Resident’s rights.
Federal nursing home laws protect the residents of nursing homes to make certain they attain mental, physical and psychosocial well-being while living in a care facility, and address operational and staffing requirements to make certain residents have support they need while receiving adequate care. The Nursing Home Reform Act under Title IV: of the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1987 created uniform guidelines for long-term care facilities receiving federal Medicaid and Medicare funding that grant all nursing home residents the rights to maintain and receive adequate nutrition, personal hygiene, mental and emotional support, and social involvement. Those who are incapable of daily living activities such as grooming and using the restroom are entitled to personalized care from nursing home staff.
Federal nursing home laws state that residents are entitled to receive:
- Medically-related social services
- Proper health care, such as primary and dental care
- Accurate dispensing, receipt, and administration of medicines and drugs
- Dietary services that meet daily nutritional needs of each patient
- Special services for mentally ill or retarded residents
- Personal, material, and financial privacy when requested
- Treatment that does not violate the resident’s dignity or respect
Nursing home abuse.
Nursing home abuse covers acts that inflict injury, unreasonable confinement, intimidation or punishment with the result of physical harm or pain or mental anguish, or deprivation by an individual, including a caretaker, of goods or services that are necessary to attain or maintain physical, mental and psychosocial well-being as well as acts of negligence that cause or exacerbate existing health conditions.
Common types of abuse.
- Verbal abuse – The directed use of oral, written language or improper gestures that include critical, offensive and belittling terms to residents or their families, or where they can be heard even when a resident cannot comprehend such abuse including: 1) threats of harm or scaring them through fabricated stories.
- Sexual abuse – sexual harassment, sexual coercion or sexual assault.
- Physical abuse – to hit, slap, pinch or kick or affect control by the threat of corporal punishment.
- Mental abuse – humiliation, harassment, threatening punishment or deprivation, and gas lighting.
- Involuntary seclusion – Separating a resident from other residents taking them from their personal space, or even confinement to his room (with/without roommates) against the resident’s will, or the will of the resident’s legal representative.
- Unintentional Abuse – warning signs may include developing bed sores due to failure to change the victim’s sheets and/or regularly reposition the resident to improve circulation, exacerbation of conditions like diabetes due to changes in medication, diet and exercise, frequent falls, or poor hygiene such as bathing or brushing teeth.
Violation of resident rights could lead to punitive damages.
Nursing homes may be liable for negligence in care, negligence in hiring/firing staff, and/or negligence in training staff on policies/procedures such as reporting accidents and injuries. Residents or families can sue for monetary compensation for an injury resulting from abuse, neglect, or accidents such as a fall from a bed accident and receive punitive damages for intentional misconduct or gross negligence.
Report nursing home or elder abuse in Nevada.
To report suspected elder abandonment, abuse, neglect, exploitation, isolation, and/or facility complaints to the Elder Rights Intake unit, please utilize these phone numbers:
Las Vegas/Clark County (702) 486-6930
Statewide/All Other Areas (888) 729-0571
If an older person is in immediate danger, the local police, sheriff’s office or emergency medical service should be contacted. If the older person is not in immediate danger, the report should be made via one of the designated phone numbers.
Call an attorney.
If you have personally experienced nursing home abuse, or are a family member of someone who has, you should meet with Attorney Christopher Burk, who is passionate about holding nursing homes and care facilities responsible for the damages that come from abuse or neglect.
Southwest Injury Lawyers
8716 Spanish Ridge Ave #120
Las Vegas, NV 89148
Phone: 702-600-3200
Sources:
http://adsd.nv.gov/Programs/Seniors/EPS/EPS_Prog/
https://www.congress.gov/bill/100th-congress/house-bill/3545/titles
