After a fire broke out in a Nashville, Tennessee nursing home in September 2003, much attention was directed to the safety of the nursing home environment. It was discovered that the nursing home's residential area lacked sprinklers entirely. Yet such devastating events at nursing homes are often not the first sign of a compromised care environment for elderly extended family.
In fact, many injuries and incidents occur in nursing homes across the country. Nursing home abuse and neglect have become an all too common reality for some families. It is a serious problem affecting thousands of nursing home residents, complicated by the fact that abuse and neglect are often difficult to diagnose and are often covered-up by nursing home staff.
Abuse implies the maltreatment, misuse or wrongful treatment of a person; especially when in a compromised physical or mental state. Abuse includes: assault, battery, sexual assault, sexual battery, rape, unreasonable physical constraint, or prolonged or continual deprivation of food or water.
Neglect implies the negligent failure of any person having the
care or custody of an elder or a dependent adult to exercise that
degree of care which a reasonable person in such a position
would exercise. Nursing home neglect includes: Failure to provide
medical care for physical (malnutrition) and mental health needs;
failure to assist in personal hygiene, or in the provision of food,
clothing, or shelter; and the failure to protect from health and safety
hazards.
