Abuses and Excuses breaks new ground in helping patients and families hold bad nursing homes accountable, sharing a wealth of insider strategies and insights that show, step-by-step, how tho hold the nursing home industry accountable for abuse and neglect. It's an eye opening account of corporate greed, acts of neglect and abuse, an insidious industry culture of cover-up, and the actual harm that inevitably befalls vulnerable nursing home patients all across the country with shocking frequency.

Since the late 1970s when Congressman Claude Pepper held widely publicized hearings on the mistreatment of the elderly, policy makers and practitioners have sought ways to protect older Americans from physical, psychological, and financial abuse. Yet, during the last 20 years fewer than 50 articles have addressed the shameful problem that abusersâ€"and sometimes the abused themselvesâ€"want to conceal. Elder Mistreatment in an Aging America takes a giant step toward broadening our understanding of the mistreatment of the elderly and recommends specific research and funding strategies that can be used to deepen it. The book includes a discussion of the conceptual, methodological, and logistical issues needed to create a solid research base as well as the ethical concerns that must be considered when working with older subjects. It also looks at problems in determination of a report's reliability and the role of physicians, EMTs, and others who are among the first to recognize situations of mistreatment. Elder Mistreatment in an Aging America will be of interest to anyone concerned about the elderly and ways to intervene when abuse is suspected, including family members, caregivers, and advocates for the elderly. It will also be of interest to researchers, research sponsors, and policy makers who need to know how to advance our knowledge of this problem.

Portraying people who have lived and worked in long-term nursing home facilities, Elder Care Catastrophe reveals how organizational dynamics and everyday rituals have unintentionally led to resident neglect and abuse. Backed up by research and grounded in sociological theory, this book offers alternative models for lessening the maltreatment of people living in nursing homes. It provides critical information for family members struggling with nursing home issues, nursing home employees, policy-makers, students and researchers concerned with elder care issues.

Inside this book you'll find answers to these (and many other) commonly asked questions: What To Do If You Suspect Something Is Wrong How to Know If Your Family Member Is Being Abused or Neglected? When Should We Change Nursing Homes: How, When, and Why? Why Consider a LawsuitHow Much Will It Cost? --- Client Reviews --- "Laura Mullins was excellent. She was kind and thorough. - J.B. "Thank you very much...our children will be able to improve their lifestyle and upgrade their living conditions...thanks so much!" - C.W. "I had a great experience with your firm and I would definitely recommend you to a friend or family member. Thank you so much." - A.R. "I was referred to your firm by a good friend. This was my first experience of this nature and your office and Laura made a difficult time a lot easier to deal with. - K.W.

The 1.5 million elderly & disabled individuals residing in nursing homes are a vulnerable population. Concerns with inadequate care involving malnutrition, dehydration, & other forms of neglect have contributed to mounting scrutiny from state & Fed. auth. There is also growing concern that some residents are abused -- pushed, slapped, beaten, & otherwise assaulted -- by the individuals to whom their care has been entrusted. This report: determines whether allegations of abuse are reported promptly to local law enforcement & state survey agencies, assesses the extent to which abusers are prosecuted & the impediments to successful prosecutions, & evaluates whether sufficient safeguards exist to protect residents from abusive individuals.

“Abuse, although often not detected or reported, existed in every facility we surveyed. It is a serious problem.” Old, weak, and often cognitively impaired, nursing home patients can be easy targets for physical, psychological, material, and financial mistreatment at the hands of those entrusted with their care, safety, and well-being. Maltreatment of Patients in Nursing Homes: There Is No Safe Place examines the dark side of nursing homes, where not every employee has the commitment of Mother Theresa. This groundbreaking book applies criminological theory to help develop practical methods of controlling abuse and presents the results of the first and only nationwide study on the theft of patients’ belongings, a form of abuse too often ignored by the nursing home industry. Maltreatment of Patients in Nursing Homes surveys employees, administrators, and family members of patients in 47 nursing homes throughout the United States. Their responses provide invaluable insights on a wide range of topics, including the social and psychological factors that cause different types of abuse, characteristics of nursing home patients and employees, the bureaucracy of nursing homes, victimization rates, workforce issues of nursing home aides, and federal regulations for nursing homes. The information gained from the surveys forms the basis for detailed recommendations for creating a safer environment and reducing all forms of abuse, including theft-prevention training programs, background checks and improved screening of potential employees, education and advocacy for current staff, and the reform of federal regulations. Maltreatment of Patients in Nursing Homes examines: types of physical abuse (restraints, sexual abuse, neglect) the who, what, and why of nursing home theft types of financial abuse (trust accounts, bank accounts, improper charges for services and drugs, identity theft) types of psychological abuse (abandonment, segregation, childlike treatment, verbal abuse) effects of psychological abuse (depression, learned helplessness, psychiatric disorders) reasons for abuse by employees (staff turnover, job burnout, job dissatisfaction, caregiver stress) One of the few books to deal with abuse of the elderly outside a domestic setting, Maltreatment of Patients in Nursing Homes: There Is No Safe Place interprets and analyzes abuse to provide new ways of thinking about this growing problem and new methods of preventing it from growing any more widespread.