Grandma, Grandpa, even Uncle Joe, and Aunt Sue dedicated their lives to raising their families and providing the care and support their children needed growing up. So, why is it that so many of America’s elderly are finding themselves the victims of neglect and outright abuse at the hands of nursing home staff?
It’s a question many families are starting to openly ask as they grapple with the discovery that their loved ones have been the victim of nursing home abuse.
In one of the most recent cases, the Castro family in Abilene, Texas claims that Laura Jean Enos was neglected and abused prior to her death in October. When the family came to pay their last respects, they noted that she was covered in bruises and that none of the staff could account for the cause.
Illinois nursing home abuse attorney Bogie Martinovich observed, “The Castro family is not alone in experiencing the shock of discovering the abuse of a loved one under nursing home care. In 2000, a study done by the National Center on Elder Abuse found that nearly 44% of respondents said they had been abused, and 95% said they had been neglected.”
Those are terrifying statistics, however, more concerning is that the same survey showed that over 50% of nursing home staff admitted to deliberately mistreating or neglecting patients under their care. Thus, it is clear that abuse has become a routine that is blatantly putting nursing home residents at risk for serious injury or death at the hands of the people they trust to care for them.
“To stem the growing rate of nursing home abuse, the Illinois General Assembly passed the Nursing Home Care Act in 2010. This legislation gives families and law enforcement the voice, and the teeth they need to put abusive nursing homes out of business and the guilty parties in jail,” remarked Bogie Martinovich.
