Before you check a loved one into a nursing home, you have an obligation to look into the quality and reputation of the facility. Nursing home abuse and neglect are very real problems. Oftentimes, the facilities that are guilty of the most egregious instances of abuse and neglect have a track record of underperforming in several key areas. Here are some of the situations that you want to look for when you are trying to figure out whether or not a particular nursing home is suitable for your loved one.
Patients Getting Sicker
When people get older, they sometimes end up checking into a nursing home for a limited amount of time so that they can recover from a surgery or an illness. The goal is to eventually let the person go home after they have recovered. Some nursing homes function as a medical “black hole.” Anybody who goes in almost never comes out. This is a big warning sign of abuse, nursing home neglect, or both.
In a properly functioning nursing home, patients will receive all the care they need to help them recover. It will be the facility’s and each employee’s goal to help that patient recover as quickly as possible, receive top-quality care, and get out of the facility as soon as possible. If the facility seems to never let go of patients, it may be because those patients aren’t being given the kind of care that they actually need – and that is a big warning sign.
Unhappy Patients
ALWAYS visit the nursing home before you check your loved one in. Take a look at the patients. Do they seem happy? Do they seem to be getting good care? Does the staff seem attentive, committed, and knowledgeable? If none of these things is true, then there may be a problem. If the patients seem neglected, if many of them have a strong odor, as if they haven’t been washed in a long time, or if they all seem to be lying in their beds with no activity, I strongly suggest considering a different facility.
For more tips on choosing the right nursing home or retirement home, see: https://www.jrlawfirm.com/library/finding-good-nursing-home-choose-best-one/