Neglect of Helpless Elderly Patients

Physical, Emotional and Verbal Elder Neglect

Elderly patients often are the most likely people to suffer terrible injuries because of  the neglect or abuse of nursing homes, hospitals, or home caregivers. Injuries can result from physical and/or emotional neglect or abuse including failure to provide healthy foods or sufficient water, failure to care for daily personal hygiene, failure to provide early and effective medical treatment, and isolation or confinement of the elderly patient.

Nursing home or caregiver neglect can be difficult to recognize because elderly patients may be unable to communicate due to dementia, confusion, or even fear of retaliation by their abusers. This is why it is even more important for family members to be vigilant and to look for any signs of possible abuse of elderly patients.

Examples of physical neglect of the elderly include:

• Inadequate housing or shelter;
• Lack of supervision;
• Insufficient food or water or failure to provide assistance with eating or drinking, which can lead to weight loss, dehydration or malnutrition;
• Delay or denial of medical care;
• Failure to prevent or treat bed sores;
• Failure to carry out doctor’s orders;
• Lack of assistance with bathing or hygiene;
• Unnecessarily keeping the elder restrained in bed or in a chair;
• Inadequate assistance to help the elder move around, either in bed or within the house or facility;
• Failure to provide access and assistance to the toilet, or failure to change the elder’s diapers or disposable briefs, which can lead to skin damage from sitting in urine and feces, as well as loss of dignity.

If an elderly loved one in a nursing home, hospital, or with a home caregiver is losing weight or unusually listless, it may be that the patient is not receiving sufficient nourishing food to maintain good health. Dry or cracked skin and lips, may be signs of lack of water or other fluids, causing dehydration.

To identify more intimate signs of neglect, it may be necessary to discretely examine undergarments or skin in intimate areas, to see if they are soiled with urine or feces. Helpless elderly patients who are left to lie in their bodily waste for extended periods of time are likely to develop painful and dangerous bedsores that are entirely preventable with good patient care.

Examples of emotional abuse and neglect of the elderly include:

• Not attending to elder’s calls for help or ignoring moans indicating pain or discomfort;
• Failure to provide for the elder’s need for friendship or affection;
• Failure to provide necessary psychological care, such as medication for depression;
• Isolating the elder, including restricting phone calls, mail, visitors, and outings;
• Verbally abusing, yelling at or belittling the elder

The best way to stop the neglect and abuse of helpless elders is to make sure that the facilities and people who victimize the elderly are held responsible for their appalling behavior, and are appropriately punished.  If you believe that you or a loved one is the victim of elder abuse or neglect, please click here to contact a Kershaw, Cutter & Ratinoff elder law attorney who can help you investigate your claim, take legal action against the perpetrators, and improve the quality of life for the victim of such abuse.

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