Hard to Detect Forms of Nursing Home Abuse and Neglect

Most often, when people think of nursing home mistreatment, they think of the kinds of abuse that are dramatic and easy to spot. There are other types of abuse that are very hard to spot, however, and they are sometimes some of the worst types imaginable. Consider, for instance, when elders are deliberately isolated from other people at their facility or when they're denied food or recreation time. These forms of psychological abuse can be more insidious because the scars that they leave are internal and shame is oftentimes enough to ensure that the victim doesn't say anything.

While senior abuse does sometimes include outright physical violence, it's far easier for an abuser to engage in mental torment. These acts are hard to spot and, given the fact that many elders are in a position where they're very dependent upon others for care, there's plenty of opportunities for an abusive individual to become a tyrant to the people they care for. There are elders who suffer dementia and other conditions that can make them behave in a rather childlike way and that require that they get a lot of instruction to make sure they're safe. Adults, however, always deserve the dignity of being treated as such.

For an older person, being harassed, bullied or singled out by an abusive nursing home staff member is sometimes embarrassing enough that they won't want to talk about it. After all, if they were 20 years younger they'd probably put the person in their place themselves, but when they depend on that staff member to attend to some of their most personal needs there's a power difference that can be exploited by people with a mindset just sick enough to make them enjoy tormenting people who have no way to retaliate. Unfortunately for these abusers, there is a way to retaliate.

First and foremost, an abuser has to be removed from any situation where they're empowered to victimize. After you've taken care of this, it's time to contact a nursing home lawyer. There's absolutely no good excuse for a nursing home to allow abuse to go on and, when they do, the law may provide you with an option to sue. Many good nursing home abuse lawyers offer free consultations. Consider taking them up on the offer if your loved one has been abused in a nursing home.