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Jun 12, 2022

by  Dalli & Marino

How Nursing Homes Try to Cover Up Neglect and Abuse

Home » Blog » How Nursing Homes Try to Cover Up Neglect and Abuse

Not everyone who supervises your loved one’s well-being has their best interest at heart. There are some nursing homes that may want to take advantage of your loved one. These individuals can take advantage of your loved one’s vulnerability while relying on their position or fellow team members to hide their malevolent behavior.

There are several different ways nursing homes can try to cover up in-house abuse. If you know what to watch out for, though, you can help protect your loved ones from harm. Below are some of the most common methods a nursing home may use to hide negligence or deliberate violence.

Threatening Residents

Not every nursing home resident maintains a consistent understanding of their circumstances. However, most residents understand when they’re being threatened. If a nursing home’s staff already engages in regular abuse, threats may be part and parcel of an abuser’s repertoire.

Nursing home staff may threaten your loved ones with additional violence, financial abuse, or social isolation if they report the abuse that they’ve already suffered. Some residents may feel too ashamed to subsequently report the mistreatment that they’ve endured. Others may not have the ability to express their losses.

Falsifying Resident Data

Most nursing homes are required to issue reports detailing the health and well-being of their residents. Unfortunately, some nursing homes opt to falsify their residents’ records. Teams can misrepresent a resident’s health to help hide signs of physical and/or emotional abuse.

Alternatively, falsified patient records can help nursing homes downplay the effects of understaffing. If a nursing home has neglected your loved one’s care due to a lack of nurses, your loved one can suffer as many negative side effects, if not more, as they would if they were facing deliberate abuse.

So long as you can regularly visit your loved one, it’s in your best interest to do your own assessment of their health. If you notice signs of neglect or abuse, like broken bones, bruising, or bedsores, you can reach out to local authorities for guidance.

Limiting Family Access to Residents

Nursing home residents who have regular contact with their loved ones are less likely to fall victim to abuse than those residents in isolation. With that in mind, it’s important to visit your loved ones regularly.

That said, a nursing home may try and take steps to limit your ability to contact your loved ones. In the era of COVID-19 and mandatory quarantines, it can be difficult to know when abrupt changes in visiting policies are well-intended or harmful.

If you suspect sudden nursing home visitation changes may be a sign of abuse, you can contact a local attorney. We can investigate a suspicious nursing home on your behalf. Together, we can remove your loved one from a dangerous situation and take legal action against the offending parties.

Delaying or “Losing” Medical Requests

Some nursing homes believe that their residents can’t fully understand their own health and well-being. This is not the case, of course, but it can see a nursing home’s staff deliberately delay or lose a resident’s medical requests.

This behavior falls under the category of medical malpractice as well as physical abuse. Nursing home residents who are denied essential care can experience a rapid decline in their health. To get ahead of this mistreatment, you can check in with the nursing home staff regularly and ensure that all of your loved one’s applicable medical requests make it to a doctor.

You Can Work With an Attorney to Identify Nursing Home Abuse

Nursing home abuse is insidious. Many teams may work together to hide signs of abuse from families and professionals—but you don’t have to let them pull the wool over your eyes. If you suspect that a nursing home’s staff may be abusing your loved one, you can take action with Dalli & Marino, LLP.

Our team of Spanish and English-speaking attorneys can prepare to take your nursing home abuse case to court. For more information about our legal services, you can reach out to us at (888) 465-8790 or fill out our contact form.