Fixing a situation while in the middle of it is far more difficult than from the outside. You hardly expect to diagnose and repair a problem with your car or computer while the thing is running.

Social situations are more difficult. Dealing with the problem of nursing home negligence puts you in a difficult position. You must address issues to protect your loved ones, but, short of removing them form care, you will need to deal with the problems in an ongoing fashion.

Fear of reprisal to those under care in the case of a report is one reason that negligence goes unchecked. This is a common reaction when removing those effected cannot be easily handled. 

We’ll go over some of the more common things to look out for and how to handle this delicate situation.

Need to Report Nursing Home Negligence

While not strictly falling into duty to act territory, learning of potential negligence and doing nothing prolongs the issues. 

Doing nothing seldom leads to a favorable outcome. To ensure that proper steps are taken to rectify issues, you need to act. 

Many times, the fear we have of reprisal comes from exaggeration and not reality. Institutions can’t address problems that they don’t know about. Reporting signs of harm or negligence give an institution the ability to address these issues.

Better yet, once you have on record that an issue has been pointed out, this creates a paper trail for establishing negligence in the even of taking legal action.

Ongoing Care

Taking action against an institution housing a loved one comes with risks. Most importantly this includes the potential for retaliation in the form of substandard of care. 

This risk isn’t without warrant. Breaches of professional ethics in the medical field happen and are difficult to untangle. While nobody wants to do a bad job, even medical practitioners fear losing their jobs if they push against administration. 

When you rely on ongoing care for your loved ones, calling attention to issues, or filing a lawsuit may have consequences.

This fear is used by unscrupulous institutions to mask their bad deeds. Especially when looking for a nursing home, check on their reporting policies. Proper institutions want to maintain their care standards and invite comment.

Isolating Problems

One way to limit chances of reprisal and unintended consequences is to understand reporting policies within an intuition. 

Nobody likes to have a chain of command breached. Voicing a concern to the head of a home and demanding their attention to small details is likely to get ignored. Worse, concerns voiced by the resident you want to help may be taken less seriously.

Overly broad complaints about care standards also fall on overworked and deaf ears. 

Being specific about a concern to the right people gives a better chance for the issue to be dealt with and to improve standards for everyone. 

Get Help

If you’ve gone through appropriate channels in reporting potential nursing home neglect and seen no improvement, it’s time to take further action. If your loved one has faced reprisals from your attempts to report issues, you need to seek relief. 

We’re here to help you and can provide information and aid. Contact us to get find solutions.