What Types Of Nursing Home Neglect Can You Sue For?

By Greg Kohn
Partner

Moving a loved one to a nursing home is never easy. In addition to considering the facility’s costs and proximity to family, resident safety is a prime concern.  

Experienced New Jersey nursing home abuse attorneys can help you understand the legal standard of care required by NJ nursing homes, and the corresponding protections available to nursing home residents.  

Further, if you suspect your loved one is receiving inadequate care in their nursing home, your nursing home abuse attorney can detail signs of neglect and what types of nursing home neglect you can sue for in New Jersey. 

Nursing Home Neglect vs. Nursing Home Abuse

Nursing home neglect and nursing home abuse are often confused. While neglect is categorized as a type of abuse, there are critical distinctions between nursing home neglect and abuse.

Nursing home abuse is the intentional mistreatment of a resident by another person in the nursing home. Nursing home abuse can be perpetrated by nursing home staff, contractors, or other nursing home residents.  

Nursing home neglect is when nursing home residents receive inadequate care. Neglect typically results from inaction rather than direct action against the resident and is perpetrated by those charged with overseeing the resident’s care. 

4 Types of Nursing Home Neglect You Can Sue For in New Jersey

Sadly, simple acts of daily care and interpersonal connection are the most disregarded in nursing homes. The 4 leading categories of nursing home neglect are:

  1. Personal hygiene: withholding hygiene products such as toothbrushes, bathing items, and clean clothes; failing to assist the resident with personal care
  2. Basic needs: failure of the caregiver or facility to provide a clean and hazard-free environment; insufficient hydration and nourishment
  3. Social or emotional needs: the absence of social and emotional care, often through prolonged periods of isolation or indifference toward the resident
  4. Medical needs: failing to attend to wounds or bedsores; ignoring mobility or physical therapy

Any person suffering nursing home neglect is entitled to justice and compensation for their suffering. Recognizing and documenting the signs of neglect will support a legal claim for any aforementioned types of elder neglect. 

Signs of Nursing Home Neglect

Inattention to a resident’s basic needs can be initially subtle and easily excused, causing signs of neglect to go unrecognized for a prolonged time. However, some red flags pointing to neglect include:

  • Poor hygiene: unkempt hair, unbrushed teeth or dentures, foul body odors, lice
  • Dirty conditions: unclean clothes, bedding, and facilities, tripping hazards, untidy areas
  • Poor nutrition: dehydration, weight loss, chronic fatigue, dry skin, dry eyes, hair loss
  • Missing medical aids: frequently missing hearing aids, dentures, glasses
  • Isolation: often in their room alone, no social connections 
  • Immobility: lack of muscle coordination or strength due to excessive sitting or time in bed
  • Unexplained injuries: falls, cuts, scrapes due to lack of help from caregivers, bedsores
  • Emotional issues: depression, lack of interest in others, dislike for caregiver, anger, resentment

Do You Suspect Nursing Home Neglect? Contact a New Jersey Nursing Home Abuse Attorney today.

Your loved one is entitled to long-term facility care that safeguards their well-being and dignity. New Jersey nursing homes must meet a legal standard of care and provide protections to their residents as afforded under New Jersey’s Bill of Rights for Nursing Home Residents

Because violations of a resident’s rights and cases of neglect can be difficult to detect in early stages, nursing home neglect should be immediately investigated upon suspicion. 

If your loved one is suffering neglect in their nursing home, contact our New Jersey nursing home neglect lawyers today and speak with a knowledgeable New Jersey nursing home abuse attorney today. Together, we can review your concerns, pursue justice, and get compensation for your loved one’s mistreatment. 

About the Author
Greg Kohn is a partner at Nagel Rice and specializes in complex civil litigation cases, including professional malpractice, personal injury, class actions, wrongful death, products liability, and commercial litigation.  He has extensive experience representing clients in both state and federal court. Greg has tried many jury trials to verdict and has recovered over $50 million in settlements and verdicts in all types of personal injury matters including automobile accidents, wrongful death cases, slip and falls, and other catastrophic injury cases. Greg also handles medical malpractice cases, involving misdiagnoses, wrongful birth, and delayed cancer diagnosis. If you have questions regarding this article, you can contact Greg here.