Physical and Emotional Abuse

Nursing Home Physical and Emotional Abuse

Shaking, an angry lecture, a slap, humiliation of an incontinent adult – emotional and physical abuse of a vulnerable nursing home resident often goes unreported.

Physical or emotional abuse, including sexual abuse, may be inflicted on a nursing home, assisted living, senior-care facility, or home-care patient by an employee, another resident, or a visitor to the nursing home. Such abuse is often the result of the institution's failure to take proper precautions to protect the resident, and a resulting injury may entitle the resident to compensation.

Contact a nursing home lawyer at our Cleveland, Ohio, firm, the Associated Offices of Dennis Seaman & Associates Co., L.P.A., and Garson & Associates Co., L.P.A., (Seaman & Garson), if you know of a resident who has suffered a physical or emotional injury as a result of abuse. Our attorneys will tell you how to protect your parent, grandparent, or friend.

Identifying physical or emotional nursing home abuse

• Listen to the resident. Too often a complaint of abuse is disregarded as evidence of paranoia or confusion, particularly in a patient with dementia or Alzheimer's.
• Observe interactions between the resident and staff. Is the resident fearful, nervous, or confused when staff members enter the room? Have you observed the staff member scolding a resident or handling a person roughly?
• Look for patterns of unexplained bruises, skin tears, or other injuries.
• Are nursing home aides, nurses, and administrators evasive when asked for explanations? Do the explanations given seem reasonable?

Every resident of a nursing home or assisted living facility and every senior citizen cared for by a home health care aide, deserves to be treated with dignity and respect, and to be safe from dangerous assaults. At Seaman & Garson, our attorneys are committed to holding those responsible for the elderly to that standard of care.

If you suspect a nursing home resident is the victim of a sexual or violent physical assault or emotional abuse, it is extremely important to take action quickly, both to protect the individual from future abuse and to ensure they receive any compensation they deserve for such physical or emotional injuries. Our Northeast Ohio firm represents clients throughout Ohio, including the communities of Lorain, Akron, Canton, Painesville, Columbus, Cincinnati, Toledo, Dayton, Youngstown, Parma, and Cleveland. We are also long-standing members of the American Association for Justice, and as such, we are connected to a nationwide network of attorneys.

Lawyers at Seaman and Garson have earned a reputation in the national legal community for setting standards in Ohio personal injury law. Call: (216) 830-1000 or e-mail our office to arrange a free consultation about a nursing home injury claim.