Aventura Nursing Home Abuse Blog

When an elderly person suffers injuries of any kind, it really is more serious than when the same thing happens to a younger person. Even an injury that a young person would think of as relatively minor can have a drastic impact on an elderly person's life.

One reason for this change is that wound healing is much different for the elderly. Some of the major changes include:

• The healing process becomes slower than it used to be.
• Diseases are more common.
• Infections may be more likely or take longer to heal.
• The elderly person's inflammatory response decreases.
• The same is true for the proliferative response.
• Collagen still forms, but it is of a lower quality.
• Aging impacts all phases of wound healing.

Nursing home abuse and neglect are two things that you never want to have to deal with. When you entrust your loved one's care to another party, you expect that they will provide fair services to your loved ones and help when it's needed. After all, that's what nurses and providers are paid to do.

Nothing can prepare you for the shock of finding out that your loved one has passed away as a result of abuse in a nursing facility. At that point, there is nothing else you can do to help them -- but you do have the option of holding the nursing home accountable for its actions. Even if it's only a single employee who was hurting your loved one, the nursing home has to take responsibility.

Nursing homes and assisted living centers can be very busy places. The staff has a lot to do, and due to low wages and difficult tasks, these institutions are often understaffed.

That said, the staff has to respond promptly whenever a call light comes on. Elderly residents often have no way to move on their own, let alone perform complex actions like taking a shower or making food. Many struggle just to get out of bed or use the restroom on their own. They need that support staff.

The elderly are certainly at risk when it comes to financial abuse. A lot of scams specifically target them. One part of the reason is that they often have excess money -- you can't scam someone who doesn't have what you want -- and scammers target their life savings. Another part of the issue, though, is that they really are more susceptible.

There are numerous reasons for this. One, of course, is that elderly individuals may have some level of cognitive impairment. For many, it's just part of aging. They have trouble with their memory or they have degenerative brain diseases. Those who want to financially abuse them use these things to their advantage.