When it comes to nursing home abuse, some people may only be familiar with physical abuse. However, abuse can also happen when the residents are neglected. For example, daily tasks such as assisting an individual with bathing, sanitizing the entire facility, or changing a resident’s clothes are a must. If the staff fails to do this, then it can be detrimental to the health of residents. Contact Pintas & Mullins Law Firm at (800) 842-6336 today for a free case evaluation.
Soiled Clothes and Poor Hygiene Pose a Serious Threat to Nursing Home Residents
You should expect the staff to care for your loved one and give them the best living conditions possible, especially because their quality of life depends on the staff and their surroundings.
MedlinePlus reported that aging changes one’s immunity. When long term care facilities and nursing homes fail to give clients proper sanitation, residents will be more exposed to germs and bacteria that are detrimental to their health. This may bring complications that are difficult for their immune system to overcome.
Hygiene Services You Should Expect from a Nursing Home
When you visit your loved one in a nursing home and detect signs of poor hygiene, this should cause concern. Sudden changes in hygiene quality are one of the most pressing signs of nursing home neglect.
There are various types of hygiene services that nursing homes should provide for their residents. These include:
- Showers and baths
- Brushing of teeth and denture cleaning
- Cleaning up after going to the bathroom
- Changing clothes
- Keeping wounds clean
- Shaving
- Grooming hair
- Maintaining healthy nails
If you notice the lack of any of these basic services, it may be a sign of nursing home abuse and neglect. Your loved one may also have body odor, unkempt appearance, or they may have developed bruises, bedsores, and skin tears due to a lack of care.
A Philadelphia soiled clothes or other signs of poor hygiene lawyer can help you if your loved one has been neglected by a nursing home.
For a free legal consultation with a Philadelphia Soiled Clothes or Other Signs of Poor Hygiene Lawyer serving Philadelphia, call (800) 794-0444
Recognizing Standards of Poor Hygiene
Nursing home issues usually involve the hygiene of residents and the overall cleanliness of the facility.
Take some time to examine how clean the surroundings are, how often laundry is being taken care of, and how common dust is in the area. Other key indicators of poor hygiene you should look out for include:
- Dirty linens
- Messy and/or cluttered areas
- Contaminated surfaces
- Residents not changing clothes
- Employees with disheveled appearances
- Pest problems
When the proper standards of care and cleanliness are being monitored in a facility, then this creates a happy and healthy environment for the residents. If it is not upheld, the opposite happens. It is the legal duty of nursing homes to adhere to high standards of decontamination, cleanliness, and sanitation to ensure the health of their residents is not affected.
When employees do not maintain a safe space in the home, the residents’ poor hygiene will only worsen over time. For example, dining areas, bathrooms, and kitchens will become areas for bacteria and virus buildup, and this can bring infections. Areas must also be cleaned regularly for all residents. Some of the consequences that can happen due to the negligence of poor hygiene include:
- Open sores and lesions
- Accidents
- Sepsis
- Bedsores
- Deadly infections
When a nursing home is understaffed or if the current employees are overworked, residents face an increased risk of being neglected. This will result in a lower quality of life with the residents’ health conditions put in greater danger. It is important for staff to be trained to address and dispose of waste properly. This includes both biological and medical waste. If not, medical issues, infections, and diseases can spread more quickly.
A facility that has a better staff to resident ratio will usually have a better hygiene rating compared to facilities with fewer caretakers per client.
Call Pintas & Mullins Law Firm today to help you figure out the cause of your loved one’s injuries.
Philadelphia Philadelphia Soiled Clothes or Other Signs of Poor Hygiene Lawyer Near Me (800) 794-0444
Filing a Claim in Pennsylvania
If your loved one has been injured or died as a result of poor hygiene, filing a lawsuit and claiming compensation can help in dealing with your losses. A Philadelphia soiled clothes or other signs of poor hygiene lawyer can evaluate your case and file a claim against the responsible parties.
To avoid liability, nursing homes may claim that the health condition or injury happened due to existing health concerns that are not related to hygiene care. Because of this, it is vital to document the lack of care and poor hygiene that resulted from residents to establish the causation. This can include video evidence, medical records, testimonies, and photographic evidence.
Part of any claim involves determining the amount of compensation you are entitled to, which may include medical bills and recovery of other damages, like pain and suffering. All these claims must be filed within the two-year statute of limitations in the state of Pennsylvania, according to Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes Annotated (CSA) §5524.
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If you think poor hygiene conditions in a nursing home caused injury to your loved one, contact Pintas & Mullins Law Firm at (800) 842-6336 today.
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