Heartland Of Waterville Residents At Risk Of Nursing Home Abuse
According to U.S. News and World Report, Heartland of Waterville Nursing Home fell under scrutiny during a recent health inspection and allegedly failed to fulfill basic needs that would ultimately prevent Ohio nursing home abuse.
During the 2012 inspection, Heartland of Waterville:
- Failed to care for some of their patients in a way that maintains or improves their dignity and respect
- Failed to assist some of their patients with the basic tasks of caring for themselves, including helping them with eating and drinking or ensuring healthy personal or oral hygiene.
- In addition, Medicare.gov reported that some of the Heartland of Waterville patients have suffered from nursing home bedsores since the facility “failed to revise the skin breakdown plan of care and implement aggressive interventions and treatments to prevent or minimize skin breakdown.”
One of the patients had bedsores that progressed to Stage IV, meaning that the bedsores were so bad that underlying tissue and bone were exposed.
Nursing home abuse and neglect can result in a wide range of injuries to patients, including:
- Traumatic brain injuries
- Broken bones
- Bed sores
- Internal bleeding or gastric complications
- Emotional distress
These types of injuries can stem from many different sources within a nursing home facility, including:
- Employees leaving the patients alone for too long
- Lack of the facility to properly train the employees on how to care for the patients
- Miscommunication about expectation on patient care at the facility
- The facility hiring employees that are not properly certified or that lack experience
- Inability of the employees to follow rules like using a gait belt for assistance walking, not using the brakes on wheelchairs or not allowing patients to use the restrooms on their own
- The facility accepting more patients that they have staff to care for them
- Insisting that the employees work long shifts
- Employees not taking proper precaution, leading to the patients being dropped
- Not paying attention to specific dietary needs
- Failure of the employees to fully comprehend instructions for administering medication
If you suspect that your loved one is facing any of the above-mentioned injuries or is a victim of nursing home abuse at Heartland of Waterville or any other nursing home facility in Ohio, it is imperative that you contact an attorney immediately. The lawyers in our office will be happy to provide your family with a complimentary case evaluation and discussion on your legal rights.
Call us today at 800-637-8170 or fill out the online form to the right.
