If your elderly loved one suffered injuries or death due to poor hygiene as a nursing home resident, you have the right to pursue a claim against the nursing home facility. The immune systems of elderly residents of nursing homes are often compromised or weakened. Any onslaught of germs or infections could lead to catastrophic injuries or death.
The failure of a nursing home to ensure that their facility maintains safe and clean hygiene practices for their residents can lead to a host of diseases and illnesses resulting in serious injuries. Contact a Chicago poor hygiene lawyer at Pintas & Mullins Law Firm to help you determine your loved one’s legal rights.
Nursing Home Facility Hygiene
According to Clinical Infectious Diseases, if the nursing home fails to ensure that its residents have a healthy and clean environment, diseases and infections may spread quickly. Nursing home residents have their own personal areas and spend time in common spaces of the nursing home. If these areas are not cleaned properly, diseases and infections can travel throughout the community.
Showers, baths, toilets, tables, chairs, and other surfaces frequently touched must receive proper cleanings on a regular basis to ensure that germs do not pass from surfaces to nursing home residents. Additionally, the nursing home staff needs to ensure that the areas where food preparation occurs, or where residents have food served, is always sanitized regularly. Germs can lurk in any area, and the best defense against rampant infections or diseases is to thoroughly clean areas regularly.
If staff do not clean nursing home facilities regularly, elderly residents can contract several different diseases. Oftentimes, one resident may suffer from an infection or an illness, which can easily spread throughout the nursing home community if staff do not take preventative hygienic measures.
Personal Hygiene of Nursing Home Residents
Most nursing home residents rely on the nursing home staff members to clean and bathe them and help them go to the bathroom. They also rely on the nursing home staff to clean their sheets and clothes, wash their hair, and perform basic personal hygiene measures such as trimming their nails, brushing their teeth, changing their adult diapers, or changing their bandages. Without assistance, nursing home residents may not have the physical or mental capabilities of handling these daily tasks themselves. Poor hygiene occurs if the members of the nursing staff fail in any way to assist elderly residents with these requirements of basic cleanliness on a regular basis.
Some of the types of medical complications that can result in poor hygiene of residents can include:
- The development of infections
- Bacterial pneumonia
- Urinary tract infections
- Influenza
- Sepsis
- Bedsores
- Common colds
- Diarrhea
- Lice
- Athlete’s foot
- Scabies
- Ringworm
Additionally, nursing home residents may suffer from psychological damage as they become depressed and anxious living in conditions with poor hygiene and have a reduction in their quality of life. If your elderly loved one suffered from any kind of neglect that led to a medical condition related to poor hygiene, get help from a Chicago poor hygiene lawyer at Pintas & Mullins Law Firm.
For a free legal consultation with a Poor Hygiene Lawyer serving Chicago, call (800) 794-0444
Understaffing Leads to Poor Hygiene
In many cases, a lack of basic hygiene and cleanliness could result from understaffing of the nursing home facility. A nursing home must always staff their facility adequately with trained and educated employees regarding how best to take care of the elderly residents living there. When a nursing home facility remains understaffed, one nurse may feel pulled in several directions. They may be handling multiple situations and forget to wash their hands, help an elderly resident who previously asked to go to the bathroom, or fail to clean the tables after a meal.
According to the National Academies Press, in cases where the nursing home facility does have an adequate number of staff members, they may train the staff members improperly, or the nursing home may fail to have policies or protocols in place for proper hygiene of the residents and the facility. Whatever the reason, nursing home facilities remain liable for any accidents, injuries, or deaths that may occur due to improper care of nursing home residents due to a lack of hygiene at their facility.
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Failure to Speak Out
Oftentimes, nursing home residents do not want to bother their families or loved ones regarding their poor hygienic conditions in which they live in the nursing home. In other cases, the elderly residents may feel afraid to file a complaint against the nursing home staff members or management for fear of retaliation.
Some residents suffer from cognitive medical conditions such as dementia and Alzheimer’s disease and are unable to understand that their conditions include poor hygiene. Although these residents may not know how to speak out against their unsanitary living conditions, or they are too afraid to speak out, no elderly resident should suffer from the abuse and neglect stemming from poor hygiene in a nursing home.
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Get Help from a Chicago Poor Hygiene Lawyer
Poor hygiene in nursing homes is a form of elderly neglect, which can lead to medical complications. With elderly residents suffering from compromised immune systems in many cases, poor nursing home hygiene can lead to serious and long-term medical conditions. If your elderly loved one suffered from an illness or infection due to poor hygiene, or unsanitary conditions within their nursing home, you may have the right to file a claim against the nursing home.
While no amount of money will repair the injuries your elderly loved one suffered, you may be facing additional medical bills and your elderly loved one may experience pain and suffering. Let us ease your financial and emotional burden. In cases where the accident resulted in wrongful death, you may face unexpected bills and funeral expenses. See how a Chicago poor hygiene lawyer at Pintas & Mullins Law Firm can help you.
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