Richland Nursing Home Abuse and Neglect Lawyers

What is nursing home abuse?

According to A Place for Mom, there are numerous nursing homes in Richland and the Tri-Cities region. The median cost for a private room is close to $10,000 a month. The median cost for a semi-private room is more than $9,000 a month. In return for these large payments, nursing homes have a duty to ensure their residents are safe from abuse and neglect.

According to the US Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS), nursing homes must ensure that their residents do not suffer physical, sexual, verbal, or mental abuse. Corporal punishment and involuntary seclusion are prohibited. Residents should also be free from sexual or financial abuse.

• Physical abuse. This type of abuse is generally the use of any force such us as slapping, pushing, hitting, burning, or kicking a senior.
  • The CMS specifically states that the nursing home must ensure that physical or chemical restraints should not be used for “discipline or convenience and that are not required to treat the resident’s medical symptoms.” If restraints are indicated, “the facility must use the least restrictive alternative.”
  • Physical abuse also includes failing to give a resident his/her medication. The use of physical force can cause pain, anxiety, bruises, broken bones, catastrophic injuries, and death.
• Sexual abuse. CMS defines sexual abuse as “non-consensual sexual contact of any type with a resident.” Examples include unwanted touching of intimate body parts; all types of sexual assault or battery, such as rape, sodomy, and coerced nudity; forcing the senior to observe sexual acts; sexually explicit photographs, and many other wrongful acts. Sexual abuse in nursing homes often involves residents who have dementia.
• Emotional abuse. Examples of emotional abuse include verbal abuse, intimidation, acts that make a senior fearful, attempts to control or punish a senior, isolation of the senior, humiliation, and threats. Not respecting the numerous rights that all nursing home residents have is emotional abuse.
• Financial abuse. CMS is concerned that nursing home staff may take advantage of seniors due to their old age.
  • CMS defines exploitation as “taking advantage of a resident for personal gain, through the use of manipulation, intimidation, threats, or coercion.”
  • Misappropriation of resident property means “the deliberate misplacement, exploitation, or wrongful, temporary, or permanent use of a resident’s belongings or money without the resident’s consent.”
  • Examples of financial abuse include pressuring a resident to sign a power of attorney, improper use of credit cards, forging check signatures, and other wrongful acts.
• Neglect. CMS defines neglect as “the failure of the facility, its employees or service providers to provide goods and services to a resident that are necessary to avoid physical harm, pain, mental anguish or emotional distress.” Neglect includes not having clean clothes for the resident, poor nutrition, and failure to prevent falls. Failing to give a resident his/her medication when prescribed may be medical malpractice.