oklahoma nursing home abuse
What You Should Know about Your Nursing Home Arbitration Agreement
Admitting a loved one into an Oklahoma nursing home can be challenging and stressful. During the application process, there are many documents that are difficult to understand and requirements that are challenging to meet. One of the many legal documents you may be asked to sign is a nursing home arbitration agreement. It is important that you review this agreement and learn about what it means before signing it.
A mandatory arbitration agreement is an easily overlooked legal document that is sometimes included in a package of admissions documents. Failing to read whatever you are signing can prove costly if your loved one becomes the victim of nursing home abuse or neglect. A nursing home arbitration agreement takes away your right to sue the nursing home. Instead, your disputes will go directly to a professional arbitrator. If you sign an arbitration agreement, you will not be able to take the nursing home to court even if your loved one dies as a result of neglect or abuse in the care facility.
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Oklahoma City Nursing Home Fires Employees after Allegations of Abuse
A nursing home in Oklahoma City has fired two employees who were accused of abusing a 96-year-old patient with dementia. Quail Creek Nursing and Rehabilitation Center fired the two female employees, ages 23 and 28, after they were both arrested by police on one complaint each of neglect by caretaker. One of the nursing assistants was caught on camera shoving latex gloves into the patient’s mouth as the other watched. The video also shows the worker lift the patient into bed and the push the side of her face to force her to lie down. The for-profit facility is owned by Westlake Nursing Home L.P. of Dallas, Texas, and has 92 residents in its care.
Nursing home abuse and neglect are becoming an epidemic in the United States. According to the National Center on Elder Abuse (NCEA), there are many different types of abuse that occur at nursing homes. There are signs and symptoms of abuse and neglect that family members would be well advised to watch out for. The common symptoms of physical abuse include slap marks, bruises, burns, or blisters. Signs of neglect may include pressure ulcers, filthy appearance, malnutrition, lack of medical care, or dehydration. Seniors who suffer emotional abuse may become withdrawn or show other behavioral changes. A sudden change in the patient’s finances or accounts may be indicative of financial abuse.
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Hidden Camera Exposes Nursing Home Abuse Perpetrators
Hidden camera images obtained from a skilled nursing care center in Cleveland, Ohio, show disturbing footage of nursing aides manhandling a 78-year-old Alzheimer’s patient. According to a Channel 3 news report, the nursing home, Prentiss Center for Skilled Nursing Care, is under fire after the hidden camera installed by the patient’s son caught caregivers brutally abusing his elderly mother. One of the aides is seen on the hidden camera throwing the patient from her chair on to the bed and in another instance throwing her back on to the chair and then jabbing her on the face. That aide has been charged with felony assault and has pleaded not guilty. The other woman, who is seen almost dropping the patient due to rough handling, has also been fired from her job.
The woman’s son installed the camera after nursing home administrators ignored his complaints that his mother was being mistreated at the facility. Family members say the videos have devastated them emotionally. Nursing home administrators say they had actually looked into the son’s claims, but did not find any wrongdoing. The son said the videos proved to be the smoking gun and that he wished they had done something sooner.
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Oklahoma Nursing Home Residents Endangered by Employees with Criminal Pasts
Federal investigators have determined that 90 percent of U.S. nursing homes have at least one or two employees that have been convicted of one or more crimes. It was also shown that 5 percent of all nursing home employees have been criminally convicted at least once. This poses many dangers to nursing home residents who, because of their age and condition, are already vulnerable.
Although there is no federal law specifically requiring federal and/or state criminal background checks on nursing home employees, this study demonstrates that some more regulated form of employee screening is needed. Only ten states require that F.B.I. and state records be checked before hiring, and only 33 require a check of state records. Without a consistent system of background checks for potential nursing home employees, it is much too easy for potentially dangerous or reckless individuals to slip through the hiring process undetected. Once hired, they’ve secured a paying job that provides them with the opportunity to abuse, assault and steal from defenseless elders.
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