As much as Kentucky families may try, it is often hard to avoid the possibility that they may choose a bad nursing home for their loved one to stay in. After all, nursing homes with a habit of neglecting their patients are unlikely to come out and admit it. Moreover, even good or okay nursing homes may have a few bad apple employees who harm their patients even behind the backs of their busy and often overworked bosses.
There are, however, some signs of nursing home negligence families can watch for when they visit the home in order to see their loved one. As a caveat, the presence of these signs does not mean nursing home negligence is occurring. What they do mean is that perhaps the family should do some further digging and make sure that they do not need to take action like changing nursing homes or, if there has been an injury, pursuing compensation.
The warning signs of neglect can be easily grouped in two categories: warnings pertaining to the overall environment and warning signs pertaining to the patient’s condition. With respect to the first, if a family notices the environment at the nursing home is consistently dirty feeling, foul smelling or unsanitary, they should consider it a warning sign.
Likewise, patients should be getting consistent care in the little things, like having plenty of time to walk, fresh changes of clothing and bedding and help with stuff like brushing one’s teeth or hair or trimming one’s nails.
Families should also monitor their loved one’s condition. Unexplained bruises and cuts, as well as weight loss, should be questioned. Likewise, it may be a sign of neglect if a patient quits moving around as much as he or she used to without explanation. Even a decline in the patient’s emotional health might be a subtle sign of neglect.