How Often Does Nursing Home Abuse Occur?

As your loved ones age, you may be in the position where you must put one of them in a nursing home in New Mexico. While most nursing facilities offer a safe and healthy place for residents where they get proper care and attention, some are not so good. Instances of abuse are unfortunately common in many nursing homes. However, the National Center on Elder Abuse explains that it is often difficult to pinpoint how often nusing home abuse occurs.

With a growing elderly population, nursing facitilites are becoming overcorwded and are in more demand. Combine that with the fact that reporting tools, laws and other mechanisms are not as developed as they should be, and the problem is one that is really not well understood. Many instances of abuse go unreported or are not reported properly. It makes it difficult to actually provide accurate statistics.

There are many factors that make this type of abuse hard to get a grip on. For one, the people being abused are often in no situation to report it themselves. Your loved one may tell you that something is happening, but you may not be sure if it is the truth because your loved one may suffer from dementia or other health conditions that would make it difficult for him or her to provide an accurate account of what happened. 

Another issue is that the definition of abuse is not clear. There are some clearcut cases, such as sexual or physical abuse. However, there may also be situations where your loved one thinks he or she is being abused when it is actually just that staff are trying to properly care for them. For example, if your grandpa does not like being bathed, he may tell you a staff member abused him simply because they gave him a bath. Things like this can make it difficult to pinpoint if abuse is really happening. This information is for education and is not legal advice.

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