Nursing Assistant Arrested for Abuse at Nursing Home
A woman employed at a Broward County nursing home was arrested on charges of elder abuse, prosecutors announced Dec. 5. Television news station WPEC reported that a nursing aide at the home is accused of grabbing a resident by the collar and dragging her by the collar into her room. The resident is 88 years old and suffers from dementia. According to the station, the incident was caught on a hidden camera in the resident’s room. The state attorney general’s office began investigating the situation after it received a tip from the Florida Department of Children and Families. If convicted, the aide faces up to five years in prison.
As a Florida nursing home abuse lawyer, I’m very interested in the fact that this abuse was caught by a camera. The article doesn’t say whether the camera was the cause or the result of the investigation by the attorney general’s office, but it certainly turned out to be revealing. Nursing home residents with dementia are in an especially bad position to report abuse because they have trouble remembering things or holding on to reality; some cannot speak. Because of this, they are statistically more likely to be victims of abuse by caretakers. In fact, research published in the Geriatric Times found that five to 11 percent of adults with dementia are abused, which far exceeds the one to four percent of all older adults believed to be abused.
Every family with a loved one in a nursing home should be aware of this risk, especially now that the holidays may be inspiring more visits than usual. Adults with dementia or another mental impairment, such as Alzheimer’s disease or schizophrenia, may be difficult for caregivers to handle -- but abuse is never acceptable. Part of the reason that families place loved ones in nursing homes is to get the full-time, specialized care that a family member can’t provide. This is an act of trust that caregivers should repay by treating their charges with the same respect that they’d appreciate if the situation were reversed. When they fail, victims and families can and should hold them legally responsible with a Florida nursing home abuse lawsuit.
Unfortunately, nursing home abuse is just half of the story. Nursing home neglect -- staff ignoring residents’ needs, allowing irrational patients to wander and allowing patients to develop bedsores -- is actually more widespread. In addition to being an assault on the patient’s dignity, abuse and neglect can both be very dangerous to older patients, because they can exacerbate existing health problems or even create new ones that have a substantial negative effect on the patient’s quality of life. If you or someone you love is a victim of abuse or neglect at a Florida nursing home, our firm, Cohn, Smith & Cohn, would like to help. For a free consultation, please contact us today.
