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Nursing Home Abuse and Neglect in Phoenix Arizona
When we place our loved ones in a nursing home, we expect that they will get the care and protection that they need.
Unfortunately this is sometimes not the case. Our elderly are among the most vulnerable in Arizona. They often cannot speak for themselves, and they certainly cannot protect themselves from abuse or neglect. If they do speak up, often nursing home administrators turn a deaf ear, believing it to be either idle complaints or dementia-caused ravings.
Nursing home abuse and neglect is a serious problem in Arizona and across the United States. Many laws have been enacted to protect vulnerable elderly and disabled persons from individual or systemic abuse. Individual abuse occurs when one person neglects or harms another person once or repeatedly. Systemic abuse occurs when a nursing home entity turns a blind eye to neglect and abuse on its premises; or, when a nursing home entity deliberately ignores conditions that lead to neglect and abuse. Another type of systemic abuse occurs when cries for help are ignored by the government agencies that do business with the nursing home.
Issues often involve patient injuries or medical misconduct but they may also relate to day-to-day neglect. It is important to document these issues and bring them to a lawyer to see if they are actionable. Only a nursing home attorney knows the intricate laws that govern nursing home operations and staff actions.
Each elderly person has specific rights under U.S. law. One is the right to be free from physical and mental abuse. The elderly deserve to be treated with dignity and safety. Another right is the right to live in safe and sanitary conditions. Allowing a person to live in unsanitary conditions, even their own waste, runs contrary to the contract between the nursing home and the patient as well as the nursing home and Medicaid or Medicare. This includes protecting the elderly from falls that could result in life-changing injuries or death.
With the difficulties in communication, elderly patients can get confused about their medical needs. Nursing homes are expected to take extra care with medications and other treatments. Calling a doctor in a timely manner is also expected, even when it is inconvenient or unflattering to the staff. Furthermore, sharing access to information with those who are legal representatives of the patient can also become an actionable issue.
It is important that Arizona residents protect their elderly relatives by bringing these nursing homes to the public’s attention. This can only be done with a lawsuit. Unfortunately, just asking for fairness and decency is not enough. Generally criminal and civil penalties have to be assessed for the entire business to take notice.