Maryland Accident Law Blog
If you have a sick or elderly loved one who needs to be admitted to a Maryland nursing home, it is natural to feel anxious. Not only will you be sending your family member to live with a bunch of strangers and placing his or her medical care and well-being in their hands, but you likely have been hearing and reading a lot about the various incidents of nursing home neglect and abuse that have occurred in assisted living facilities throughout the US.
While there is no guarantee that your loved one won’t become the victim of nursing home abuse or neglect, you can decrease the chances that you are placing your elderly or sick loved on in an unsafe environment by actually visiting a number of Maryland facilities before deciding where your family member should live.
You will want to check out not only the living accommodations and recreational areas, but you will want to inspect the dining room and kitchen and quality of food that each assisted living facility provides their residents. You will also need to find out how much attention each patient receives.
Talk to the workers and maybe even some of the residents to get a sense of the place and the people who live and work at the nursing home. Is the atmosphere depressing? Are the facilities clean? What is the interaction like between the nursing home staffers and the patients? Do the residents appear content and relaxed to be at the nursing home? Are nursing home workers trained to deal with your loved one’s particular illness and needs? What is the ratio between the number of nurses and the number of patients?
Have Maryland nursing home negligence lawsuits been filed against a nursing home before? What was the outcome of the cases? Does the facility have a history of nursing home violations? What are they and have they been remedied?
Size Up a Nursing Home by Visiting, US News, March 11, 2009
Nursing home checklist, Medicare
Related Web Resources:
Maryland Nursing Home Guide, Maryland Health Care Commission
Our Maryland nursing home abuse and neglect lawyers represent victims and their families that wish to recover personal injury compensation from a nursing home for the harm an elderly or sick person has suffered while staying at an assisted living facility.