If you are concerned about a loved one’s well being, it helps to know a little about the fundamental areas where attorneys typically see problems with nursing home abuse in Florida, and the types of legal standards that apply to elder abuse.
These are some of the standards areas that attorneys will look into to evaluate potential nursing home abuse or neglect.
Safety
One of the most basic responsibilities of a nursing home facility is to provide for the resident’s general safety on-premise. Nursing home residents have to be adequately protected from the outside world, whether that’s comprehensive security policies or disaster recovery plans.
The federal government has recently instituted laws requiring certain environmental or facility standards for nursing homes after fires and other disasters had tragic effects on some nursing home facilities and their residents. Nursing homes have a mandate to make sure that their residents are not exposed to danger.
Cleanliness and Sanitation
Just like restaurants and other businesses where sanitation inspections apply, nursing homes also have a responsibility to keep the resident’s surroundings in a clean and sanitary condition. Problems with toxic infrastructure, food handling or other sanitation problems can be problematic for these businesses and the residents alike.
Competence
Another major area of nursing home law involves the competence of staff members.
It’s absolutely imperative that nurses and other medical staff be well qualified and experienced in the basic tasks that they have to carry out every day to care for nursing home residents. Giving out medications and injections is one major example – medication errors can have a devastating effect on the patient’s health and are a real liability for any nursing home facility.
Privacy
This is one standard that doesn’t get talked about quite as much, and it’s one that some nursing homes may not enforce very well. Essentially, the nursing home resident has a right to privacy – to be alone with a family member or caregiver, or other visitors, if they wish. Part of this is related to the ability to report any problems that do occur in the nursing home. If the nursing home resident can’t have privacy from staff, that makes it hard to talk about any potential issues. The privacy component of nursing home law is a significant part of spotting potential nursing home abuse.
Compassion
Finally, nursing home residents have to be protected from malicious or hostile staff members. Employee vetting is a major component of this standard, and so is proper training. Nursing home facilities have to do their best to avoid those unfortunate situations where a bad actor gets access to residents and begins to abuse them whether that’s physically, sexually, financially or emotionally.
If you’re having questions about nursing home care in Jacksonville, Florida, speak to local nursing home abuse lawyer Steve Watrel. Our office stands ready to fight for you and your family, and help you move forward in a case where you feel your family member has been put in jeopardy while in nursing home care.
