When people hear of nursing home neglect and abuse, their thoughts might turn to the nursing home staff members providing inadequate care or treating the residents in an abusive manner. While that is the most common form of nursing home abuse, resident-on-resident abuse is also possible.
Resident-on-resident abuse isn’t something that is usually tracked in studies. Nursing home staff members report that this type of nursing home abuse is usually higher than what is documented in reports. Research that was done using 10 nursing homes and included 1,846 residents noted that direct service staff members were the most accurate source of information regarding this type of abuse. That shows how important communication with the staff members is when you have a loved one in a nursing home.
When it comes to resident-on-resident nursing home abuse, environmental factors seemed to contribute to the abuse. Congestion in public spaces and noise complaints are some examples of environmental factors.
It is interesting to note that even though resident-on-resident nursing home abuse occurs, the incidents aren’t usually documented. In the study, none of the incidents of resident-on-resident abuse was documented using incident or accident reports.
People don’t move their loved ones into nursing homes thinking that their loved ones will be subjected to abusive behavior. If your loved one is a nursing home resident, you must be vigilant about watching for all types of nursing home abuse.
A person who has been abused or neglected in a nursing home might choose to seek compensation. Learning how to file complaints and seek compensation are vital for anyone facing the horrible reality of nursing home abuse.
Source: National Institute of Justice, “Extent of Elder Abuse Victimization,” accessed Nov. 05, 2015