Spring Valley – New York City (NYC) Nursing Home Abuse Attorney
When we do that we have a reasonable expectation for our elder family members to be treated kindly, with respect and to be well cared for and looked after. We want the staff at the nursing home not only to perform their duties and provide the acceptable standard of care. We entrust our loved ones’ lives in hands of these people, so we expect them to take care of our loved ones to the best of their ability and more. We also have a reasonable expectation that our loved ones will be treated with kindness and the greatest of respect that people their age deserve. If we find out we were wrong we feel let down, we feel anger but mostly we want to help our loved ones.
Nursing home neglect and abuse statistics
Regrettably, nursing home abuse happens all too often. According to the Office for Victims of Crime (OVC) elder abuse affects 5,000,000 people each year – that’s 5 MILLION. Even one case of elder neglect or abuse is one-too-many but according to the WHO 2 in 3 staff of nursing homes reported committing elder abuse within the past year. The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated this problem even further.
Types of elder abuse reported – percentage breakdown
The National Center for Victims of Crime (NCVC) reports that in 2013 close to 10,000 elderly residents of nursing homes reported abuse. According to the data collected by the NCVC cases of abuse suffered by the elderly residents of nursing homes can be broken down into the following types of abuse:
- 27.4% – Physical abuse
- 22.1% – Resident-on-resident abuse (physical or sexual)
- 19.4% – Psychological abuse
- 15.3% – Gross neglect
- 7.9% – Sexual abuse
- 7.9% – Financial exploitation
Elder abuse – how to recognize the signs?
All too often nursing facilities break the trust we placed in them when we place our loved ones in their care. Some physical signs of abuse include bedsores, bruises, cuts, dehydration, sudden weight loss, and overall poor hygiene.
Signs of emotional abuse are harder to detect. Warning signs of emotional abuse may include:
- Depression
- Anxiety
- Low self-confidence
- Post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms
Nursing home abuse laws in New York
The State of New York went above and beyond the federal laws that deal with abuse of the elderly. The goal of those laws is to combat the prevalence of neglect and abuse of elderly resident in nursing homes in New York.
First of all, the State of New York created a document entitled Your Rights as a Nursing Home Resident in New York State and Nursing Home Responsibilities which is posted on the website of the New York State Department of Health.The document lists rights of nursing home residents. If any of the listed rights are not respected at a given facility, the elder or their family has the right to file a complaint. There are three ways for submitting a complaint:
- Fill out the Nursing Home Complaint Online Form on the Department of Health website.
- Call the Nursing Home Complaint Dedicated Hotline at 1-888-201-4563.
- If the abuse is noticed by the staff, they can submit a report via Incident Reporting Form through the Health Commerce System.
All complaints are handled by the Centralized Complaint Intake Unit.
Contact a New York Nursing Home Abuse Lawyer
If your family member, such as your parent or another loved one has suffered neglect or abuse while in the care of a nursing home and its staff, please contact attorney Evan Goldberg to schedule a free initial consultation to discuss your options and a possible legal action. Mr. Goldberg is an experienced New York City and Spring Valley, Rockland County nursing home abuse attorney.
To schedule your free confidential consultation with a Spring Valley, Rockland County personal injury lawyer, please call us at 1 845-545-0448 or visit our contact page.