Representing Elderly Victims of Abuse or Neglect
Nursing home residents place an extraordinary amount of trust in their caretakers to feed, clothe, medicate, and otherwise care for them. For an institution to breach this trust and abuse, neglect, or take advantage of a resident is unthinkable – but, unfortunately, it does happen. If you suspect an elderly loved one is being mistreated or neglected, Denver personal injury attorney J. Todd Tenge and his Boulder and Fort Collins law firm offices can help. Please contact the Tenge Law Firm, LLC today to schedule your confidential and complimentary consultation. We will aggressively represent the elderly who have sustained serious injuries as a result of nursing home facility abuse and neglect.
What Are Types of Nursing Home Abuse?
The elderly are vulnerable to several types of abuse, including:
- Physical abuse: The use of force that results in bodily injury or harm (e.g., pushing, striking, beating, the improper use of restraints).
- Emotional/psychological abuse: Behaviors that inflict mental distress (e.g., taunting, threatening, insulting or even ignoring).
- Financial abuse: Illegally or improperly handling a resident’s funds or property (e.g., forging a signature on a check, stealing money).
- Neglect: Failure to fulfill the reasonable duties of a caretaker (e.g., denying a resident the basic life necessities, including food, water, medical care, shelter, clothing).
Examples of nursing home neglect:
- Failure to assist in personal hygiene;
- failure to provide food, clothing, or shelter;
- failure to provide medical care;
- failure to keep the elderly safe.
What Are Causes of Nursing Home Abuse?
There are some common denominators in nursing home abuse cases. When administrators fail to properly staff nursing homes, overworked employees can become stressed and aggravated, and may take out these frustrations on innocent residents. Likewise, if a nursing home employee does not receive adequate training when they are hired, they may make mistakes while feeding patients, administering medications, or otherwise caring for their patients’ well-being. A quality nursing home employee is equipped with the resources he or she needs to safely and responsibly care for a resident. While employees are accountable for their own actions, management is also responsible for supplying their team with the proper tools and support to do their job.
For more information about liability in nursing home neglect or abuse cases, contact attorney J. Todd Tenge, serving the Boulder, Denver, and Fort Collins areas.
What If I Suspect a Loved One Is Being Abused?
Sometimes abuse manifests itself in obvious ways (e.g., bruising, sexually transmitted diseases, or unexplained withdrawals of money from a bank account). In other cases, it takes a keen eye to detect. For example, nursing home residents who are being emotionally abused may seem withdrawn, unresponsive, distressed, or agitated. Or residents who are being improperly restrained may have subtle rope burns around the wrists or ankles, or unexplained muscle or joint injuries due to struggling against the restraints.
If you suspect a loved one is being abused in a nursing home, you should first contact the local police if you feel the person is in immediate or life-threatening danger. Then, contact Adult Protective Services in the county where the victim resides. You can file a report detailing information about the victim, the victim’s situation, and even the person you suspect is being abusive. Finally, contact our experienced nursing home abuse attorneys to go over the victim’s legal rights and options.
Contact a Denver Nursing Home Abuse Attorney
If you would like to speak with a nursing home abuse attorney in the Boulder, Denver, or Fort Collins areas, contact the Tenge Law Firm, LLC today. J. Todd Tenge will personally review your case and determine the best course of legal action against the facility, home, and/or caretaker who is abusing your loved one.