North Memphis Nursing Home Abuse Lawyer

One of the most heart-wrenching decisions we may ever make is placing a loved one in a nursing home when their care is no longer manageable at home. We expect compassionate and caring treatment of our family members, but this is not always the case. If you live in North Memphis and your loved one is the victim of nursing home abuse, your first call should be to Gatti, Keltner, Bienvenu & Montesi PLC.

With a remarkable history of proven work recognizing the signs and expert documentation of nursing home abuse, our team should be on your side if you need a North Memphis personal injury lawyer.

Tennessee Nursing Home Statistics

Recent reports by the State of Tennessee Department of Health state that  34% of nursing homes in Tennessee had at least one substantiated complaint. And 5.3% of the facilities were cited for substandard care practices. What are some of the top documented complaints in Tennessee?

• Lack of control and prevention of infection
• No development and implementation of a comprehensive care plan
• Deficiencies in quality of care
• Lack of proper food service
• Poor communication of health changes from staff to family

Adding to the complication of poor treatment of residents in nursing homes, the acts of violence often go unreported. The unreported incidents can be particularly devastating to families because their loved ones cannot communicate the abuse properly. In Tennessee, almost half of the residents have Alzheimer’s or some form of dementia, preventing them from adequately expressing their living conditions and the abuses they suffer.

Types of Abuse

Identifying and documenting suspected deficiencies in care can be difficult. Often, months of physical neglect have occurred before the signs of abuse begin to appear. Reporting these suspicions are often challenging because of the fear of repercussions of staff against a loved one.

Abuse can take many forms. Visible signs of abuse are always easier to notice and document. Other types of abuse listed below may be more challenging to identify.

• Physical that leaves no bruising or scarring
• Emotional
• Sexual
• Neglect
• Financial

Signs of Abuse

Keeping a document of observations when you visit your loved one can be crucial to identifying the onset of abuse, how long it has occurred, and the signs of abuse you observe in your loved one. Sometimes it can be challenging to differentiate between standard patterns of behavior and patterns of behavior resulting from abuse. Let a North Memphis nursing home abuse lawyer with decades of experience help you correctly identify the problem and start seeking a solution.

Signs include:

• Signs of depression, confusion, or withdrawal
• Isolation from other residents
• Unexplained bruising, burns, and scars
• Dirty or messy appearance, ungroomed
• Improperly nourished, unconsumed food at meals
• Overly or undermedicated
• Bed sores, soiled undergarments
• Sudden changes in banking balances

Neither you nor your family member should suffer from a reduced quality of life because of the need for care. A nursing home abuse lawyer in North Memphis can give you the tools you need to fight for the dignity, care, and respect of your loved one and help secure compensation should they suffer from the neglect of a care facility.

Causes of Nursing Home Abuse

There are no justifiable reasons for the abuse our loved ones may endure while being cared for in a nursing home facility. But the causes of and documentation of this abuse are what a nursing home abuse attorney in North Memphis is trained to do. We consider every aspect of a claim and support your case through documented facts that hold substantial weight in court.

With more than 1.4 million individuals residing in over 15,5000 nursing homes across the United States, our goal is to serve North Memphis by providing the best legal representation to secure compensation when nursing home abuse occurs in our areas.

Some of the most reported causes of abuse are:

• Stressful working conditions
• Staffing shortages
• Staff burnout
• Improper staff training on resident aggression and combativeness

Preventing Nursing Home Abuse

There are proven tactics to help prevent nursing home abuse. There are actions you and your family can begin to take now. We want to help protect your loved ones from abuse and secure their quality of life, giving you the confidence that your loved one is cared for. Start by speaking with a nursing home abuse lawyer in North Memphis.

• Planning unscheduled visits to the nursing home facility that cares for your loved one is a great way to make observances. Noting the staff availability at varying times, individual staff that may be more or less attentive, and staff interactions with your loved one can alert you to particular issues that need addressing.
• Rotating visitation keeps a variety of people monitoring your family member. Staff become accustomed to seeing the same faces and know what resident a visitor is checking in on, so have different family members of varying ages stop by or ask if a friend, lay leader, or a respected community member will visit at other times of the day or week.
• Asking questions and requiring answers about the care of your loved one is your right. It is okay to ask to see documentation, request medication reviews, and schedule meetings with case workers within the facility.

Report any abuse or mistreatment that you may suspect to the proper administrators. It may also be necessary to report the abuse to authorities if the allegations are not appropriately addressed. You are your loved one’s best advocate.

Help When You Need It Most

It can be devastating to learn that your loved one is the victim of nursing home abuse. Protecting our loved ones is a top priority. Knowing the first course of action can seem confusing and often embarrassing because we feel we have failed in securing their safety.

The trusted team of Gatti, Keltner, Bienvenu & Montesi PLC  will walk you through the process of safeguarding your loved one if they are the victim of nursing home abuse in North Memphis and help secure the compensation they deserve. For over 40 years, we have built a reputation for supporting, informing, and guiding our clients through decision-making, securing the best outcome for each case.