When care is provided and there are genuine mistakes made, this is erroneous and unintentional, which does not represent gross carelessness or due to a lack of compassion or competence. (Reader & Gillespie, 2013). It is unknown why exactly negligence in nursing homes happen, however it is happening more than we realize. Nursing staff often watch other nurses commit negligence, but do not admit to their own negligent acts or do not document such incidence as they should. Cases of negligence include not changing linen, diapers, or underwear when needed, sedating patients to lessen their workload, failure to bathe patients, and ignoring patients needs.

Many times, these neglect acts happen due to lack of training for staff members or workers being overwhelmed and unable to handle the number of patients they have and other responsibilities. There should be a reasonable patient to provider ratio to assure the workloads do not become unbearable. If there too many patients for one staff member there is lack of communication and lack of available time allowed for each patient which could end in a negligence case. (Reader & Gillespie, 2013). Families of victims often see neglect as more of an emotional neglect, than a lack of proper medical care. There is an expected level of compassion given from healthcare providers, along with the medical treatments needed. Families tend to not be educated on the medical aspect of nursing home treatments.

However, they do tend to notice when a patient is malnourished, seems depressed and unhappy, and has obvious bad hygiene. When looking into a long-term facility for a loved one, many do not anticipate having to file abuse and negligence cases against the facility and its workers. (Reader & Gillespie, 2013). Many cases also involve resident sexual assault or battery and assault cases. These cases may be caused by breech in duty on the facilities part if they are aware such situations may happen and fail to protect the residents. Healthcare providers and caregivers are mandated reports and required to report any abuse they encounter. There can be cases of resident to resident aggression due to mental illnesses known in elderly people, such as dementia.

The risks for these patients are high because they are older and more prone to injuries, also many times cannot speak up for themselves. Residents have been known to sneak into other residents’ rooms and can act inappropriately toward them, sometimes without realizing that it is wrong. This adds to the amount of cases which are reported in nursing homes a year, on top of those which involve staff members. (Phelan, 2015). Many nursing homes have policies in place which are presented to potential residents and their families stating what is no allowed and what can happen if these rules and regulations are not followed appropriately. Human rights approaches help to assure their residents and patients are all treated the same and are to receive a certain level of care and compassion from these facilities. (McDonald, Sheppard, Hitzig, Spalter, 2015).