ABUSO Y NEGLIGENCIA EN HOGARES DE ANCIANOS

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ABUSO Y NEGLIGENCIA EN HOGARES DE ANCIANOS

Al igual que nuestros niños, muchos miembros de nuestra población de edad avanzada necesitan nuestra ayuda para garantizar que reciban la atención adecuada. Hay muchos niveles de atención para los adultos mayores. Un nivel inferior puede incluir algo como la vida en un apartamento con todo incluido. Este tipo de instalación probablemente ofrecería un paso adelante hacia lo que normalmente se llama vida asistida, donde el residente mantiene cierta autonomía pero tiene un mayor nivel de supervisión y atención. En el otro extremo del espectro se encuentra la atención a largo plazo en residencias de ancianos. La población de los hogares de ancianos a largo plazo generalmente está formada por ancianos con enfermedades crónicas que tienen pocas o ninguna opción para ingresar a un centro de este tipo. Como resultado, estos pacientes son los más vulnerables de todos los grupos médicamente necesitados, ya que tienen poca o ninguna voz en su atención. Si cree que su ser querido ha sido maltratado en un asilo de ancianos.

¿QUÉ HAY EN ESTA PÁGINA?

Nursing Home Life

Unlike acute care hospitals, which are often not-for-profit organizations, nursing homes are typically for-profit, private institutions. The evolution of nursing homes makes the reasoning for this obvious. Nursing homes sprang up from “mom and pop” operations wherein boarding homes were operated to care for elderly patients. This created a largely for-profit market.

Most nursing home residents suffer from chronic (long-term) problems rather than acute (immediate but temporary) problems. Therefore, the obvious problem with nursing home care becomes a longer length of time within the facility and a continuing need for constant supervision. Many nursing home residents also require assistance in performing the daily living activities that most of us take for granted, such as dressing, bathing, and toileting. For many of these residents, an unaided trip to the bathroom could easily cause a fatal fall.

The nursing home population typically does not have a direct line of communication outside of the nursing home. Residents often suffer from mental infirmities that limit their ability to communicate and are often medicated, limiting their pain level and awareness. As a result, residents typically go unrepresented, enabling the neglect or abuse to continue. Family members are the best watchdogs of a nursing home patient’s well-being, security, and rights in these situations.

Regulations & Expected Level of Care

Nursing homes are federally, as well as locally, regulated. The Federal standard for nursing homes, as well as the Patient’s Bill of Rights, can be found in the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1987 (OBRA), 42 U.S.C. Section 1395-1396. These regulations, along with corresponding state laws, create the required standard.

By definition, nursing homes provide a place where residents are served by nursing personnel with the assistance of daily living.

Every nursing home must provide:

  • Adequate number of nursing personnel to provide for the needs of residents
  • Adequate food and medication
  • Competent, screened, and maintained staff
  • Planning of care for each resident
  • Regular assessments of each resident
  • The keeping of accurate records that document the condition and progress of residents and their care
  • Safeguards that identify problems and resolutions to those problems

These regulations force the nursing homes to adjust to the needs of each patient, rather than have the patient adjust to the facility.

If the facility does not meet these basic requirements of care, the result can be a problem of neglect throughout the facility that can result in injury or death to the residents. The inability of many residents to communicate the abuse to parties outside the facility often enables the abuse or neglect to continue. This inability comes from many sources, which include, but are not limited to, lack of financial resources, lack of physical capabilities, lack of mental capacity, and other limitations.

There are many types of instances that can be defined as neglect or abuse. These include:

Wandering

While poorly defined, the problem includes excessive ambulation and excess movement. There are five behavioral patterns associated with wandering in persons with dementia. These are tactile wandering, environmentally cued wandering, reminiscent wandering, recreational wandering, and agitated purposeful wandering.

At a minimum, a nursing home must identify residents at risk for wandering. They must also develop a care plan that addresses the wandering, develop a program for preventing wandering, and keep the facility safe from accidents as well as modify the environment to discourage wandering Finally, there must be a comprehensive plan in place that is facility-wide to mobilize staff to look for a missing resident.

