Nursing Home Abuse Study: How Scammers Rip Off The Elderly

A recent study reported by the New York Daily News revealed shocking results regarding nursing home abuse: one in five residents is a victim of physical or verbal abuse not from workers, but rather, from other residents. While elderly residents suffering from dementia is the likely cause of these saddening statistics, a more serious form of abuse is prevalent in nursing homes – financial fraud. In fact, as many as 5 percent of more than 2,000 seniors polled at 10 New York nursing homes over the course of six weeks stated they had been cheated.

If you or someone you know has been the victim of nursing home abuse – whether it’s financial fraud, verbal or physical abuse from residents or mistreatment by employees – contact a seasoned New York nursing home abuse attorney immediately.

Signs of Nursing Home Abuse

Elder abuse is defined as intentional actions that cause harm, or create a serious risk of harm (whether or not intended), to a vulnerable elderly individual by a person of trust or a caregiver and can occur in a private home or an institutional setting. Mistreatment of the elderly, which can include abuse and neglect by workers or even other tenants, can be difficult to catalog. This is so because signs may be missed by professionals lacking the skills to detect them. Likewise, reluctance on the part of the victim to report the abuse for fear of retaliation, lack of cognitive ability to report, or hesitancy due to the abuser being a family member can also reduce the number of reports.

Types of abuse and neglect that likely are the results of nursing home abuse include, but are not limited to, bed injuries or asphyxiation, dehydration or malnutrition, injuries due to falls, infections, bed sores, unexplained wounds/cuts/bruises or welts, unusual or sudden changes in behavior and an unexplained or sudden death of a resident.

Almost 2 million Americans reside in long-term care facilities, making nursing home abuse and neglect a national concern. Indeed, federal nursing home regulations mandate that a resident has the right to be free from abuse – whether verbal, sexual, physical, or mental – as well as corporal punishment and involuntary seclusion.

Nursing Home Abuse Lawyers in Long Island are Here to Help

While many nursing home facilities provide excellent care to seniors residing on the premises, unfortunately, abuse and neglect as well as medical mistakes do happen. Injuries incurred by this vulnerable population can be devastating and possibly fatal. If you or a loved one has been injured as the result of a nursing home’s neglect, abuse or malpractice, contact a long island nursing home abuse lawyer today.