Unfortunately, there is no sure-fire way to say with 100% certainty that if you take certain steps, nursing home abuse or neglect will not occur to your loved one. There are, however, several steps you can take to reduce the likelihood of it happening. The chances of the abuse not occurring will increase if you follow through with most or all of these suggestions. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to contact Darrell Castle & Associates the best nursing home lawyer in Memphis TN.
Make Sure There’s No Suitable Alternative.
Before you commit your loved one into the care of a nursing home, make certain that your loved one isn’t able to live independently or in a group home with other semi-independent elderly. Make certain that there isn’t a relative who’s willing and financially able to take care of your loved one. Often, family members are more than willing to help out when and where they can. Also, having your elderly loved one house with a relative doesn’t mean that a caretaker or other assistant can’t make scheduled visits to tend to the medical or therapeutic needs that family members can’t.
Make Sure The Nursing Home Isn’t Far.
Sometimes, the further you are from your loved one, the less often you can visit. This is especially true when the weather is bad. But being within a comfortable driving distance from your loved one’s nursing home helps ensure that you can check up on him or her and see for yourself what all is going on.
Read The Nursing Home’s Reviews.
Positive or negative, reviews are important. While there may be some truth to the position that people are more likely to leave reviews when they have negative feedback than when they have good feedback, reviews will still paint a picture of how well a nursing home takes care of its residents. Not to mention, you can scour the reviews to see whether similar complaints continue to appear across multiple comments. If specific complaints show up from different users, you should take this sort of comment seriously. On the other hand, if you only see one negative review or a bad review that’s from years ago, it can probably be taken with a grain of salt.
Tour The Nursing Home.
It’s always a good idea to tour the nursing home yourself before you commit your elderly loved one. See what services the nursing home offers. Are their facilities open, closed temporarily, or under renovations? Pay attention to the cleanliness of the building. See how happy (or miserable) the other residents look. Do they look well taken care of or are their clothes dirty, and do they look bruised or injured?
Stay In Touch With Your Loved One.
We understand that you have a busy schedule and a life of your own, but it’s important that you keep in touch with your loved one. Even a 10 minute call can suffice. As long as you keep a line of communication open so that your loved one has opportunities to tell you if something is wrong, there’s hope that you can intervene whenever you suspect abuse or neglect is afoot.