When you have an elderly parent or another older loved one who resides in a nursing home in or around Columbus, the prospect of nursing home abuse or neglect can be anxiety inducing. Nobody wants to think that a parent could be subject to intentional or unintentional harm caused by negligence, especially when that parent is living in a facility where care for seniors is supposed to be of utmost importance.

It can be difficult to know how to recognize signs of nursing home negligence, especially when an older adult suffers from Alzheimer’s disease or another type of dementia. As the Alzheimer’s Association underscores, seniors with dementia are particularly vulnerable to elder abuse and neglect because they may have difficulty recognizing the abuse or reporting it (or both).

Signs of Abuse in the Older Adult

As the Alzheimer’s Association explains, any of the following may be signs of abuse or neglect:

• Unexplained cuts, bruises, bleeding, broken bones, or restraint marks;
• Particularly agitated or despondent behavior;
• Presence of bedsores;
• Untreated infections;
• Financial discrepancies, such as money going missing from an account or an unexplained person being added as an authorized user to a bank account or credit card;
• Older adult asking not to have a particular staff member provide care;
• Older adult looking unkempt, or as though nobody is assisting with tasks like bathing;
• Unexplained falls, which may be a sign of negligence; and
• Malnutrition or dehydration.

Signs of Poor Care at the Nursing Home

Beyond looking for signs of abuse or neglect when you see your elderly parent, it is also important to look for signs of poor care or negligence at the nursing home more generally. An article in U.S. News & World Report cites some of the following as signs that a nursing facility may not be providing a sufficient quality of care to your loved one:

• Staff members who will not answer your specific questions or deflect;
• Staff members who seem frantic or stretched thin—indications that the facility may be understaffed;
• High rate of turnover among nursing home staff members;
• Phones or call lights that frequently go unanswered; and/or
• General bad feeling you get when you are in the nursing home.

Contact My Office for Help with Your Case

Nursing home negligence and abuse cases in Columbus and throughout the state of Ohio can be devastating. Older adults are some of the most vulnerable residents of Ohio, and they deserve a high quality of care in nursing homes and assisted living facilities. I am especially concerned about elderly patients who suffer from dementia and are victims of elder abuse or neglect.

If you have an elderly parent or another family member who may have been the victim of nursing home negligence, I will do everything I can to ensure that you can obtain compensation and that we can hold the facility accountable. I’ll Make Them Pay!® Do not hesitate to call my firm at 877.614.9524 to learn more about how I regularly assist families in Ohio with nursing home negligence claims.