On-site Shelters for Nursing Home Abuse Victims

Fortunately, most nursing homes are run by people who genuinely care about the patients that live in them. Nursing home abuse, however, remains a serious problem for people in nursing homes. While most people in nursing homes receive top-notch care and are able to live better lives because of that, some of them become the victims of horrific abuse that can lead to mental distress, physical injury and even death. To combat this, some nursing homes have actually started to put shelters for the victims of abuse in their own facilities.
According to a report in US News, very few nursing homes have actually taken this measure, though it is catching on. The idea is to create a space within the nursing home itself were a person can be moved if they are believed to have been the victim of abuse and continue to receive the necessary medical care that keeps them healthy. This can make it easier for people in nursing homes if they are the victims of abuse for a very important reason.
When somebody finds out that their loved one is being abused in a nursing home, the usual strategy they pursue is to immediately move them out of that home – quite sensibly – and oftentimes they end up moved into an emergency room. Of course, if the person is very old are very ill, moving them around in this way can be traumatic. With a shelter right on site, the person can be removed from the abusive situation, they can be watched to make certain that they are not being abused and the situation can be addressed.
While it may turn out that the nursing home had been negligent in some regard and that is the proximate cause of the abuse being allowed to go on, this at least allows the people at the nursing home who do care about the patients to provide them with care immediately following allegations of abuse. From there, law enforcement can be contacted and other agencies can be contacted to investigate and end the abuse.
Sometimes, the families of the victims of nursing home abuse will contact a nursing home abuse lawyer after the fact to seek compensation. Because nursing home care is so expensive, it makes sense to seek compensation for care that was never delivered or care that was delivered in a facility that was found to have been abusive.