Tips for Detecting Elder Abuse in Nursing Homes

Nursing home elder abuse

April 1, 2009

By Arlene Karidis

Baltimore Crime Examiner

 This past winter, several teenagers working at Good Samaritan Society nursing home in Minnesota were charged with spitting upon, hitting, improperly touching, and tormenting residents entrusted in their care. Unfortunately, this type of elder abuse is not rare; less rare are incidents not quite as severe, though still appalling.

And much of the abuse goes unreported either because seniors are afraid to speak up or, in their physical or mental frailty, they are unable to. If they have no family to advocate for them, the chances of the mistreatment coming to light are slimmer, yet.

Why one human being would be so cruel to another who is almost totally dependent on him/her is hard to completely understand. But surveys consistently show that main contributors to the problem are insufficient staffing and training – and the fact that nurses’ aides charged with much of the residents’ day to day care typically make little more than minimum wage, which does not always motivate the most qualified job candidates to step up to the plate or motivate them to stay if they do come on board.

 

There are multiple tell tale signs of nursing home abuse: 
• Unsanitary and poorly maintained buildings

• A population of residents whose needs cannot be met

• High employee turnover and high employee absenteeism

• Undefined or poorly defined staff duties

• Very slow, or no response to alleged incidents of abuse

 "You will often find indications of harsh misconduct by paying close attention to the residents, themselves."

Abridged

SOURCE:    Baltimore Crime Examiner

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Worth going to source for more tips on detecting elder abuse in nursing homes.

..... AC

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