Daily Care

Proper nutrition is a basic necessity for the health and well-being of young and old alike. Poor nutrition causes involuntary weight loss, dehydration, pressure sores, and reduced quality of life. With weight loss and dehydration comes a vulnerability to disease, pressure sores, decreased mobility, and increased mortality rates.

The elderly require at least 1.5 liters of fluids per day. Pressure sores require treatment which includes adequate calories, protein, fluids, vitamins and minerals, and intervention. A facility is required to provide “sufficient fluid intake to maintain proper hydration and health.” 42 C.F.R. § 483.25(I)(j).

In addition, facilities are required by law to ensure that a resident does not develop pressure sores unless they are clinically inevitable and that a resident that has pressure sores receives adequate treatment to promote healing and adequate safeguards to prevent new sores from developing. 42 C.F.R. § 483.25(c).

Falls

A fall is defined as a sudden, uncontrolled, unintentional, non-purposeful downward displacement of the body to the floor /ground or another object. A facility is required to:

  • Ensure that the environment is as free as possible from accident hazards
  • Ensure that each resident is provided with supervision and assistance, as well as fall prevention devices, to prevent falls. 42 C.F.R. § 483.25(h). Falls may be caused by many factors. These factors include medication or physical limitations, as well as extrinsic factors such as defects in the facility structure. A higher rate of falls and fall-related injuries occur among nursing home residents, especially for those residents with dementia. While not all falls result in injury, some result in fatal injuries. Because of the seriousness of falls, nursing homes are required to conduct a fall assessment for each resident and provide a plan for each resident to prevent such an event.

Medication Error

The law requires that drugs be administered in accordance with the written orders of the attending physician. They must be given to the proper patient at the appropriate time, in the correct dosage, and via the proper route.

Obviously, medication errors can cause numerous types of injuries, but they may also affect the patient’s control of their own faculties causing them to fall, be unable to eat or drink, or perform other necessary daily functions. Unfortunately, medications are often inappropriately used as a patient restraint.

Get the Help Your Loved One Deserve

If you or your loved one have experienced nursing home abuse and neglect, please do not hesitate to call our North and South Carolina nursing home abuse lawyers at (800) 351-3008. We have handled nursing home abuse and neglect-related cases throughout the United States and we look forward to the opportunity to serve your legal needs.

120 3rd St NE
Hickory, NC 28601

Teléfono (828) 327-9004
Número gratuito: (800) 351-3008

130 Church St NE
Concord, NC 28025

Teléfono: (704) 787-9419
Número gratuito: (800) 351-3008

301 S McDowell St #1016
Charlotte, NC 28204

Teléfono: (704) 676-1093
Número gratuito: (800) 351-3008

1348 Ebenezer Rd #103
Rock Hill, SC 29732

Teléfono: (803) 980-5300
Número gratuito: (800) 351-3008

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Noticias de nuestro blog

Notice of Data Security Event
Updated March 28, 2025

The Law Offices of Jason E. Taylor is providing notice of an event that may affect certain individuals’ information. Although we have no indication of identity theft or fraud in relation to this event, we are providing information about the event, our response, and additional measures individuals can take to help protect their information, should they feel it appropriate to do so.

What Happened? On October 28, 2024, The Law Offices of Jason E. Taylor identified suspicious activity related to our email system. We quickly took steps to investigate and determined that an unknown actor may have accessed certain emails within our email system between August 7 and November 7, 2024. We then conducted a comprehensive review of the potentially affected emails and attachments to determine what information was contained therein and to whom the information related, which was completed on February 25, 2025. Unfortunately, we were unable to verify the addresses of certain affected individuals, so we are providing this notice to ensure potentially affected individuals receive information about the event.

What Information Was Involved? The information affected may include individuals’ Social Security number, driver’s license and state ID information, financial account number, and health information.

What We Are Doing. We are notifying individuals about this matter and providing guidance about free resources that are available to assist with monitoring relevant accounts, credit reports, and how to place a fraud alert or security freeze on one’s credit file. Further, as with our typical security practices, we will continue to evaluate our policies, procedures, staff training, and technical security measures to reduce the likelihood of an event like this reoccurring.

