Nursing home patients are one of the most vulnerable populations in the United States. When you make the difficult decision to place your loved one in an assisted living facility, you are trusting the staff to provide the care and treatment necessary, but sometimes the exact opposite happens. Nursing home abuse is unfortunately rampant, and in many cases, the staff do not treat patients’ ailments at all.
This may be the case for health problems that are especially common in nursing homes. Because they occur so frequently, staff may simply overlook the issue, but this can cause serious injury and even death to patients. The following are three examples of ailments that may not receive proper treatment.
1. Urinary tract infections
UTIs are liable to get ignored in a nursing home for a number of reasons. Some of the most common symptoms include burning during urination and a limited ability to urinate. According to HealthToday, the development of such infections in nursing home patients is common because of a lack of prevention. Once they develop, staff may not know or may simply be neglectful in providing necessary treatment.
2. Bedsores
Bedsores are another ailment that is unfortunately commonly ignored in nursing homes. This injury develops if patients are left in bed in the same position for too long, and if left untreated, they can become infected and potentially deadly. Bedsores are often an indication of abuse in and of themselves, but if they are additionally neglected by staff, this is a telltale sign of abuse.
3. Improper medication
Most assisted living facility residents are on some kind of medication, and probably multiple medications. Minimally trained staff can easily administer these medicines incorrectly and cause harm to patients. In such cases, additional medical help is necessary to ensure the patient did not suffer harm, but too often, medication errors are overlooked — to the detriment of vulnerable patients.
