Does Your Loved One’s Nursing Home Have a History of Abuse?

When placing a family member in an Atlanta nursing home, deciding on the best facility for your loved one can be a challenge. You’ll have a great deal of factors to consider from price range and insurance coverage to medical options, personal care options, location, room size, and more. One factor you also cannot ignore is safety. How do you know the facility you’re choosing is safe?

One of the scariest situations imaginable for someone who’s placing a loved one into a nursing home is the possibility that their loved one may be neglected or abused inside the facility. We can’t always be there to supervise their care, and every week we hear about terrible cases of nursing home abuse or neglect on the news.

How do you protect a loved one when they’re in a long term care facility? The unfortunate truth is that you can’t completely, but by choosing a facility that doesn’t have a history of neglect or abuse, you can reduce the chances of abuse or neglect occurring.

The official Medicare website has a convenient tool that can be used to check if nursing homes in your area have any reported citations for physical abuse, sexual abuse, or other citations that may influence your decision to place a loved one in that facility. You can use this tool when deciding between nursing homes or to learn if your loved one’s current facility has a history of abuse.

Enter the facility’s name into the search box or search by location. The first page of results shows star rankings for each facility based on staffing levels. If any facilities have had reports of abuse or other negative inspection rankings, this information should show up under the health inspection rating. You can also pull up a summary of the facility’s most recent inspection as well as the full report.

Using this tool, you can rest assured that your facility of choice stands a fair chance of being the safest nursing home for your loved one. Keep in mind, however, that this tool only lists incidents of abuse that were reported to the government. There are a surprisingly large number of abuse and/or neglect incidents that never get reported. Choosing a high-ranked facility is generally safer than choosing one without a high ranking, however.

Regardless of whether your loved one’s nursing home has a history of abuse or not, be sure to take every precaution to keep your family member safe at the facility of your choosing. Stay invested in your loved one’s care and get to know the facility employees. Visit the facility often and be proactive when it comes to keeping your loved one safe, healthy, and happy.

If you feel your loved one has been abused or neglected in a Georgia nursing home and they have suffered as a result, legal recourse may be an option. Contact Bey & Associates to learn more. We can pair you with an Atlanta nursing home abuse lawyer who can help you relocate your loved one to a safer environment and ensure no other residents become injured in the same way.