New York Nursing Home Abuse is More Prevalent Than You May Realize

A report has found that residents are abused at 1 in 3 nursing homes. In New York, nursing home abuse is a major concern for many families with loved ones living in these facilities. A congressional report found that cases of serious physical, sexual and verbal abuse are rampant among the country’s nursing homes.

The minority staff of the Special Investigations Division of the House Government Reform Committee found that 30 percent of nursing home facilities in the country, which included 5,283, were cited for nearly 9,000 instances of abuse over a two-year period. Reading this statistic is almost unreal. The facilities included in the study accommodate some 550,000 residents.

Some of the common issues identified in nursing homes included untreated pressure sores (a.k.a. bed sores), poor medical care, malnutrition, dehydration, preventable accidents and inadequate sanitation and hygiene, according to the report. Many of these cases of nursing home neglect and abuse resulted in resident injuries.

The State of New York is not immune to this problem. There are often allegations of Long Island nursing home abuse or New York nursing home neglect. When facilities become understaffed or have poorly trained workers, the residents are the ones who suffer the most.

According to the article, Elderly Abused at 1 in 3 Nursing Homes: Report, posted on ABC News, the congressional study documents situations where residents were “punched, slapped, chocked or kicked by staff members or other residents, causing injuries such as fractured bones or lacerations.” In some cases, a staff member was accused of physically or sexually abusing a resident. Other cases involved staff who failed to protect people from abuse by other residents.

No one deserves this type of treatment. If your loved one has been the victim of nursing home abuse in New York, you need to contact a Long Island nursing home abuse attorney at the law firm of Rappaport, Glass, Greene and Levine at 800.734.9445 for legal advice.