Care Crisis? Nursing Homes Under Fire – Big Easy

When you place your family member into a nursing home, naturally, you expect supreme quality care as a minimum. Compassion from the staff members is also a big plus.

But regardless of these obvious wants and needs, the reality’s quite different. More and more disturbing nursing home-related abuse and negligence cases seem to be popping up all over the U.S. But while it’s easy to paint nursing home staff as the bad guys, usually what happens is that the homes are understaffed, there’s cost-cutting, inadequate training, but there are also lapses in oversight.

When placed in a nursing home, families expect safety, compassion, and proper care for their loved ones. Yet, recent reports and more and more tragic cases across the States reveal that these expectations often clash with the reality of understaffed homes, cost-cutting, bad training, staff being overworked and what follows are lapses in oversight.

Why Nursing Homes are Now Experiencing Scrutiny

Neglect in nursing facilities, in most cases, isn’t obvious. You expect it to be obvious, but is just isn’t. It’s subtle, hidden, and becomes noticeable only after the resident spends some time in the establishment. At that point, it might already be too late. 

The reason why they’re hard to notice is because it’s usually the ‘minor’ details that are foreshadowing deeper issues (e.g., dirty sheets, unchanged badges, once friendly residents are now closed off not socializing, etc.). Those ‘minor’ details often come from more serious problems. Staff are underpaid and overworked, owners are cutting costs, and inspectors are overloaded with cases and not responding in time.

Recent official reviews and inspections show that those issues also point towards a pattern.

A 2023 audit conducted by the U.S. Office of Inspector General (OIG), has shown that around two-thirds of U.S. nursing homes had failed to report health and fire safety or emergency preparedness issues. We’re looking at health violations in over 5,200, fire safety issues in close to 8000, and emergency preparedness in over 300 nursing homes – those are staggering numbers.

Furthermore, next year (2024) a OIG audit found alarming failures in infection control and prevention practices in for-profit nursing homes. The report reveals that an estimated 1 in 4 homes failed to comply with infection prevention standards, exposing residents to disease outbreaks and safety risks. And with seniors being the most exposed to disease, that issue is extremely alarming.

Common Neglect/Abuse Signs in Nursing Homes

To make sure our loved ones are in safe hands, and that the facility they’re in are up to par, it’s useful to do a quick inspection yourself in person.

Here are the most common red flags:

Physical Symptoms

• Poor hygiene: Dirty sheets/linen, unwashed hair, and strong smells of urine and feces, dirty facilities (floors, walls, furniture, etc.) all point towards the same issue.
• Unexplained injuries: Bruises, cuts, burns, bedsores,broken bones – without a clear explanation all these could imply rough treatment, neglect, and/or inadequate supervision.
• Weight loss and dehydration: Loss of weight, dry mouth, or sunken eyes could be signs of improper feeding or hydrating which is tied to staff members or the facility as a whole.

Emotional and Behavioral Symptoms

• Social withdrawal: Residents who were once social but now isolate themselves, avoid eye contact, and become subdued, and generally anti-social may be reacting to mistreatment or emotional abuse (by the staff and/or other residents).
• Emotional changes: Mood swings, fear, and silence; all such abrupt changes in behavior could point towards anxiety, depression, fear. If such shifts in behavior are present when in the presence of certain staff members, you should take that with great caution and as a possible sign of intimidation, emotional distress, and mistreatment.

Nursing Home Staffing & Training

The most common reason behind nursing home neglect is understaffing and inadequate training. These also tend to lead towards abuse. 

Across the South, many nursing homes are working with fewer caregivers than what’s been recommended. That leads to overworked staff who struggle to meet basic care needs and can lead to missed meals, overlooked injuries, and hygiene neglect. What makes the situation worse for residents is also often changes in staff that degrade the quality of care, and disrupt residents’ trust and routine.

The only question here is – Why is this being allowed? Unfortunately, there’s no clear answer to that. It just is. A bit anticlimactic, but that’s the current reality. As long as you’re aware of the problem, we’re going in the right direction.

Poorly trained staff (obviously) don’t have the knowledge to provide care that is up to the required standards. It’s not uncommon that employees aren’t trained to handle residents with more complex medical conditions, dementia-related behaviors, and mental health problems. 

Staff training should be mandatory, continuous, and it should include testing. 

Taking Legal Action

If neglect and abuse are present. What can we do about it?

The best approach is legal action. And this is not about the compensation that comes with winning such cases. It is to force nursing homes into taking the correct approach to how residents are being cared for. You don’t want your parents/grandparents in a nursing home that doesn’t offer excellence as a bare minimum, right?

With that being said, nursing home regulations are different across states and are complicated, making it harder for families to seek justice. This is why you want a law firm that specializes in nursing home abuse/neglect and one that operates in the same state as the facility in question. 

Below, we’ll go over two successfully handled lawsuits (two out of many):

Family Wins 12.8 Million USD After Fatal Neglect

In Nashville (TN), Margaret’s family won a case against a care facility after she suffered deadly pressure sores. Despite clear signs of health deterioration, employees failed to take action and provide necessary medical intervention required. The wounds then progressed into a life-threatening state, ultimately resulting in Margaret’s death. 

Thanks to a nursing home abuse lawyer, her family won a 12.8 million dollars verdict in court. That is one of the state’s largest awards for this type of case. 

Cynthia Stewart v. Acadia St. Landry Nursing & Rehabilitation Center

The family of Cynthia Stewart from New Orleans (LA) filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Acadia St. Landry Nursing & Rehabilitation Center after she suffered deadly complications from infected bedsores. Staff failed to provide adequate and timely care, which led to her deteriorating condition over time and ultimately resulted in her death.

Later investigation showed that the nursing home was badly understaffed, and that on average, nurses spent less than 10 minutes a day per patient. Horrendous.

Conclusion

Knowing all warning signs that point to inadequate care can and will protect residents before abuse and neglect turn deadly. Best-case scenarios are that it’ll stop abuse in its tracks, or it’ll keep it away altogether.

Simply by being informed about what to watch for and insisting on accountability, families can create a safer space (and future) for loved ones and communities.