A loved one who is suffering physical abuse at a nursing home may have bruises, cuts, and other obvious physical signs. When your loved one is suffering emotional abuse, though, the signs may not be quite as obvious.
If you believe staff or other residents at the nursing home are abusing your loved one emotionally, you have the right to file a lawsuit on his or her behalf, seeking awards. Through a lawsuit, you can receive compensation for pain, suffering, and medical bills, and you also can hopefully prevent the same thing from happening to others at the facility.
Think about hiring Pintas & Mullins Law Firm to help with your case. With a Los Angeles emotional abuse lawyer on your side, you will have a better chance of determining exactly what happened.
Types of Emotional Abuse
According to the National Institute on Aging, emotional abuse can take on a number of different forms. Any of these types of abuse are potentially life-threatening for the victim. Some of the types of emotional abuse your loved one could suffer at a nursing home include:
- Verbal abuse: which could include staff yelling or cursing at residents or telling them that they are worthless
- Threats: where staff members may threaten residents of the nursing home, seeking to bully them into behaving a certain way or into not reporting an abusive situation
- Abandonment: where staff may leave a nursing home resident alone for hours, causing the resident to feel neglected or ignored
- Withholding visitors: where staff members could prevent the resident from seeing relatives or other visitors, leaving them feeling isolated
- Ignoring requests for help: where staff members do not respond to a resident’s requests for help in a timely manner, leaving the resident fearful for his or her well-being
Additionally, staff at the nursing home could blame a resident for some sort of incident that the staff member actually caused or humiliate the resident after an accident.
Signs of Emotional Abuse
Emotional abuse will not show up as bruises or cuts on the victim’s body, which means this type of abuse can be a bit more difficult to notice than physical abuse.
When you visit your loved one and suspect possible emotional abuse, you should be on the lookout for a few signs, including:
- Inability to sleep
- Nightmares
- Unexplained weight loss
- Becoming withdrawn
- Not wanting to eat
- Acting out with unexpected behavior or violence
- Failing to participate in activities he or she once enjoyed
To help with a case of emotional abuse at your loved one’s nursing home, you may want to contact Pintas & Mullins Law Firm. A Los Angeles emotional abuse lawyer knows how to present the facts in your case to give you the best chance of proving the abuse of your loved one.
Report Psychological Abuse at the Nursing Home
If you witness emotional abuse occurring at the nursing home, whether it is involving your loved one or someone else, you should immediately report it to the administration of the nursing home. If the abuse is rising to the level of a criminal matter, you also will want to call law enforcement.
Although the administration should know if abuse is occurring at their facility, those running the nursing home do not always know when this mental abuse is happening.
According to The National Consumer Voice for Quality Long-Term Care, some states have laws that require anyone to report any kind of nursing home abuse to law enforcement or state authorities. The California Department of Justice says that even if you are unsure whether emotional abuse is occurring in a facility, you should err on the safe side and report it, letting authorities investigate the situation.
For a free legal consultation with a Emotional Abuse Lawyer serving Los Angeles, call (800) 794-0444
Health Consequences of Emotional Abuse
Emotional abuse for the nursing home resident can result in a host of short-term and long-term issues. The majority of these problems will lead to health concerns that could affect the victim’s ability to function day to day.
Short-Term Effects of Psychological Abuse
In the short term, a victim of emotional abuse will feel things like confusion and fear, perhaps leaving them unwilling to participate in activities at the nursing home. This could lead to depression that requires medication or therapy.
The victim may withdraw to their room, which means a reduction in physical activity and exercise, which could cause existing chronic health problems related to obesity or muscle weakness to become worse.
Long-Term Effects of Psychological Abuse
As the emotional abuse continues at the nursing home, the victim may develop heightened anxiety, which may cause things like substance or alcohol abuse, headaches, digestive problems, and chronic pain, according to Mayo Clinic.
Should the victim develop depression, and should it continue untreated, your loved one may suffer advanced physical weakness and insomnia, which can lead to an inability to handle self-care needs.
The victim may develop additional mental health disorders as part of this abuse, from which they may never fully recover. Ultimately, this depression could lead to a suicide attempt.
Los Angeles Emotional Abuse Lawyer Near Me (800) 794-0444
We Work on a Contingency Fee Basis
Emotional abuse is highly serious. You cannot just ignore it. Emotional abuse can exacerbate existing physical conditions or can lead to new physical problems for the victim, all of which can result in a reduction in quality of life.
A Los Angeles emotional abuse lawyer knows how insurance companies for nursing homes treat victims of abuse. We want to defend the rights of those who cannot defend themselves from abuse.
You do not need to provide any money up front to hire our team. We work on a contingency fee basis, which means we do not accept any fees ahead of time for our services. Our payment comes out of the final settlement.
Call or text (800) 794-0444 or complete a Free Case Evaluation form
