Albuquerque Nursing Home Poor Hygiene Attorneys

How Poor Hygiene Can Be the Result of Nursing Home Neglect or Abuse

Maintaining good hygienic habits is an important part of staying healthy, especially when someone is elderly and more susceptible to illness. A nursing home should provide residents with tailored hygienic assistance, which may include help with bathing, washing clothes, brushing teeth, and personal grooming.

When a nursing home resident is incapable of taking care of themselves without external support, neglect can result in dangerously poor hygiene. Nursing home staff may neglect a resident when they are stretched too thin due to understaffing. Facility employees may not have the time or training they need to assist residents with hygienic activities or even realize that they need additional help. 

Active, physical abuse can also trigger poor hygienic habits. If a vulnerable person is made to feel unsafe, unhappy, or abandoned, they may become unmotivated and less able to care for themselves. 

Signs of Poor Hygiene in New Mexico Nursing Homes

Poor hygiene will become fairly easy to detect (and difficult to ignore) once bad habits become routine. In an ideal world, the nursing home’s staff would notice the inadequate hygiene and take immediate steps to intervene. In reality, neglect or abuse tends to be the root cause of poor hygiene in nursing homes, meaning the victim’s family will often need to notice the problem before anything is done. 

Warning signs to watch out for include:

• Bad breath
• Excessive amounts of food in teeth
• Visible signs of tooth or gum decay
• Noticeably dirty and unwashed hair or clothing
• Pungent body odor
• Untrimmed fingernails or toenails

Who Is Responsible for Poor Hygiene in New Mexico Nursing Homes?

A nursing home staff member who neglects a patient is typically liable for any resulting harm. Nursing homes have a responsibility to care for their residents, and a nursing home may be liable if their negligent operation of the facility led to neglect or abuse. In other words, if the nursing home failed to hire enough staff, failed to adequately train them, or ignored signs of neglect or abuse, they may be liable for the resulting damages. Our Albuquerque nursing home poor hygiene attorneys can carefully assess the circumstances and ascertain liability. Even if your loved one practiced poor hygiene independent of any deliberate action perpetrated by the nursing home, its staff, or another resident, you may still have a case, as the staff should have reasonably become aware of the poor hygiene and taken steps to correct it. 

What Damages Can I Recover in a New Mexico Nursing Home Neglect Claim?

When you discover nursing home neglect, your step should be to remove your loved one from the abusive facility and formally report the mistreatment. We can assist you with this step and ensure the appropriate authorities are informed. 

You should then explore your options for recovering compensation. Depending on the situation and the types of losses sustained by your loved one, you may be able to secure money for economic and non-economic damages.  Typically, poor hygiene claims are brought in lawsuits where the resident also suffered serious physical harm. 

Our Albuquerque nursing home poor hygiene lawyers will work to get you compensation for all losses, including:

• Past, current, and future medical expenses resulting from the neglect
• Pain and suffering
• Loss of consortium
• Loss of enjoyment of life

Get legal advice as soon as you discover evidence of nursing home neglect. Contact us online or call (505) 295-2245 to speak to one of our legal professionals today.