Moving your loved one into a nursing home is never an easy choice. Although it can feel like you’re removing them from the comfort of their own home, or your home, it’s important that they get the full-time care they need. When you choose the right facility for your loved one, they will feel just as much at home at their new facility as they did before. But sometimes, even when you think you made the right choice, your loved one could still endure abuse at the hands of a staff member or other resident.
No one should have to experience abuse, especially not in the place where they are supposed to receive care. With the help of a Dayton nursing home abuse lawyer, you can hold the abusive party or parties responsible for the mistreatment of your loved one. Bey & Associates, LLC will fight for your loved one’s rights and ensure that justice is served.
Nursing Home Bill of Rights in Ohio
Before you decide to file a claim, you might be wondering what rights your loved one has while they are in their long-term care facility. In the state of Ohio, the Nursing Home Bill of Rights states everything that you need to know. Ohio Revised Code §3721.13 is where your loved one’s rights fall under when they become a resident of a nursing home. It’s important for you to know their rights so you can be aware of when they are being broken.
Here are some of the rights that your loved one has in their Ohio nursing home:
- The right to a clean living environment.
- The right to be free from physical, verbal, mental, sexual, and emotional abuse.
- The right to adequate and appropriate medical treatment.
- The right to have requests responded to promptly.
- The right to choose their own physician.
- The right to make decisions for their own life.
- The right to privacy in medical examinations.
- The right to refuse medical care.
- The right to be free from chemical and medical restraints.
- The right to practice their own religion.
- The right to private visits.
- The right to unrestricted communication via mail or telephone.
These are only a select few of the rights that your loved one has in their care facility, so if they have suffered from another form of mistreatment and you’re not sure if it’s a rights violation, our Dayton nursing home abuse lawyer can answer your questions. With our guidance, you can decide if you should file a complaint with the Ohio Department of Health (ODH). You should file a complaint as soon as the incident happens since ODH will not process a complaint if the incident happened more than a year ago.
If your loved one’s rights have been violated by their nursing home and you’ve already filed a complaint but want to take further action, then you could file a nursing home abuse claim against their facility. Bey & Associates, LLC will ensure that your loved one sees justice for their mistreatment.
Common Signs of Nursing Home Abuse
Even if you know the rights that your loved one has in their nursing home, you might not know what to look for to know that they are being abused. Whether your loved one is being abused physically, emotionally, sexually, or financially, they don’t deserve it. When you know what to look for, you can more easily spot the mistreatment of your loved one and will be able to report the abuse to the proper authorities.
In general, these are the most common signs of nursing home abuse of any form:
- Unexplained bruises or other injuries
- Untreated injuries
- Drastic weight loss
- Dehydration
- Poor hygiene
- Bedsores
- Socially withdrawn
- Easily agitated
These could be signs that your loved one is being abused physically, emotionally, or mentally. But there are other ways that your loved one could experience mistreatment in their long term care facility. Sexual abuse is one way they can be exploited. When your loved one does not consent to these acts, it is considered sexual abuse. Some signs of this are:
- Unexplained bruising around their genitals
- Unexplained sexually transmitted diseases and infections
- Torn clothing
- Depression
In nursing homes, your loved one is also vulnerable to being financially exploited. A staff member could take advantage of your loved one’s confused mental state or use threats to steal money or expensive objects from them. Here are some signs that your loved one in a nursing home is being financially abused:
- Unexplained transactions
- Names added to their bank account
- Changes in their will
- Missing valuables
Most of the signs above have something in common—they’re unexplained. If you notice that your questions are not met with valid explanations, you may begin to become suspicious of how your loved one is being treated in their nursing home. On the other hand, you should also be wary if a staff member offers you explanations that are too good to be true, or don’t seem right. This could signal that things aren’t right as well.
If you suspect that your loved one is not being treated correctly in their nursing home, you should get help from a Dayton nursing home abuse lawyer so we can assist you through the legal process and launch an investigation. Your loved one deserves to be treated with proper care and respect, and we will see to it that they are compensated for any form of abuse that they endured.
Bey & Associates, LLC Is on Your Side
Filing a claim against a nursing home can feel like a big decision. With a Dayton nursing home abuse lawyer from Bey & Associates, LLC by your side, you can feel at ease that you’re making the right choice. Your loved one deserves justice for what has happened to them. We’re here to make sure that they get that justice.
Our experienced team will fully investigate your claim and make sure that all of the correct precautions are taken to prove that what the staff member or any other responsible party did was wrong. Holding them accountable ensures that other residents will not have to endure the same treatment as your loved one. Reach out to us today so we can get started on your claim.
