Many adult children in Oregon are concerned about aging parents who live in nursing homes. Some of them may have reason to suspect that nursing negligence is occurring or that their loved ones are being abused by nursing home aides. Some years back, the son of a woman who was a patient in a nursing home suspected his mother was being abused after finding bruises on her body.
He set up a hidden camera in her room. Sadly, film footage showed what appeared to be a nursing home employee tossing the 78-year-old woman onto her bed and shoving her face into the sheets. The worker wound up pleading guilty to abuse and serving more than seven years of a 10-year sentence. She was recently released after reportedly issuing an apology to the family of the woman (who is now deceased).
The decedent’s son said it is far too soon for him or his family members to be able to forgive the former nursing aide for her actions. Every nursing home patient can expect to be kept safe and to receive daily care of the highest quality, according to state laws and accepted safety standards. No elder should ever suffer emotional, physical, financial or sexual injury at the hands of his or her providers.
In a perfect world, nursing negligence would not exist. Of course, there are excellent nurses in Oregon and across the country and some very bad ones, as well. An experienced medical malpractice attorney can provide guidance and support to any victim of abuse or immediate family member acting on a victim’s behalf to seek monetary judgment against any worker or administrator deemed responsible for injuries to a nursing home resident.