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Thursday, July 15, 2010

Leading Causes of Abuse

LEADING CAUSES OF ABUSE IN NURSING HOMES

As different parts of the country experience nursing shortages, incidences of abuse in nursing homes continue to increase. The latest nursing home abuse statistics paint an alarming picture of prevalent elderly nursing home abuse. Here’s why:

Staffing Shortages: This is possibly the number one reason for abuse in nursing homes. Because of the nature of the care required, nursing homes are often consistently understaffed and report high job vacancy rates and staff turnover. This leads to inconsistent and often inadequate care.

Poor Training and Lower Pay: Further exacerbating the staffing shortages facing nursing homes is the fact that many employees receive little to no training and are paid less than their counterparts in other medical facilities. The outcome is sub par employees who do not have either the skills or the inclination to perform their jobs properly leading to abuse in nursing homes.

Lower Quality Standard of Care: Many nursing homes facing staffing challenges have been forced to lower their hiring standards. In some cases this means that staff members are new or inexperienced. In other cases, it means that caregivers who have been unable to get jobs at other health care facilities for various reasons are hired. In both situations, the end result is an increase in elderly nursing home abuse.

Abuse in nursing homes has reached epic proportions as of late according to nursing home abuse statistics. In fact, according to the National Center on Elder Abuse between 1 and 2 million Americans age 65 or older are victims of some type of elder abuse, according to the best available estimates. Of these incidents, only about one in five are reported. So not only is abuse in nursing homes on the rise, it is severely under reported.

If you suspect elderly nursing home abuse, there are steps you can take to confirm that mistreatment is occurring. Once confirmed, immediate action must be taken to stop the elderly nursing home abuse and report it.

Beyond that, if nursing home abuse statistics are ever to show a downward trend, the entire industry needs to address the above issues. As long as staffing shortages are prevalent, along with the subsequent poor training and low pay leading to a lower standard of care, abuse in nursing homes will continue to increase.

Contact Malman Law today to schedule a FREE Case Evaluation regarding your loved one and suspected nursing home abuse in the Chicago, IL area.

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