North Carolina Nursing Home Abuse & Neglect Lawyer 

Restraint  

Some abuse occurs because it makes the staff’s job easier. However, the staff cannot restrain a resident simply because it is convenient. That is true whether they use a drug to knock a resident out or physically restrain someone, such as fastening them to the bed rails. A staff member should also not remove a resident’s crutches or wheelchair to deprive them of mobility without specific authorization from management.   

Resident Abuse 

Nursing home abuse does not always involve staff harming patients. Certain residents may abuse other residents, and it is the nursing home’s responsibility to ensure the safety of all.   

Isolation 

Any attempt by staff to isolate the resident from family members or friends is a red flag regarding negligence and abuse.  

Physical Abuse 

While it is hard to imagine staff members hitting, kicking, or otherwise harming elderly nursing home residents, the fact is physical abuse is common in too many nursing homes. Residents with their faculties may fear reporting it, and those with dementia may not realize they are being abused or cannot inform family members. 

Physical abuse might not be on purpose, but rather because of negligence. Torn carpeting, debris in walkways, and poor lighting can all contribute to falls and broken bones, especially in a facility designed for the elderly and infirm. A NC premises liability lawyer will investigate the layout and condition of the nursing home if property owner negligence caused an injury. 

Emotional  

Emotional abuse is even more common than physical abuse in nursing homes. Residents are belittled, yelled at, threatened, or their needs are simply ignored. Perhaps they are forbidden to participate in group activities because a staff member wants to punish them in some way. Behavioral changes may result from emotional abuse, and it is the nursing home’s duty to notice and report such changes. 

Sexual Abuse  

Nursing home abuse may also involve sexual abuse, so pay attention to any mentions of pain in the genital area or attempts to describe what happened to them.  

Sexual abuse may be perpetrated by either staff members or residents. While nursing homes are required to conduct criminal background checks via the NC Division of Health Services regulation NC Automated Background Check system before hiring workers, they do not have to conduct background checks on residents. A registered sex offender could be among the residents and may prey on others. Those with dementia may act in sexually inappropriate ways and it is the nursing home’s responsibility to protect other residents from their behavior.  

When discovering that one resident has sexually assaulted another, the nursing home should call the police at once. However, nursing homes frequently do not report such incidents, deciding instead to monitor the perpetrator more closely.  

The nursing home may prove liable for failing to train staff adequately for handling resident-on-resident aggression or sexual abuse. The management may have failed to monitor residents with abusive tendencies or place certain residents in inappropriate proximity.  

Keep in mind that residents may live in fear of their abuser. Some nursing home residents cannot communicate, but if a loved one can express themselves, they may not want to talk about nursing home abuse because they are afraid of what their abuser may do in retaliation. 

Neglect and Failure of Care 

The appearance of the nursing home itself may give clues that care is inadequate, or patients are not safe. If the facility does not look clean, patients have poor hygiene or if there is insufficient staff to care for residents, those are signs that neglect and abuse are prevalent.  

Every year, hundreds of patients nationwide wander out of nursing homes. Some never return, dying of exposure or being hit by motor vehicles. Others go missing, probably dead but never located. Patients may fall and seriously or fatally hurt themselves because no one is supervising them.  

Financial Exploitation 

If the family member is missing items from their room, money is gone from their bank account, or there are unauthorized uses of credit cards, financial exploitation by nursing home staff or residents is likely.  

However, if the residents have access to a cell phone, they may be victims of financial scammers. Many fraudsters directly target seniors.