South Carolina Nursing Home Abuse Lawyers

Physical abuse includes the intentional or improper use of force against a nursing home resident. Examples may include hitting, slapping, kicking, biting, choking, pinching, pushing, burning, or unnecessarily restraining a resident. It can also include the inappropriate use of medications or “chemical restraints” to control a resident’s behavior rather than for a legitimate medical purpose.

Nursing home personnel can inflict emotional abuse on residents by leaving them in a state of emotional distress, anxiety, or fear. They can also ignore a resident or leave the person in isolation. The South Carolina Adult Protection Act defines it as “deliberately subjecting a vulnerable adult to threats or harassment or other forms of intimidating behavior causing fear, humiliation, degradation, agitation, confusion, or other forms of emotional distress.”

This includes any non-consensual sexual contact between nursing home personnel and a resident. Sexual abuse in a nursing home is particularly troubling because the resident is typically incapacitated to some degree, and the staff member generally has a degree of power, authority, and dominance over them. Sexual abuse does not necessarily have to include touching. It could consist of forcing a resident to view pornography or other people’s sexual acts or forcing the resident to undress for no reason. The nursing home can also be held accountable for failing to prevent or react to resident-on-resident sexual assaults and harassment.

Because many nursing home residents are lonely and looking for friends, they can become an easy target for an unscrupulous nursing home staff member who sees the resident as a source of easy money. While residents can be the victims of outright theft, they are more likely to be scammed or tricked into giving away their life savings. They are also frequently victims of identity theft and healthcare fraud, which is where a facility charges for services that are not provided, even though the resident might be in desperate need of them.

Neglect occurs when a nursing home fails to provide the care, supervision, or assistance a resident needs. Examples may include failing to provide adequate food or water, leaving residents in soiled clothing or bedding, failing to reposition residents at risk of bedsores, ignoring call lights, failing to assist with bathing or toileting, or not providing appropriate medical attention. Neglect can result from the actions of individual caregivers or broader problems such as inadequate staffing, training, or supervision.

Nursing homes have a responsibility to appropriately supervise residents and respond to known safety risks. Physical or sexual assaults can occur between residents, particularly when a resident has a history of aggression, behavioral problems, or cognitive impairment. A facility may potentially bear responsibility when it knew or should have known about a foreseeable danger but failed to take reasonable measures to protect other residents.

Residents can suffer serious harm when staff administer the wrong medication, give an incorrect dose, miss necessary doses, fail to monitor side effects, or improperly use medication to make a resident easier to manage. Medication-related neglect can be especially dangerous for residents taking multiple prescriptions or managing serious health conditions.

Physical or chemical restraints should not be used simply for staff convenience or as a substitute for appropriate care and supervision. Improper restraint may include unnecessarily tying or securing a resident to a bed or wheelchair, using restrictive devices without proper justification, or administering medication primarily to control behavior. Wrongful restraint can cause physical injuries, emotional distress, loss of mobility, and other serious complications

Residents with limited mobility may be at increased risk of developing bedsores, also known as pressure ulcers or pressure injuries. Nursing homes should assess residents for this risk and take appropriate preventive measures, such as regularly repositioning residents, keeping skin clean and dry, providing adequate nutrition, and monitoring vulnerable areas. Failure to prevent, recognize, or properly treat pressure injuries can allow wounds to worsen and lead to infection and other serious complications.

Nursing homes are responsible for helping residents receive adequate nutrition and hydration based on their individual needs. Neglect may occur when staff fail to provide appropriate meals and fluids, assist residents who have difficulty eating or drinking, monitor significant weight loss, or respond to signs of dehydration or nutritional deficiencies. Malnutrition and dehydration can weaken residents, delay healing, increase the risk of falls and infections, and contribute to a serious decline in overall health.