Nursing Home Injuries

    PHOENIX, AZ, August 24, 2009 /24-7PressRelease/ -- When you are dealing with having a loved one seriously injured in a nursing home facility it can be emotionally traumatic to deal with. When you make the decision to put your loved one in a nursing home facility, you are trusting that facility to provide the best care and safety for your loved one. With many nursing homes in the Phoenix, Scottsdale, Tempe, Mesa and surrounding areas, any facility can be guilty of nursing home abuse, neglect or injuries. Numerous parties can be responsible for these injuries, including the nursing home staff, supervisor, or even the doctors in charge of the nursing home patient's care.

In most cases your loved ones have to be completely dependent on the care that the nursing home provides, and the slightest negligence can result in disastrous consequences. Some examples of the types of injuries that can occur in a nursing home include:

Nursing Home Injuries

• Malnutrition
• Bedsores
• Mental abuse
• Head trauma
• Bruising
• Broken Bones
• Wrongful Death
• Elopement/ Wandering
• Stroke or Heart attack that was not treated properly
• Misdiagnosis
• Untreated infections
• Dehydration

Trying to prevent an injury from happening in a nursing home may not be possible, but you can take a few precautions and considerations when choosing the right nursing home for your loved one. According to an article in the AARP magazine by Karen Westerberg Reyes, the following steps may help ensure your loved one's safety:

Choosing a Nursing Home

• File an appeal to buy yourself more time to find a nursing home facility for your loved one. Half of all nursing home admissions follow a brief hospital stay, and the hospital usually gives you a mere 24 hours to find a facility.

• Begin your search for a nursing home with Eldercare locator (800-677-1116), which will put you in contact with your local Area Agency on Aging who can give you a list of nursing homes in Phoenix and surrounding areas.

• Look for a nursing home close to home in order to be able to closely monitor your loved ones care. The nursing home staff is usually aware of regular visitors and will tend to provide more care to those patients in order to prevent complaints.

• Go into the nursing home facility unannounced so you have a better idea of how the facility is run on a daily basis. This is extremely important on your first visit that way you can insure you are choosing the right facility. Be sure to pay attention to the maintenance of the facility, and the ratio of caregivers to patients.

• Go to the bathroom and observe the level of cleanliness, which is often a common complaint in the larger nursing home facilities.

• Look for residents in the right places. For example, if they are being changed, dressed, or toileted, then the facility most likely does not respect their dignity and privacy and you should look elsewhere for care.

• Look at the nursing home facilities most recent inspection survey.

• Visit the nursing home facility frequently in order to monitor the care your loved one is receiving.

Contact an Arizona Personal Injury Attorney

Your loved one can experience an injury at a nursing home by a caregiver at any moment. When these types of situations occur it is important that you consult an Arizona personal injury attorney to ensure that those negligent parties are responsible for the compensation for your loved one's injuries. For more information: www.solomonrelihan.com

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