Colorado Nursing Home Neglect and Elder Abuse

When you move your loved one into a nursing home, you trust that they will be treated with compassion, respect, and the care they need. But unfortunately, some nursing homes are run by corporations who put personal profits above the quality of care they claim to provide. They leech off their residents’ payments, cut corners to make a quick buck, and your loved one suffers terribly as a result.

Negligent nursing homes are understaffed, undertrained, and underfunded. Their residents languish untreated and ignored, suffering from illness, injury, mental and cognitive deterioration, and worse. Many die before anything is done to stop it.

What is nursing home neglect?

Nursing home neglect is different from abuse and can be more difficult to spot. Abuse is malicious and specific intent to harm a patient. Neglect, by contrast, harms a patient by simply not caring enough to treat them properly. It fails to provide patients with the resources that will keep them from enduring physical or mental harm. Nursing homes plagued by neglect are often underfunded, understaffed, and their employees undertrained. Patients are left to languish as their ailments and conditions worsen, and by the time they speak up, their health has often deteriorated severely and irreparably. If a problem occurs with one patient, it is very likely a widespread issue at the facility, not an isolated incident. Therefore, it is important to pursue legal representation in these cases in order to provide restitution and justice to your loved one and to anyone else affected by nursing home negligence.

Signs of Nursing Home Neglect

If you or someone you know is currently in or being admitted to a nursing home, stay on the lookout for the following signs of neglect. These patterns of damage can be useful in building a case against a neglectful nursing home. Be aware of:

• Worsening wounds, or the appearance of new ones. Neglect often means that patients are left undertreated in unhygienic conditions. Bed sores are a red flag, as is the worsening or infection of original wounds with which the patient entered the facility. If untreated for long enough, wounds such as these can lead to hospitalization or death.
• Lack of hygiene. A properly maintained nursing home should have sanitary rooms and bathrooms, routinely washed sheets, and well-prepared food. In addition, many patients are incapable of washing themselves and require assistance for personal cleanliness. Neglect in this area can lead to the spread of infection and disease.
• Who is (or isn’t) working at the facility. Neglectful nursing homes tend to be neglectful in their hiring practices as well. Their employees tend to be understaffed and poorly trained. You may notice that there are too few employees to provide care to all patients, and that existing employees are unable to respond to problems as they arise. It is not lawful for care facilities to hire people with a history of abuse or neglect, and those people often find employment when a neglectful facility fails to do its homework.
• Deteriorating cognitive and mental health. Untended to and left in neglectful conditions, patients often develop symptoms including depression, confusion, loss of memory, a short attention span, resistance to care, and decreased social interaction. They may exhibit decreased response time to basic questions and become unable to remember where they are or how they got there. They may become upset at the idea of interaction with caregivers or others. Take the patient’s words and behavior seriously. You may be inclined to write off their distress, but it is one of the strongest indicators of ongoing neglect.

If you notice these or any similar issues, the first and most crucial action you can take is to secure legal representation for the patient. Neglect at a nursing care facility is criminal, and victims are often left unable to speak for themselves. Willfully neglectful nursing facilities are run by people who find ways to skirt the law and evade the consequences of their harmful practices. A good attorney can cut through the bureaucracy behind the negligent facility to make sure justice is served and restitution is made for physical and mental harm incurred to the patient.

Many cases of nursing home neglect go unnoticed and unreported, and neglectful facilities are counting on the silence of victims’ friends and family to continue their morally bankrupt ways. Visit your loved one often and be on the lookout for signs of neglect. You may be the only one in a position to help, so pay close attention to their physical condition and mental health. If something seems out of the ordinary, seek the immediate advice of a legal professional.

If you believe someone you love is a victim of nursing home neglect, the experts at Mansorian Law Group are here to help. We understand the difficulty and anger that comes with knowing that someone you love is being so grossly mistreated, but you are not powerless. We can help you put things right for the person you love and ensure that others like them are not victimized in the future by corporations who put their profit margins above the well-being of patients entrusted to them.

Don’t let profiteers treat your loved one like cattle. If you suspect abuse or negligence, call Porya Mansorian and Associates, or fill out the form to the right of this page. We can help you get justice for your loved ones and take action against those who have wronged them to collect full compensation from negligent facilities.