You can report abuse at a memory care facility by filing an incident report with the facility’s management, reporting the abuse to the local police, calling Adult Protective Services (APS), or enlisting a lawyer to help you.
Memory care facilities are responsible for caring for your loved one with dementia or another cognitive disease. When they fail to offer your family member the care and support they deserve, you can potentially hold them accountable.
Report Abuse to the Memory Care Facility Management
Memory care facilities should have incident reports available for residents and their families to report abuse, neglect, and mistreatment. If you witness abuse in the facility, ask the management for a report and collect as much evidence of the abuse as possible to document.
If the memory care facility has enough evidence of abuse, they might take action against the person responsible—it could be another resident or a staff member—to avoid further legal action from the resident’s family.
However, some long-term care homes are understaffed already, and firing another staff member might be out of the question for them. Also, if the management has perpetuated a culture of abuse at the home, they are unlikely to take action to mitigate the situation. If the management does not act responsibly and allows the abuse to continue, you should take it another step further.
Report Abuse to the Local Police
If the memory care facility’s management does not correct the situation after you report it to them directly, it might be time to escalate your efforts. Work on getting your loved one removed from the home and to safety, whether that is with you or at another facility. Next, you can report your loved one’s abuse to your local police.
Elder abuse is illegal, and if your loved one suffered injuries from a staff member at the memory care facility, other residents could be facing the same circumstances. The police will step in to help ensure the other residents’ safety and the safety of your loved one if you are unable to move them to a safer place.
For a free legal consultation, call (800) 794-0444
Report Abuse to Adult Protective Services (APS)
An alternative to contacting the police might be to report the abuse to Adult Protective Services (APS). According to the National Criminal Justice Reference Service (NCJRS), anyone can alert the APS to an abusive or neglectful assisted living facility. You do not have to use the resident’s name while reporting the abuse—you could only report the facility’s name and the type of abuse occurring.
APS can then conduct their own investigation or alert law enforcement to do so. As with any investigation, the more information you provide, the better.
A Lawyer Can Help You Report Abuse at a Memory Care Facility
If your loved one is being abused at a memory care facility, consider calling the office of an assisted living abuse lawyer. They can take on your case and help you get the justice your loved one deserves. A lawyer can help you ensure your loved one’s abuse is well-documented in a police report and with other local agencies as necessary.
An Assisted Living Abuse Lawyer Can Help You Get Justice
When someone in a memory care facility is abusing your loved one, you can hold the facility accountable. Your loved one might have suffered injuries and expensive medical bills that you might be struggling to pay for. A lawsuit against the facility will aim to ensure your family is not harmed any further by an abusive staff member.
A lawyer can help you gather the evidence you need to build a case against the facility. Some helpful forms of evidence include:
- Your loved one’s medical records and bills
- Photos and videos of your loved one’s injuries
- Video evidence of the abuse occurring
- Eyewitness statements regarding abuse
- Former allegations of abuse against the facility
- Admissions from the abuser
- A statement from your loved one
- Any other bills you have from your loved one’s losses
Your lawyer can use this evidence to build a case against the memory care facility to help you recover compensation and get justice for your family.
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Call Pintas & Mullins Law Firm for a Free Consultation
A memory care facility should never abuse your loved one, but if they do, you should take all means necessary to get them to safety. Then, call the proper authorities and Pintas & Mullins Law Firm.
A lawyer from our firm can take on your case to hold the memory care facility responsible for the abuse committed against your loved one. We work on a contingency-fee-basis, so you don’t have to contribute to your losses to hire us. We only take payment once we get you compensation.
Call a member of our legal team today at (800) 794-0444 for a free, no-obligation consultation.
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