Many individuals and families must make the difficult decision to send their aging loved ones to nursing homes or assisted living facilities to aid in their care. While this is a perfectly valid decision that can often ensure your family members will get the care they need in their last stages of life, trusting nursing homes can be difficult. Maryland has requirements for mandatory reporting of abuse, provides quality reports on nursing homes, and conducts regular inspections of facilities to help ensure your experience with nursing homes will be safe and positive.
Unfortunately, people who perpetuate abuse and neglect in nursing homes are all too often able to continue caring for your loved ones. A recent article reports that a nurse who allegedly tied an elderly woman to her wheelchair with a bed sheet was able to keep her nursing license. The nurse will undergo 30 hours of patient management education and the care facility involved was fined $41,605. According to reports, the nurse used a sheet to restrain a resident in a way the state nursing board described as potentially adversely affecting the health of the patient. The woman who experienced the abuse was suffering from dementia and cognitive problems when she was restrained, and there is no evidence that this was to protect the staff or others in an emergency situation.
What Are the Different Types of Elder Abuse?