What Individuals Can Do. We encourage you to remain vigilant against incidents of identity theft and fraud by reviewing your account statements and monitoring your free credit reports for suspicious activity and to detect errors. We also recommend you review the below “Steps Individuals Can Take To Help Protect Personal Information”.

For More Information. If individuals have questions about this matter, we have a dedicated assistance line with agents ready to answer their questions. Please contact our toll-free dedicated assistance line at 1-800-939-4170, Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. through 9 p.m., excluding holidays. You may also write to us at The Law Offices of Jason E. Taylor, Attn: Compliance, P.O. Box 2688, Hickory, NC 28603.

Sincerely,

The Law Offices of Jason E. Taylor

STEPS INDIVIDUALS CAN TAKE TO HELP PROTECT PERSONAL INFORMATION

Monitor Your Accounts

Under U.S. law, a consumer is entitled to one free credit report annually from each of the three major credit reporting bureaus, Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion. To order a free credit report, visit www.annualcreditreport.com or call, toll-free, 1-877-322-8228. Consumers may also directly contact the three major credit reporting bureaus listed below to request a free copy of their credit report.

Consumers have the right to place an initial or extended “fraud alert” on a credit file at no cost. An initial fraud alert is a 1-year alert that is placed on a consumer’s credit file. Upon seeing a fraud alert display on a consumer’s credit file, a business is required to take steps to verify the consumer’s identity before extending new credit. If consumers are the victim of identity theft, they are entitled to an extended fraud alert, which is a fraud alert lasting seven years. Should consumers wish to place a fraud alert, please contact any of the three major credit reporting bureaus listed below.

As an alternative to a fraud alert, consumers have the right to place a “credit freeze” on a credit report, which will prohibit a credit bureau from releasing information in the credit report without the consumer’s express authorization. The credit freeze is designed to prevent credit, loans, and services from being approved in a consumer’s name without consent. However, consumers should be aware that using a credit freeze to take control over who gets access to the personal and financial information in their credit report may delay, interfere with, or prohibit the timely approval of any subsequent request or application they make regarding a new loan, credit, mortgage, or any other account involving the extension of credit. Pursuant to federal law, consumers cannot be charged to place or lift a credit freeze on their credit report. To request a credit freeze, individuals may need to provide some or all of the following information:

1. Full name (including middle initial as well as Jr., Sr., II, III, etc.);
2. Social Security number;
3. Date of birth;
4. Addresses for the prior two to five years;
5. Proof of current address, such as a current utility bill or telephone bill;
6. A legible photocopy of a government-issued identification card (state driver’s license or ID card, etc.); and
7. A copy of either the police report, investigative report, or complaint to a law enforcement agency concerning identity theft if they are a victim of identity theft.

Should consumers wish to place a credit freeze or fraud alert, please contact the three major credit reporting bureaus listed below:

Equifax Experian TransUnion
https://www.equifax.com/personal/credit-report-services/ https://www.experian.com/help/

https://www.transunion.com/credit-help
1-888-298-0045 1-888-397-3742 1-800-916-8800
Equifax Fraud Alert, P.O. Box 105069 Atlanta, GA 30348-5069 Experian Fraud Alert, P.O. Box 9554, Allen, TX 75013 TransUnion Fraud Alert, P.O. Box 2000, Chester, PA 19016
Equifax Credit Freeze, P.O. Box 105788 Atlanta, GA 30348-5788 Experian Credit Freeze, P.O. Box 9554, Allen, TX 75013 TransUnion Credit Freeze, P.O. Box 160, Woodlyn, PA 19094

Additional Information

Consumers may further educate themselves regarding identity theft, fraud alerts, credit freezes, and the steps they can take to protect their personal information by contacting the consumer reporting bureaus, the Federal Trade Commission, or their state attorney general. The Federal Trade Commission may be reached at: 600 Pennsylvania Ave NW, Washington, DC 20580; www.identitytheft.gov; 1-877-ID-THEFT (1-877-438-4338); and TTY: 1-866-653-4261. The Federal Trade Commission also encourages those who discover that their information has been misused to file a complaint with them. Consumers can obtain further information on how to file such a complaint by way of the contact information listed above. Consumers have the right to file a police report if they ever experience identity theft or fraud. Please note that in order to file a report with law enforcement for identity theft, consumers will likely need to provide some proof that they have been a victim. Instances of known or suspected identity theft should also be reported to law enforcement and the relevant state attorney general. This notice has not been delayed by law enforcement.

