You are not alone if you had to make a quick decision about residential care. Many New Mexico residents rush into choosing nursing homes as a direct result of an elderly family member’s injury or medical condition. If you did not have enough time to fully vet each option before you made your decision, it could be time to review the situation.
The last thing you want is for further misfortune to befall the person you care about. If someone you care for had an accident while in residential care, it would already be too late to reclaim the good health and vivacity they had previously enjoyed. While you could potentially retrieve monetary damages by pursuing a civil lawsuit, no amount of remuneration is likely to completely heal the emotional and physical injuries caused by nursing home abuse and neglect.
Fortunately, precluding the possibility of a disaster could be easier than you think. One way you might be able to prevent a nursing home accident is simply to take some time during your visits and inspect the facility in which your loved one is housed.
The AARP guide to inspecting a nursing home doubles as a method by which you could review your care decision. The guide distills state and federal regulations regarding nursing home operation and maintenance into a quick guide. The inspection method is also supplemented by some common sense ideas that could prove useful to you when you are looking at your loved one’s living environment.
In the event the current living arrangement fails your inspection, you could use the same procedures while looking at alternatives. Please do not consider this as legal advice. It is intended to be educational material.
