When a loved one enters a nursing home, you expect that nursing home employees will perform their duties with compassion and respect. Some workers do not take this responsibility seriously and choose to engage in physical and emotional abuse of their patients. Two California nursing assistants were recently sentenced to 20 days in jail and two years of probation for their role in a prank involving dementia patients.
As a prank on the workers coming in on the next shift, these nursing assistants coated dementia patients with ointment. The goal was to make them slippery so that the workers on the next shift would have difficulty performing their duties. This “prank” was a form of elder abuse, as it caused serious risk of harm to vulnerable nursing home residents. Arizona nursing home patients are also at risk for elder abuse and neglect.
Arizona Adult Protective Services investigated more than 6,400 reports of mistreatment in 2010, many of which were made by social service and health care workers. These workers reported suspected Arizona elder physical abuse, financial exploitation, neglect and emotional abuse perpetrated by the family members, home health workers and nursing home employees charged with caring for the elderly.
Jacob Mueller, a former police officer and Prescott private investigator, focuses on investigating elder abuse suspicions and conducting thorough background checks on those who apply for jobs giving them access to elderly people. Mueller says there is no national background check people can use to investigate health care workers before hiring them. An Arizona criminal background check may not reveal felony crimes perpetrated in other states, putting the elderly at risk for abuse or financial fraud.
If a loved one has experienced abuse or exploitation at the hands of an unscrupulous nursing home worker in Arizona, contact the Breyer Law Offices P.C. at 602-457-6222. One of our experienced Phoenix nursing home abuse attorneys will review your case thoroughly and help you develop a plan of action.
