ATTORNEY NEWSLETTER
Nursing Home Residents at Risk
Negligence, Neglect, and Intentional Abuse
Dementia Patients Particularly at Risk
Nursing home residents are at risk of harm from staff negligence, neglect, abandonment and even intentional abuse such as rape, sexual assault, battery, intentional overmedication, and other forms of abuse. Dementia patients are at especially high risk of mistreatment, either negligent or intentional. Much of such abuse is never detected due to patient inability to remember, comprehend and communicate what has or is happening to them. The Alameda County elder abuse attorneys at Evans Law Firm, Inc. represent senior victims of nursing home abuse, overmedication, neglect, abandonment, sexual abuse, rape, or injuries from wandering off/elopement. If you or someone you know is suffering elder abuse in San Francisco, Alameda County, or elsewhere in California, call the elder abuse attorneys at Evans Law Firm today at 415-441-8669, and we can help.
Spotting Abuse in Dementia Patients
Dementia is defined by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) as the loss of thinking, remembering, and reasoning to the point that it interferes with a person’s daily activities. Types of dementia include Alzheimer’s Disease, Lewy Body Dementia, and vascular dementia. The NIH estimates that over 5.7 million Americans suffer from some form of dementia; the majority are sufferers are in care facilities. They cannot always communicate what is happening to them, so families and loved ones need to be watchful.
If your loved one has already been admitted to a nursing home or assisted care facility, visit if you safely can during these times. If you cannot go in person try Zoom or FaceTime for communication or talk to some staff member you know you can trust about how your loved one is doing. When it is safe to visit, use all precaution and watch for signs of possible abuse or neglect:
• Bedsores/pressure ulcers or other poor skin conditions;
• Indication of rape, sexual assault, or battery;
• Bruises and scratch marks;
• Poor physical appearance or lack of cleanliness;
• Frequent infections;
• Falls;
• Injuries from wandering off unsupervised (known as elopement);
• Lack of equipment and supplies;
• Overmedication;
• Rapid weight loss;
• Dehydration;
• Abnormal or withdrawn behavior and unusual silence;
• Prolonged sleep or drowsiness;
• Agitation especially when certain caregivers are present or caregivers who do not want the patient to be alone with others;
• Reluctance to speak when staff is nearby;
• Unsanitary and unclean conditions, soiled bed linens and clothes;
• Fear of being touched.
Always report suspected abuse to the authorities but also call qualified counsel like the California nursing home abuse attorneys at Evans Law Firm to help you and the victim obtain all available remedies under California law from those responsible, including awards of attorneys’ fees and costs for bringing your elder abuse action.
Contact Us
If you or a loved one is or has been the victim of abuse or neglect from a caregiver or while residing in a nursing home or other care facility in San Francisco or Alameda County or elsewhere in California, contact Ingrid M. Evans and the other nursing home abuse attorneys at the Evans Law Firm at (415) 441-8669, or by email at <a href=”mailto:info@evanslaw.com”>info@evanslaw.com</a>. We can help guide your case through a jury trial or toward an equitable settlement. We handle cases involving physical and financial elder abuse, qui tam and whistleblower law, nursing home abuse, whole life insurance and universal life insurance, and indexed, variable, and fixed annuities.
