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more_legal_areas nursing_homeNursing home malpractice occurs when nursing home or long term care professionals abuse, neglect, or exploit residents in their charge. Federal law defines nursing home malpractice as a failure to provide residents with services that facilitate the attainment and maintenance of the highest practicable physical, mental, and psychosocial well-being. In the last decades, several studies have shown that nursing home malpractice is an alarmingly widespread epidemic in our nation.
Sadly, as people grow older and enter into nursing homes and long term care, they become vulnerable to abuse, neglect, and exploitation at the hands of their care takers. Federal nursing home malpractice investigations have revealed that nearly thirty percent of all nursing homes in the nation have committed injurious acts of nursing home malpractice. A USA Today report from 2003 estimated that more than half of the 1.6 million people living in nursing homes suffer from untreated pain. Thousands more suffer other consequences of nursing home malpractice.
Every individual in a nursing home deserves to be treated with respect and dignity, yet many are subject to abuse and negligence at the hands of the very people who have a responsibility to care for them. Nursing home malpractice can involve a number of acts intentionally committed or negligently allowed to occur by a nursing home staff member.
The following circumstances constitute nursing home malpractice: bedsores, pressure sores, and infections, dehydration and malnutrition, falls, dislocations and fractures, inappropriate use of chemical or physical restraints, medication and prescription errors, inadequate staffing, staff training, and inadequate supervision, and physical, mental, and psychological abuse or neglect. Any deterioration of a resident’s condition that was caused or contributed to by a nursing home employee constitutes nursing home malpractice. Nursing home malpractice can also result in wrongful death.
In 1987 the federal government enacted a law to protect people from nursing home malpractice. The Nursing Home Reform Act contained within the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (OBRA) provides minimum standards of care and rights for persons living in a certified nursing home. Ombudsman Programs have been established to evaluate quality of care and resident quality of life in nursing homes nationwide. These regulatory agencies also investigate cases of nursing home malpractice and can initiate corrective action.
State health agencies have similar nursing home malpractice laws and are available to help the victims and families of nursing home abuse, neglect, and exploitation. If you suspect nursing home malpractice has occurred against you or someone you love, you have the legal right to seek relief and compensation for your suffering. An experienced nursing home malpractice expert can help you determine what your legal rights and options are in a case to seek relief for damage caused by nursing home malpractice.
If you would like to learn more about nursing home malpractice, you may wish to contact a qualified attorney who can protect and maximize your interests.
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