For those in Providence who have elderly family members or friends living in nursing homes, the expectation is that the staffs of those facilities will do their utmost to assist their loved ones while respecting their privacy and dignity. Residents of these facilities are typically in a very vulnerable state, and thus easy targets for those who may be looking to exploit them.
If you happen to have a loved one in a similar situation, and you believe that he or she may have suffered nursing home abuse, you’ll no doubt want to respond to such concerns immediately. Speaking with a nursing home abuse attorney can also help you understand your options for protecting your loved one’s rights. Yet are you aware of just who you should report your suspicions to?
The seemingly easy answer is to report it to the facility’s administrators. Yet while this might motivate action to be taken in your singular situation, consider this: there’s a very real possibility that other residents also suffered similar abuse. Administrators, however, may be more likely to want to view your case as a single situation and avoid the potential consequences that they may face should the abuse be more widespread. Unfortunately, this can lead to an attitude of complacency that could encourage even more problems.