Abuse in Assisted Living Facilities

In recent years, there has been increased recognition of abuse in assisted living facilities as an important healthcare issue. There has been relatively limited research about the prevalence of abuse in facilities for several reasons. Among the reasons why incidents of abuse go unreported are: embarrassment or fear of reporting by those who have been subject to it, the frailty of the resident, and the lack of physical means to report the abuse, such as having a disability or lack of access to a telephone.

Contributing Factors to Abuse in Assisted Living Facilities

Abuse encompasses at least five categories of harm: physical, psychological, and sexual abuse, financial exploitation, and neglect. This abuse in assisted living may cause permanent disability and even death. Prior studies indicate significant correlations between the number of beds at a facility, number of nurses, number of aides and staff turnover, and total incidents of patient mistreatment. There is also a positive correlation between staff-to-patient ratio and physical nursing home neglect, and staff ratio and total incidents of mistreatment per patient.
Simply put, the larger the facility and the larger the numbers of patients and staff, the higher the risk is of mental neglect, physical neglect, and total number of abuse in assisted living incidents.

What are the most frequent forms of abuse in assisted living?

Frequently identified problems included failure to provide sufficient care to residents after an accident, unqualified or insufficient staff, failure to provide medications or store medications adequately, and failure to follow admission and discharge policies required by state regulations.

Primary factors relating to these problems are inadequate staff training and high staff turnover. Staff in assisted living facilities frequently do not have adequate knowledge of the residents and their physical and mental health problems, while the residents do not know the staff and feel insecure.

How to Prevent Abuse in Assisted Living Facilities

It is important to establish enforcement systems in facilities as well as government controls for periodically evaluating the efforts of facilities towards preventing abuse in assisted living and prioritizing patient satisfaction. Policies also need to be in place to close facilities that fail to meet standards. Consumers and policymakers working toward long-term care workforce stability should support increases in wages, benefits, and advancement opportunities for front line workers commensurate with the hard work expected of them and the responsibility entrusted to them.

Finally, since loved ones of assisted living residents can play an important role in reporting and preventing abuse and mistreatment by caregivers, they should pay frequent visits to their loved ones, know the signs of nursing home abuse, and report any problems to authorities. If you or a loved suffered abuse in assisted living, contact a Charleston lawyer to discuss your legal options.