Compassionate NJ & PA Lawyers Stand Up for Your Loved Ones if They are Being Abused in a Nursing Home
Family members expect a lot from nursing homes, and rightly so. Unfortunately, the facilities do not always meet expectations, especially for the amount they are charging residents. While it’s not fair to expect the nursing home staff to halt the aging process, you should absolutely be able to rely on its ability to tend to your aging relative’s needs.
The nursing home should manage hygiene, medicating, feeding, hydrating, turning and changing a patient. The patient should also be protected from falls or other “unexplained” injuries. Nursing homes promise families they will, indeed, exceed expectations when it comes to taking care of their family members.
Often, they don’t. The result of nursing home abuse and negligence can be disastrous. Pressure sores are painful and can be life-threatening. A slip and fall can render a nursing home resident immobile. Failure to feed and hydrate a patient can result in a number of maladies, most unfortunately wrongful death.
If you suspect nursing home abuse, or have evidence of it, don’t delay. The compassionate, skilled eldercare lawyers at Cohen & Riechelson have helped countless families in Princeton, Trenton and Pennington, NJ, and beyond. We will help your family, as well.
Preventing Nursing Home Neglect in New Jersey and Pennsylvania
You should keep in mind that the physical deterioration of a loved one does not always mean that there is nursing home neglect or abuse. However, if there are concerns, you need to get actively involved.
- Bring any issues you have to the caregiver assigned to the family member.
- If not addressed to your satisfaction in a timely manner, request a meeting with a supervisor.
- If this does not address your concern, request to meet with the manager or director of the facility.
- You should request copies of all of your family member’s records, as they may become necessary at a later time.
- In addition, you may want to take photographs of anything out of the ordinary
- If the facility as a whole is unresponsive to you, you can contact the Licensing Board, the Board of Health, Medicaid/Medicare or the patient’s health insurer or a local agency that deals with the elderly.
Do not take no for an answer. You must be an advocate for your family member as no one else will. You must be assertive because no facility is going to want to admit that it is providing substandard care, nor does it want to admit it is understaffed or overworked.
Contact an experienced eldercare attorney today to learn your rights and protect your loved one.
Consider a Power of Attorney and Living Will to Protect Your Relative
You may need to have a power of attorney or be appointed as a guardian in order for an attorney to advocate on behalf of your family member. You should also find out whether there is a will and/or a living will as this may also affect some of the decisions that will have to be made on your family member’s behalf. The ultimate goal is to provide the best quality of life possible at this very vulnerable time of their lives.
Contact CR Today for a Free Consultation about Your Nursing Home Abuse Concerns
If you believe that the treatment your loved one is receiving at a nursing home or personal care facility is neglectful or abusive, speak up now. Take matters into your own hands and fight for your loved one’s rights to be treated with dignity and respect.
Call Cohen & Riechelson’s offices in either Trenton or Pennington, NJ, or fill out our convenient online contact form to arrange a consultation with a knowledgeable Mercer County elder abuse prevention attorney.
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