You may consider a nursing home care facility to be the safest place for your loved one when you are unable to care for them yourself. Though, there may be instances in which safety hazards arise and leave your loved one in the face of danger. Continue reading to learn about these potential safety hazards and how an experienced California nursing home abuse lawyer at Cowdrey & Jenkins LLP can help protect your loved one.
What are possible safety hazards in a nursing home?
One issue that a nursing home care facility may experience is that they are understaffed. When this occurs, the existing staff may become easily burnt out. This may lead to the unintentional neglect of your loved one. With such neglect, your loved one may come across the following safety hazards:
- There may be hazardous conditions in your loved one’s room that go undetected (i.e., mold, asbestos, bed bugs, exposed wires, etc).
- There may be unsanitary conditions in your loved one’s bathroom that go undetected (i.e., mildew, unsanitary water, no running water, clogged toilet, etc).
- There may be days, weeks, or months that your loved one goes without receiving the right medication or the right dosage of medication.
- There may be multiple occasions where your loved one does not have their meals delivered to them.
- There may be multiple occasions where your loved one escapes the nursing home premises without being detected.
While the aforementioned examples of neglect may be unintentional, it is an unfortunate truth that nurses and staff members may be intentionally neglectful. Additional examples are as follows:
- Nurses and staff members neglect to help your loved one use the restroom or take a shower.
- Nurses and staff members neglect to acknowledge your loved one’s complaints of pain and suffering.
- Nurses and staff members neglect to take your loved one to community activities.
- Nurses and staff members neglect to permit visitors to see your loved one.
Can I file a claim because of these hazards?
Regardless of whether the safety hazards in your loved one’s nursing home were intentional or not, you must bring attention to it. That is, you may report it to your local law enforcement, the owner of the nursing home, the California Department of Social Services, or all three.
Then, you may want to consider filing an elder abuse claim against the liable nursing home or its staff. For this, you will be required to file within two years of the incident. Failure to do so means missing out on an opportunity for a financial award your loved one needs to heal, along with overall justice.
Before it is too late, contact a skilled California elder abuse lawyer today. We are ready and willing to take on your case.