1.6 million families in New York and around the country turn to nursing homes to provide for its elderly and infirm loved ones with compassionate care. During the next thirty years as the baby boomer population ages, about 5 million older Americans are living in nursing homes. Despite prevalence and popularity of nursing homes, however, there is a dark side to them. While families chose nursing care with an expectation of professionalism, kindness and compassion, which are often faced with a rather shocking reality: nursing home neglect and abuse.
Nursing violations home abuse, including physical abuse, emotional and sexual, and neglect in nursing homes are a major concern in nursing homes in the United States. Nowhere is this truer than in the State of New York. These types of violations are especially insidious since elderly and disabled residents are unable protected from attack. In many cases, they fail to report the abuses they have suffered to their families and therefore have no recourse nor protection against against future abuse.
According to a 2001 congressional report, one in three U.S. nursing homes has been cited for abuse. In New York, the statistics are even more alarming. Even households that receive the so-called "certificate of good health" in health department of inspections are not immune to violations of its residents.
For example, in December 2006, an employee of a nursing home in Rochester was fired after an investigation into the abuse of the three patients, one of whom died two days after the abuse. The house just months before the Health Department inspections.
According to the report Congress, the number of nursing homes cited for abuse is increasing and has been every year since 1996. For example, the number of nursing homes before abuse during annual inspections more than doubled between 1996 and 2000. Although these statistics are alarming, even more disturbing are cases of abuse go unreported.
In fact, officials believe that abuse is grossly underreported, some experts even say that most incidents of abuse go unreported. At particular risk are nursing home patients without mental or physical faculties to be aware of – or even to articulate – who are suffering abuse at the hands of their caregivers, assumed.
In some counties in New York as much as half of all elderly live in nursing homes, the state average is one in four New Yorkers over the age of eighty-five living in nursing or hospice care situations. Given the national rates of abuse in nursing homes and the alarmingly high number of incidents in the State of New York, New Yorkers are clearly at risk.
If you or a loved one has been abused or neglected nursing home, please contact a qualified attorney who can help you get the compensation you deserve for injuries suffered from abuse or neglect.
Ross Cellino – Buffalo Injury Attorney – Advantages of a Large Personal Injury Law Firm