With over 1.4 million senior citizens living in nursing homes, there are a lot of vulnerable people in the population. They may have mental or physical incapacitations which leave them more susceptible to abuse or neglect. It can be easy to recognize nursing home abuse when there are cuts, bumps or bruises that are easily seen. But issues such as over prescription or emotional abuse are going to be harder to identify.
The National Center on Elder abuse is classified seven different types of elder abuse, physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional or psychological abuse, financial or material exploitation, neglect, abandonment and self-neglect. Knowing more about the types of abuse that your loved one may experience, what they live in and under the care of nursing home caretakers, can help you decide if you need a nursing home neglect lawyer.
Nursing home neglect lawyers such as the ones available at Brusca & Davis LLC are a great resource if you believe that your loved one requires care and the force of law on their side.
Self-neglect can be characterized as the behavior of an elderly person who is threatening their own safety. Self-neglect is typically a manifestation of an older person who is refusing or failing to provide for themselves with adequate food, water, clothing, shelter, personal hygiene, medication and safety precautions. Therefore, in this instance of abuse, the elderly person themselves are the ones responsible for the abuse and the caretakers are the ones responsible for offsetting the abuse. The definition of self-neglect is going to exclude a situation in which a mentally competent older person who understands the consequences of their decisions is making conscious and voluntary decisions to engage in acts that threaten their safety as a matter of personal choice.
Abandonment is defined as the desertion of an elderly person by an individual who is responsible for providing care if that person. This is often seen by family members, but it can also be seen by court-appointed guardians or even the staff at a nursing home.
Neglect is defined as the refusal or failure to fulfill any part of a person’s obligations as a responsible caretaker. This type of neglect can be from anybody, even visitors, to his nursing home facilities. Neglect can include the failure of a person who has financial control over the elderly person’s money to use those funds as the elderly person has indicated or has been indicated in a will or the court. Neglect is often the refusal or failure to provide an elderly person with necessities like water, food, clothing, filter, personal hygiene, medicine or comfort and other personal safety items.
Financial or material exploitation can fall into the realm of neglect, but it is also defined as its own type of abuse. It is defined as its own type abuse, as it deals with the elders funds, because it deals with the elders funds, you may be cashing in elderly persons checks without their authorization or permission, forging their signature, stealing their money or possessions, coercing them into signing a document, and you may be improperly using power of attorney, Guardianship or conservatorship and that would all fall under financial or material exploitation.
Many types of abuse can come from many places, but if you were in a nursing home and your loved one is being abused, it’s most likely by a staff member who is close to them
