Every year in Georgia and beyond, there are adult children tasked with helping their aging parents to transition to life in nursing homes. In such situations, protecting loved ones is a priority as thousands of elderly nursing homes patients have suffered neglect and abuse at the hands of their caretakers. No one wants his or her parents to suffer. There are several things adult children can do to help keep their loved ones safe.
A critical issue when trying to differentiate between good nursing homes and those that might place a parent at risk is how many staff members are working at any given time. Many nursing home workers complain that they are short-staffed and often overly tired because of the long hours they work. One investigation found that approximately 1,400 nursing homes throughout the nation are understaffed.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services requires a certain number of registered nurses to be on every nursing home staff. During the investigation, it was discovered that many of the 1,400 nursing homes in question had times when there were no registered nurses on duty for as many as eight hours at a time. Those who conducted the study say there may be a link between low staffing and patient neglect.
Protecting loved ones is not always possible, especially if an adult child lives far away from the parent in a nursing home or simply can’t visit often and, therefore, cannot always see what is going on. If a Georgia nursing home is suspected of neglect, there are ways to further investigate to determine if there are grounds for filing a formal complaint. An experienced elder law attorney would be a great asset in such circumstances.
Kevin Tharpe
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