Aventura Nursing Home Abuse Blog

As you may suspect, the reality of nursing home abuse is that abuse and neglect are often underreported in nursing homes. Patients may fear retaliation, people may not know that their loved ones are suffering and even the staff may attempt to cover up wrongdoing.

Nursing facilities reportedly failed to disclose thousands of serious cases of potential abuse and neglect of seniors in their care, even though it's a requirement for the facilities to report these instances when they involve seniors on Medicare, according to a watchdog report. The Health and Human Services inspector general's office released a statement based on its auditors' findings. They claim there were situations so serious that patients had to be rushed from the nursing facility to the emergency room, yet many were not reported as required by law. Approximately 6,200 patients were affected, according to the estimates.

Bedsores, which are ulcers created by pressure or friction, may not seem too serious to those who know little about them. After all, most ulcers that develop on the body are small and cause few issues.

That's not the case for bedsores, though. Bedsores develop when a patient doesn't move, and the body part can't get new, oxygenated blood. Without nourishment, that part of the body begins to die.

Having a parent with Alzheimer's or another type of dementia can be difficult. All you really want is the best for your mom and dad, and you will do anything to make that happen. Sometimes, it is necessary to consider long-term care. 

People with dementia can be unpredictable and require care around-the-clock. You want to ensure that the facility you choose is the right one. Here are some of your options and tips for choosing the right place for your parent.

The elderly are fairly vulnerable when they are getting assistance from caregivers. They depend on these people. The unfortunate reality is that caregivers may attempt to take advantage of the situation for their own financial gain. It's important to know what signs to look for and what scams tend to target the elderly.

At the same time, you want to know what steps you and your family can take in advance to prevent this type of abuse. Here are four important ones:

• Talk about expenses openly. Make sure that you know how much money should be spent on everything.
• Talk about overall wealth and assets, as well. It should never be a secret. You need to know what to expect so that you can see if anything looks out of place.
• Include the entire family when talking about things like financial powers of attorney. The more people who have a voice, the lower the chances that anyone can infringe on your loved one's rights. This also ensures that your whole family knows what is going on and what to watch out for.
• Whenever possible, avoid using cash. It's the easiest to steal and the hardest to trace. Ideally, your loved one should never have cash on them, and you should have electronic records of every single transaction.
• Plan ahead for everything. Learn about the care they need, what it costs, who gets paid and all of the little details. Leave nothing up to chance and make sure that money can never go overlooked.