ATTORNEY NEWSLETTER
Caregiver Sentenced For Abuse Of Dementia Patient
Hidden Camera Captures Abuse
Sadly, all nursing home patients are at risk of neglect and many of them at risk of intentional abuse as well. Dementia patients are a particularly vulnerable group as often they cannot remember what has happened to them or be able to talk about it even if they could remember. If you have a loved one who needs to enter a nursing home due to his or her dementia be sure the home is qualified and staffed to care for dementia patients. Once your loved one is admitted visit as often as you can to check on them. One additional way to monitor their care is by placing a camera in his or her room. Details regarding camera installation are set forth in a recent blog you can read here: San Francisco Nursing Home Abuse Attorney: Surveillance Cameras In Nursing Home Rooms | Evans Law. Camera use is no substitute for personal visits, however, and later in this blog we list some things to look for when you visit a loved one in a home. Whenever you discover that something is wrong, either on film footage or by a personal visit, do something about it right away by calling elder counsel. If you or someone you know is a victim of nursing home abuse, call Evans Law Firm, Inc. today at 415-441-8669. Our toll free number is 1-888-50EVANS.
Cases Of Abuse And Neglect Caught On Surveillance Camera
In a recently reported sentencing[1], a caregiver was caught on camera appearing to abuse an 89-year old dementia patient. According to police, the video showed the caregiver grabbing the woman’s head, pulling her hair and pushing her. Family members say they installed the hidden camera after finding bruises on their grandmother. The family hid the camera in their grandmother’s DVD player in her room. The caregiver plead no contest and was sentenced to 90 days in jail for a misdemeanor charge of elder abuse.
According to an article from the The New York Times, in another recent case a nursing home aide was caught stuffing latex gloves into a dementia patient’s mouth by a surveillance camera that was placed in the patient’s room by a family member. The aide, along with another employee, taunted the patient and physically abused her—and it was all caught on camera for the family to later discover.
Some years ago, the Ohio state attorney general’s office—with permission from families—placed cameras in residents’ rooms in an unspecified amount of state nursing home facilities. The cameras caught actions such as an aide leaving an incapacitated patient’s food by his bedside and not feeding him. That and similar actions eventually led to the shutdown of the facility.
Cameras No Substitutes for Visits
A surveillance camera is not a substitute for family involvement and personal monitoring of care. With or without a camera, visit your loved one as often as you can and look for signs of abuse or neglect:
- Bedsores/pressure ulcers or other poor skin conditions;
- Bruises and scratch marks;
- Falls;
- Indication of sexual assault, rape, or battery;
- Overmedication;
- Elopement or wandering off;
- Rapid weight loss;
- Dehydration;
- Abnormal or withdrawn behavior and unusual silence;
- Prolonged sleep or drowsiness;
- Agitation especially when certain caregivers are present;
- Reluctance to speak when staff is nearby;
- Unsanitary and unclean conditions;
- Fear of being touched.
Contact Us
If you or a loved one been the victim of nursing home abuse in San Francisco or elsewhere in California, contact Ingrid M. Evans at Evans Law Firm at (415) 441-8669, or by email at <a href=”mailto:info@evanslaw.com”>info@evanslaw.com</a>. Our toll free number is 1-888-50EVANS.
[1] Evans Law Firm, Inc. was not involved in the case in any way.
