Nursing Home Neglect

The Central Florida Nursing Home Abuse Lawyers at Dean Burnetti Law provide professional Nursing Home Abuse, Nursing Home Negligence, and Nursing Home Injury Attorney Legal Services in Polk County, including: Lakeland, Auburndale, Bartow, Haines City, Lake Wales, Mulberry, Polk City, and Winter Haven; in Hillsborough County, including: Brandon, Tampa, Riverview, Valrico, and Plant City; in Pinellas County, including: Clearwater, St. Pete, Gulfport, Treasure Island, Largo, Oldsmar, Treasure Island; as well as in all of the surrounding Greater Central Florida Areas.

One of the most common forms of abuse in nursing facilities is neglect. Nursing home neglect is a very serious charge. When a person doesn't receive the appropriate level of care that they require, this is neglect.

Hygiene-Related Neglect:

Oftentimes care facilities are understaffed.  Or the staff feels underpaid and unappreciated.  Or the residents are cranky and difficult.  Regardless, ignoring any resident's hygiene is never acceptable.

Nursing home residents often require assistance a few times a day or a few times a week with the following hygiene:

• Wiping or cleaning themselves after using the restroom
• Brushing and flossing their teeth
• Bathing
• Washing and brushing their hair
• Trimming their hair
• Dressing / changing clothes
• Clipping their fingernails and toenails
• Cleaning their eyeglasses
• Inserting / removing their hearing aids
• Changing the batteries on their hearing aids
• Removing, cleaning, and reinserting their dentures

When people are unable to perform certain hygienic tasks themselves and no one offers help, their physical health can deteriorate.  Furthermore, they lose their dignity which causes their self-esteem to plummet.  This often leads to depression.

Furthermore, dental cavities, uncleaned private areas after restroom use, a mass of tangled or matted hair, or dirty eye glasses can cause initial discomfort to exacerbate into unbearable physical agony.   This problem is even worse for patients who have lost the ability to communicate their agony yet still feel each excruciating moment.

Nutrient-Related Neglect:

Too often, neglected nursing home patients are hungry and/or thirsty for hours with a tray of food sitting just out of their reach. Perhaps this is a deliberate “act of punishment” by a staff member (such as retribution for having to clean a bathroom mess).  Maybe it’s simply an oversight in an understaffed facility.  Regardless, the end result can be malnutrition and/or dehydration, both physically painful conditions.

Some medical conditions cause elderly patients to experience difficulty swallowing. Other times, their teeth are in such a poor state that it hurts them to bite into food or chew very much. Other underlying medical conditions cause the resident to aspirate when they swallow. For reasons such as these, such affected nursing home residents require more individualized attention during mealtimes. An understaffed facility can cause a significant problem for these residents.

Exercise-Related Neglect:

Too often, in understaffed facilities, residents don’t aren’t taken out of their bed on a daily basis.  Sometimes they are parked in a wheelchair in front of a television for the duration of the day. When this happens, the residents who are unable to utilize their muscles daily lose their mobility completely. When an elderly person fails to receive daily exercise, they lose muscle tone, strength, and balance, as well as deterioration to their circulatory system. This increases the likelihood that at some point, they will suffer from a fall, or they may develop a bedsore or other pressure infection from remaining bed-bound.

Even worse, sometimes residents are medicated to keep them in bed.  These residents may never see anything other than the four walls of their room. (Remember, even convicted prisoners are allowed time in the yard, cafeteria, and community room.)

Sanitation-Related Neglect:

Nursing homes often have a prevalence of MRSA (Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus) infections. MRSA is staph bacteria that is resistant to most of the antibiotics used to treat ordinary staph infections.  When left untreated, it often becomes fatal.  Unsanitary nursing homes create unsafe environments for all residents.

Sanitary neglect can include:

• An accumulation of soiled adult diapers
• Piles of unwashed bedding and/or clothing
• A facility with dirty floors, windows, and/or walls
• Residents kept in beds with sheets that are not changed regularly
• Failure to change residents’ clothing or adult diapers on a regular basis
• A kitchen that is not sanitized properly after each meal

A nursing facility’s failure to provide appropriate physical care can also cause psychological damage. When a resident is denied proper care, they can become fearful of the staff, feel abandoned by or resentful of family members who committed them to the facility, and they may refuse food, hygiene, and/or other necessary care.

Besides neglect in nursing facilities (which is a form of abuse), other types of abuse common to nursing homes can be physical abuse, sexual abuse, and financial abuse or exploitation.

If you were injured or if a loved one was killed by Medical Malpractice, you have the right to a qualified attorney who is skilled in Florida's complex malpractice law and is knowledgeable about your type of injuries. Call (863) 287-6388 in Polk County or (813) 287-6388 in Hillsborough County or Pinellas County today to schedule a free confidential consultation with an experienced Medical Malpractice lawyer at Dean Burnetti Law.