The Federal Government and The State Of New York have very strict rules that Nursing Homes must follow to ensure that our most vulnerable people are treated properly and with dignity and respect.
Unfortunately, because the overwhelming majority of nursing homes are privately owned, they “place profits before people” and do not follow the statutes and guidelines in place to protect our most vulnerable population.
WHAT ARE THE MOST COMMON TYPES OF NURSING HOME NEGLIGENCE:
The most common types of nursing home negligence include:
- Failing to have adequate staffing – by hiring less staff the nursing home saves money
- Choking – patients at risk for choking are supposed to have someone watching them when they eat. If there is not enough staff, or the staff is negligent, a patient is at higher risk of choking
- Falls – falls occur because a patient was not properly assessed as a fall risk or the staff failed to adequately monitor or assist the resident allowing the fall to happen)
- Abuse (physical or mental) – should never happen in a nursing home. But it does because the nursing home either failed to properly do a background check on the employee or failed to monitor the employee while working at the nursing home
- Bed sores or Minor bed sores can happen. However, a Stage 3, 4, or unstageable bed sore should not happen and is due to negligence. A Stage 3 bed sore extends through all layers of skin into the fat tissue, exposing the patient to infection. A Stage 4 bed sore has reached through the muscles and ligaments of bones. An “unstageable” bedsore is when there is full thickness tissue loss, and the ulcer is completely obscured by dead or hardened tissue. Stages 3, 4 and unstageable bedsores are due to the failure of the nursing home staff to set a proper plan to prevent bed sores, rotate the patient, change the patient, and provide proper bedsore prevention measures.
- Medication Errors – the nursing staff fails to provide medications to patients or they give the wrong medication
- Malnutrition – the nursing home staff fails to adequately feed patients