Moving a loved one into long term care is an emotional decision for everyone. But it’s important to remember that you’re doing this because it’s in your loved one’s best interests and will provide a higher quality of life. Sometimes, their home doesn’t take care of them the way that you would expect. If this happens, a nursing home abuse lawyer can help.
A Cincinnati nursing home abuse lawyer from Bey & Associates will work tirelessly on behalf of you and your loved one. Your focus can return to your loved one instead of worrying about making your claim on your own. We will do everything to get your loved one the compensation they deserve.
Breaking Down the Types of Nursing Home Abuse
Nursing home abuse takes many forms. Abuse can come from nurses who don’t treat their residents with care and respect, those who actively seek to harm their residents, or people who don’t have enough time to give each resident the attention and patience that they need.
The different kinds of abuse are equally damaging and terrible for elders to go through. Some types of nursing home abuse are:
- Physical. This involves actions like hitting, slapping, and pushing.
- Emotional. This abuse is just as serious and impactful as physical. Nurses can insult, berate, yell, or threaten their residents. But emotional damage is also done when nurses ignore their residents or prevent them from seeing family and friends, too.
- Sexual. When seniors are victims of sexual abuse, they forced to be a part of or witness sexual acts.
- Neglect. Sometimes, nurses either don’t or can’t attend to their resident’s needs. Nursing home neglect is more common in homes that have staffing issues. When there aren’t enough people working, the staff is often overworked. They might not be able to focus on your loved one because they’re worried about an entire floor of residents.
Whether a nurse is handling your loved one too roughly or ignoring their concerns, residents’ health and wellbeing are put at risk. Their quality of life is threatened and it’s not fair for them to suffer because someone else is an inadequate caregiver.
What Are the Signs of Nursing Home Abuse and Negligence?
Because there are different types of nursing home abuse, some have correlating signs that go with them. When visiting your loved one in a nursing home, keep an eye out for injuries or behaviors that could indicate that abuse could be happening.
- Physical. Look for uncommon bruising, welts, or broken bones. Other forms of physical abuse can be related to head injuries, lack of dental care, and malnutrition.
- Psychological. Signs of psychological abuse include having depression, emotional distress, and odd changes in mood.
- Financial. Some people take financial advantage of seniors who have trouble with remembering events or keeping facts straight. They can deplete funds and others have to rely more heavily on programs like Medicaid.
- Social. Keeping residents from socially engaging with other residents or visitors will make the resident isolated and withdrawn.
If you’re suspicious of nursing home abuse or want to keep a more watchful eye on your loved one and their home, you may worry about staff thinking that you’re looking for a problem. When visiting your loved one, take the opportunity to talk to other long-term residents and their families. Ask how they like the home and how their loved one likes living there. You can also speak to the regular nurses who take care of your loved one to get a sense of the daily routine and who sees your loved one on a daily basis.
Other ways to assess the quality of the nursing home is tasting the food and seeing what they’re serving. A quality nursing home will provide healthy and delicious meals. And if you get a chance, look for a community calendar or ask about the social activities and events that are available. They should provide plenty of opportunities for seniors to cultivate thriving social lives and regular exercise.
Ohio Senior Citizens Rights in Nursing Homes
Ohio has strict and clear nursing home abuse laws. The residents have rights that are supposed to protect them from harm and abuse. If you have a your loved one in a nursing home, read these rights so you know what your loved one is entitled to by law.
- Sanitary and Safe Environment. Seniors’ living environments need to meet the standards of programs like Medicare and Medicaid, the state laws, and the director of health.
- Freedom from Abuse of Any Kind. Seniors’ rights also include that people are to treat them with respect and dignity.
- Medical Treatment. No matter the race, religion, age, seniors have the right to their medical treatment.
- Responses to Reasonable Requests. When seniors ask a question or make a request, they should receive a swift response and know that their concerns are being heard.
- Fresh Clothes and Bedsheets. Seniors clothes and bedsheets should be clean and changed on a regular basis.
- Knowledge of Caretakers and Nurses. Seniors have the right to know who is taking care of them and what their specialty is. They can get this information upon request.
Seniors’ rights have high standards to ensure they receive the quality care they need. When people violate these rights, they need to be held accountable for their actions.
