When you put an elderly loved one into a nursing home, you are entrusting their care to someone else for 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. After years of stories on the news about nursing home abuse, you probably know that you need to look out for signs of physical neglect or abuse – but there are some other types of abuse you should also be aware of, such as emotional and financial abuse.
Emotional abuse
Emotional abuse can be active – deliberately causing the nursing home resident anxiety, fear, or emotional pain – or it can be passive – such as ignoring a resident or their verbal requests. This type of abuse can cause mental anguish, and this can even lead to physical and medical problems. Signs of emotional abuse may be staff members that are reluctant to leave you alone with the resident and, of course, any sort of threatening behavior from the staff that you witness first hand.
Financial abuse
When an elderly person is in a nursing home, they come to depend on their caretakers for everything – after all, this is what the staff is there for. Unfortunately, this means that the resident is especially vulnerable to fraud and other financial schemes. Watch out for any sudden changes in your loved one’s legal matters such as wills and power of attorney, the addition of new beneficiaries to life insurance policies, any suspicious bank activity, and, of course, the disappearance of money and personal property.
It is only common sense to watch for signs of physical neglect or abuse when you visit your loved one in the nursing home – but you should also be aware that emotional and financial abuse can happen as well. If you believe that a loved one is being abused in their nursing home, don’t wait to get help – they should be removed from any danger immediately. Laurie Robbins has the knowledge and experience you need to protect your elderly relatives from any kind of abuse, and she knows what legal choices you have when abuse has occurred. Call attorney Laurie Robbins’ Atlanta office today, at 404-252-8117, for a consultation.