Haddonfield Nursing Home Abuse Lawyers

What kinds of nursing home abuse and neglect claims do you handle in Haddonfield?

At Ferrara & Gable, we handle all types of nursing home abuse. The National Institutes of Health defines elder abuse (the most common type of nursing home abuse) as follows:

• Physical abuse. This type of abuse involved physical harm, such as slapping, pushing, striking, or hitting a resident. Physical abuse can also include the use of physical and chemical restraints to control a resident. Physical abuse involves any type of contact that causes bruises, cuts, pressure marks, bleeding, burns, or pain. The signs of physical abuse include bedsores, infections, malnutrition, dehydration, not using hearing aids or dentures, unexplained falls, and loss of weight.
• Emotional abuse. This form of abuse includes threatening, yelling at, intimidating, or ignoring a resident. The symptoms include withdrawal, anxiety, insomnia, fear of people, depression, rocking back and forth, and isolation.
• Sexual abuse. Sadly, many seniors and disabled residents are sexually abused – sometimes by staff members and sometimes by other residents (especially residents with dementia). Sexual abuse involves forcing someone to participate in or watch sexual acts.
• Financial abuse. The signs of financial abuse include unpaid bills, charges that aren’t normal, unexplained financial losses, powers of attorney in non-relatives, cashing Social Security checks, and forged signatures.
• Neglect. Nursing home neglect includes failing to tend to a resident’s physical, emotional, social, and medical needs. Nursing home abuse can also include abandoning a resident (leaving the resident alone without supervision) and allowing a resident to wander.

Other signs of nursing home abuse or neglect include:

• Failing to honor a resident’s rights
• Violating any federal, state, or contractual right that belongs to the resident
• Not providing the correct medications in the correct dosages at the correct times
• Unsanitary living conditions
• Utilities that don’t work
• Unexplained illnesses or injuries

Many acts of abuse in Haddonfield nursing homes involve residents with dementia. Nursing homes should be prepared to protect residents who have cognitive challenges from any type of abuse or neglect.

Family members, friends, and caring nursing home staff members should be alert to any signs of abuse or neglect. Abuse or neglect should be reported to the nursing home, the New Jersey Long-Term Care Ombudsman. The best course of action is to contact our Haddonfield nursing home lawyers.