Rankings of Long-Term Care Facilities in Cincinnati
Before you make the difficult, yet necessary, decision to move your loved one into a long-term care facility in Cincinnati, it’s important to research the rankings of those nursing homes to ensure that your loved one will be safe, cared for, and provided with the quality of life that they deserve. Medicare has a Nursing Home Comparison tool that allows you to look into how good or bad the potential facility is.
With this tool, you can see if your loved one’s nursing home is rated above or below average. Here are some of the facilities in our city that are rated below average based on data collected by Medicare about their performance with health inspections, staffing, and quality of resident care:
- Oak Pavilion Nursing Center
- Garden Park Health Care Center
- Astoria Place of Cincinnati
- Harrison Pavilion Care Center
- Brookside Healthcare Center
- Highlands Post-Acute
- Norwood Towers Post-Acute
- Harmony Court Rehab and Nursing
These long-term care facilities only got one star out of five, which ranks them below average for the care that they provide their residents. Many of these nursing homes have also received penalties for the citations they have received, which means that they failed to correct the issue that they were cited for. This could mean that the facility isn’t taking action to make the changes that they need to in order to improve the safety and care that they provide for their residents.
While there are many nursing homes that are below average or much below average on the ranking system, there are also some homes that are considered above average where you can trust your loved one to be in good hands with them. Of the 62 facilities that are listed in this system, only 15 have acquired the rank of much above average.
Here are some of the facilities that ranked high on the scale and could be helpful to your loved one who you can no longer care for at home:
- Archbishop Leibold Home
- Margaret Hall Inc
- Beechwood Home for Incurables
- Marjorie P Lee Retirement Community
- Deupree Cottages
- Ohio Living Llanfair
- Western Hills Retirement Center
Your loved one deserves only the best care when they decide that it’s time to move to a long-term care facility. When the opposite happens, and they’re mistreated and abused by the staff or fellow residents, you could use the help of a Cincinnati nursing home abuse attorney. At Bey & Associates, we understand that your loved one is likely feeling vulnerable from experiencing abuse, which is why we’ll fight hard to defend their rights.
How to Choose a Facility for Your Loved One
You don’t want to take a gamble on an elderly family member’s health. That’s why you’ll want to fully research to ensure that you choose the best facility for your loved one to live in. The National Institute on Aging describes how to choose a nursing home for your family member, and gives these tips to make sure that the facility is up to your standards and provides adequate care to their residents:
- Find the Best Homes in the Area. The first step to finding the best long-term care facility for your loved one starts by talking about their needs and where the optimal location would be for them and you. Make sure that you’re looking into homes that are in the area you choose, and that you can visit often so that your loved one can still see you regularly.
- Visit the Facilities. Before making a choice, you should visit multiple facilities. By visiting the nursing homes, you can see firsthand if they’re clean, how they treat their residents, and even talk to families of the residents to ask them about their experiences with the facility.
- Ask Questions at the Visits. Be sure to ask questions on your visits. Don’t only take the staff’s word for it—ask residents and their families the same questions to get more responses so that you can decide if it’s the right facility for your family member.
- Search the Facility on the Internet. Even if your visit went well, the residents had only good things to say, and you think the nursing home is the right fit for your family member, you should still do a thorough search on the internet about the facility. This way, you can look at their ranking online to determine if it’s safe or provides adequate care to its residents.
- Carefully Read Your Contract. Before signing the bottom line, make sure that you fully read your contract and don’t agree to anything that makes you uncomfortable.
Going through these steps can help ensure that your loved one gets optimal care in their long-term care facility. However, if that care takes a turn, and they end up being abused or neglected, then you could use the help of a Cincinnati nursing home abuse lawyer from our firm. We’ll help you stand up for your family member and hold the negligent facility accountable for their actions.
Get in Touch With a Cincinnati Nursing Home Abuse Lawyer
If your loved one is being abused, you’re probably dealing with shock and disgust that they weren’t treated fairly. Making sure your loved one is in a safe environment and helping them recover from the abuse is a difficult and taxing job. But you don’t have to handle their nursing home abuse claim on your own. You have the right to seek legal aid. With the help of an elder abuse lawyer, you can file a claim for your loved one knowing that you have experience on your side.
Bey & Associates has the dedicated and practiced Cincinnati nursing home abuse lawyers who will listen to your case and do all they can to get your loved one justice. You can discuss your case in a free consultation. Contact us today and start the process to fighting for your loved one’s rights.
