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more_legal_areas nursing_homeWhen a loved one gets older, there may come a time when it is necessary to seek quality nursing home care to provide health and living assistance. There are almost 17,000 nursing homes currently operating in the United States with almost two million nursing home beds in total. Some nursing home care services are offered to patients in their own home while the majority of services are provided in a residential or hospital setting. The extent of nursing home care can also vary based upon the needs of a particular patient.
There are generally three levels of nursing home care that can be provided to a patient based on their individual needs. Skilled nursing home care is performed by a licensed or registered nurse under the orders of a doctor. This nursing home care provides some medical service to the patient on a daily basis and is intended to result in significant improvement of the patient''s health. Intermediate nursing home care provides the same type of service on a periodic basis and may not include procedures which require specialized training (i.e. changing bandages or giving injections). Custodial nursing home care functions to meet a patient''s personal needs, such as assistance with eating, bathing, remembering to take medications, and the like.
These distinctions between the types of nursing home care becomes relevant when shopping for potential services, when seeking nursing home care insurance, and when determining if your nursing home care will be covered by federal assistance programs such as Medicare. Medicare has specific nursing home care requirements that must be met for an individual to qualify for assistance. Medicare does not cover the cost of custodial nursing home care. Therefore, it is up to the individual to cover the costs of nursing home care.
When seeking nursing home care for yourself or a loved one, the last thing you want to consider is the threat of nursing home care abuse. Unfortunately, this is a very important issue to take into consideration when seeking nursing home care. Some sources indicate that thirty percent off all nursing home care facilities in the United States have committed some form of nursing home care abuse against the patients under their charge. USA Today sources indicate that half of the people living in nursing homes today suffer from untreated pain. Nursing home abuse can be caused by negligence such as the failure to properly address patient''s physical and psychological needs. This breech in nursing home care can contribute to bed sores, slip and fall accidents, malnutrition, improper or lack of medication administration, rapid weight loss or gain, unsanitary conditions, and a number of other abuses. Breeches in nursing home care can also involve willful or malicious acts carried out against nursing home patients.
Because of the high prevalence of nursing home abuse, a number of federal and state laws have been enacted to protect the recipients of nursing home care. There are a number of protections these laws extend to patients to prevent as well as to prosecute nursing home abuse cases. If you suspect that a loved one is the victim of some major breech of proper nursing home care, you have the legal right to seek compensation from those who are responsible for this abuse.
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