For District of Columbia residents, the District of Columbia Attorney General may be contacted at: 400 6th Street, NW, Washington, DC 20001; 1-202-442-9828; and oag.dc.gov.

For Maryland residents, the Maryland Attorney General may be contacted at: 200 St. Paul Place, 16th Floor, Baltimore, MD 21202; 1-410-576-6300 or 1-888-743-0023; and https://www.marylandattorneygeneral.gov/.

For New Mexico residents, consumers have rights pursuant to the Fair Credit Reporting Act, such as the right to be told if information in their credit file has been used against them, the right to know what is in their credit file, the right to ask for their credit score, and the right to dispute incomplete or inaccurate information. Further, pursuant to the Fair Credit Reporting Act, the consumer reporting bureaus must correct or delete inaccurate, incomplete, or unverifiable information; consumer reporting agencies may not report outdated negative information; access to consumers’ files is limited; consumers must give consent for credit reports to be provided to employers; consumers may limit “prescreened” offers of credit and insurance based on information in their credit report; and consumers may seek damages from violators. Consumers may have additional rights under the Fair Credit Reporting Act not summarized here. Identity theft victims and active-duty military personnel have specific additional rights pursuant to the Fair Credit Reporting Act. We encourage consumers to review their rights pursuant to the Fair Credit Reporting Act by visiting www.consumerfinance.gov/f/201504_cfpb_summary_your-rights-under-fcra.pdf, or by writing Consumer Response Center, Room 130-A, Federal Trade Commission, 600 Pennsylvania Ave NW, Washington, DC 20580.

For New York residents, the New York Attorney General may be contacted at: Office of the Attorney General, The Capitol, Albany, NY 12224-0341; 1-800-771-7755; or https://ag.ny.gov.

For North Carolina residents, the North Carolina Attorney General may be contacted at: 9001 Mail Service Center, Raleigh, NC 27699-9001; 1-877-566-7226 or 1-919-716-6000; and www.ncdoj.gov.

For Rhode Island residents, the Rhode Island Attorney General may be reached at: 150 South Main Street, Providence, RI 02903; 1-401-274-4400; and www.riag.ri.gov. Under Rhode Island law, individuals have the right to obtain any police report filed in regard to this event.
STEPS INDIVIDUALS CAN TAKE TO HELP PROTECT A MINOR DEPENDENT’S PERSONAL INFORMATION

Typically, credit reporting agencies do not have a credit report in a minor’s name. To find out if a minor has a credit report or to request a manual search for a minor’s Social Security number each credit bureau has its own process. To learn more about these processes or request these services, consumers may contact the credit bureaus by phone, writing, or online:
Equifax Experian TransUnion
https://www.equifax.com/personal/help/article-list/-/h/a/request-child-credit-report/
https://www.experian.com/help/minor-request.html
https://www.transunion.com/fraud-victim-resources/child-identity-theft

1-800-685-1111 1-888-397-3742 1-800-916-8800
P.O. Box 105788
Atlanta, GA 30348-5788 P.O. Box 9554
Allen, TX 75013 P.O. Box 2000
Chester, PA 19016

To request information about the existence of a credit file in a minor’s name, search for a minor’s Social Security number, place a security freeze or fraud alert on a minor’s credit report (if one exists), or request a copy of a minor’s credit report consumers may be required to provide the following information:
● A copy of their driver’s license or another government issued identification card, such as a state identification card, etc.;
● Proof of address, such as a copy of a bank statement, utility bill, insurance statement, etc.;
● A copy of the minor’s birth certificate;
● A copy of the minor’s Social Security card;
● The minor’s full name, including middle initial and generation, such as JR, SR, II, III, etc.;
● The minor’s date of birth; and
● The minor’s previous addresses for the past two years.

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