Georgia Nursing Home Abuse Attorney

When someone you love is staying at a nursing home facility, you expect the staff to look after them with proper and compassionate care – to make sure their basic needs are always met. It is disheartening to find out that the opposite has occurred: that the people you have trusted to care for your loved ones have instead abandoned, neglected, or abused them.

Nursing home abuse and neglect should never happen, but when it does, your loved ones deserve justice and the resources to heal. Our nursing home abuse attorneys can help you protect your loved one’s rights while also holding the nursing home facility accountable for not doing its part to prevent abuse or neglect. Contact a dedicated nursing home abuse lawyer at Peak Wooten McDaniel & Colwell LLP to discuss your case for free.

An Overview of Nursing Home Abuse and Neglect

Types of Abuse

There are seven types of nursing home abuse, including:

• Abandonment: This is when the staff member responsible for caring for a resident just leaves them without any care, causing them harm.
• Emotional abuse: This is when a staff member’s behavior or actions harms a resident’s psychological well-being, causing them anxiety, depression, or even isolating them from their loved ones. Emotional abuse is more difficult to detect than physical abuse because it doesn’t leave a visible mark. However, it can be just as devastating to a person’s health, leading to low self-worth and self-loathing or suicidal thoughts.
• Financial exploitation: This is when a staff member takes advantage of a resident financially – misusing or improperly using their assets. Signs of this include transactions or charges that can’t be explained.
• Neglect of a resident’s basic needs: This is when a staff member doesn’t properly care for the resident’s basic needs, like not feeding them enough food. Signs of this include bedsores, malnutrition, and dehydration.
• Physical abuse: This is when a staff member physically harms a resident. Signs of this include bruises, cuts, and other injuries.
• Self-neglect: This is when an elderly person loses the ability to take care of themselves. Signs of this can include poor hygiene.
• Sexual assault: This includes any type of unwanted sexual activity. Sexual assault is another type of nursing home abuse that may go easily undetected – residents may not say anything out of shame or fear of what will happen if they do.

Examples of Neglect

Nursing home neglect is a type of elder abuse that involves a member of the staff ignoring their duties to properly care for their resident. While neglect may not be a violent form of nursing home abuse, it can be just as harmful.

According to the Nursing Home Abuse Center, some examples of neglect at a nursing home may include:

• Delaying to call a doctor or nurse when it is needed
• Not changing a resident’s clothes or bedding regularly
• Not cleaning a resident regularly
• Failing to provide residents with enough food or water
• Failing to treat a resident’s injuries or illnesses such as bedsore or an infection

Check in on your loved ones as often as you can, be familiar with the signs of abuse and neglect and if anything doesn’t feel right, take preventive steps to remove your loved ones from the harmful surroundings.

Contact a Nursing Home Abuse Lawyer

It is heartbreaking to find out that someone you love was abused or neglected. It is even worse to find out that this abuse occurred at a place – like a nursing home facility – that should have protected your loved ones from any harm. At Peak Wooten McDaniel & Colwell LLP, our nursing home abuse lawyers can help you protect your loved ones and hold the facility legally responsible for the harm they caused. Call (833) 644-1899 to speak to our Georgia personal injury attorneys today and find out how we can help.