North Hollywood Nursing Home Abuse & Neglect Attorneys

What types of conduct are considered nursing home abuse or neglect?

Nursing homes can be liable if their neglect causes a staff member to abuse a resident. Nursing homes can also be found liable if they directly participate in the abuse.

Abuse is categorized as follows:

• Physical abuse. Physical abuse involves any type of force including slapping, hitting, or punching. Physical abuse also involves the use of physical or chemical restraints, and denying a resident food, medications, or other daily needs.
• Sexual abuse. Sexual abuse involves forcing a resident to engage in sexual acts or watch sexual acts without their consent. Sexual abuse also involves promises of kinder treatment in return for sexual conduct. Sexual abuse may be done by the nursing home supervisors, staff members, or even other residents.
• Emotional abuse. Emotional abuse is often used by staff members to control or punish a resident. Many of the victims include seniors with cognitive impairments or physical challenges. Emotional abuse involves isolating a resident from other people including family and friends. Examples include yelling, insulting, and demeaning a North Hollywood resident.

Nursing home neglect occurs when a nursing home fails to take reasonable precautions to prevent residents from harm. Common-sense strategies can prevent most types of harm. Nursing home neglect includes the failure to protect residents from malnutrition, dehydration, bedsores, bowel and bladder disorders, unsanitary conditions, wandering, and elopement. Neglect also includes failing to address the medical needs of a resident in a timely and competent manner. The nursing home staff should never abandon a resident.

One other type of elder abuse is financial abuse which involves taking advantage of a senior’s frailties for financial gain and stealing cash or credit card information from a senior nursing home resident.

Nursing home medication negligence

Virtually every senior takes one or more prescription drugs. Many people with a disability use medications too. The staff members and nurses who help seniors with their medications need to ensure that residents are given the correct medications at the correct times in the correct dosages – in the proper manner (oral or injected).

The US National Institute for Health (NIH) defines a medication mistake as:

… any preventable event that may cause or lead to inappropriate medication use or patient harm while the medication is in the control of the healthcare professional, patient, or consumer. Such events may be related to professional practice, health care products, procedures, and systems, including prescribing; order communication; product labeling, packaging, and nomenclature; compounding; dispensing; distribution; administration; education; monitoring; and use.

At Garcia & Artigliere, our North Hollywood nursing home abuse and neglect attorneys have the skills and resources (working relationships with doctors and pharmacists) to show that nursing home medication mistakes were preventable. California nursing homes should:

• Have individual care plans that explain what physical, cognitive, and emotional challenges each resident has, what medications are prescribed, and which doctors and family members to contact in case of an emergency. The plan should also detail the daily needs and preferences of each resident.
• Record when each resident takes the medications, and when refills need to be ordered
• Provide prompt medical care if there are any side effects or medical complications

Delayed or denied treatment of stroke negligence

North Hollywood nursing homes should understand ischemic or hemorrhaging stroke symptoms. Tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) can save lives if the drug is given to the resident within three hours from the time stroke symptoms begin. tPA is a drug that breaks up blood clots that prevent the brain from getting the blood it needs. Quick medical care can also help save the lives of residents who are having hemorrhaging (bleeding in the brain) strokes.

Nearly 200,000 people who have strokes die every year according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Our North Hollywood nursing home abuse and neglect lawyers work with ER and heart physicians who can verify that nursing home delay caused a resident to suffer a severe stroke or die.