The COVID-19 pandemic has strained multiple industries and caused many populations to suffer. Unfortunately, the elderly have suffered on both ends of this spectrum; they are very much in danger of succumbing to illness if they contract the virus, and nursing homes have been forced to constrict visitations and many are short-staffed.
Any family law attorney in Ontario will tell you that lack of attentive care and isolation are a dangerous cocktail of neglect that can lead to an elderly person’s rapid decline. Once an elderly person’s mental and physical health starts to decline, they can quickly pass away.
Such is the case with tens of thousands of residents in American nursing homes last year. A shocking number of residents have passed away before anyone had a chance to report nursing home neglect. For every two residents that died due to COVID-19 in long-term care, researchers found that there was one more who died a premature death of other causes. Those “excess deaths” are far beyond the normal fatality rate of nursing homes, and researchers worry that there are more neglect deaths that haven’t been recorded yet.
One of the reported casualties as a result of the wave of understaffed nursing homes is that of Carolyn Best, an elderly woman who had previously received stellar care from her nursing home. In the darkest part of the pandemic, Best’s nursing home had been completely overtaken by COVID. While Best never contracted the virus, she was kept in her room, and the staff were too consumed with caring for sick patients that Best went neglected. She later ended up dying of dehydration.
“My mom went from being unbelievably cared for to dead in three weeks,” her daughter said. “They were in over their head more than anyone could imagine.”
Nursing home neglect is a form of abuse, just like physical or financial abuse. As we stated above, neglect can quickly lead to an elderly patient’s death. However, many nursing homes became understaffed, which is an issue since many nursing homes are already understaffed. Short-staffed nursing home employees are more likely to treat patients poorly or cruelly.
When you visit your loved one, you need to keep an eye out for signs of nursing home neglect:
- Extreme and unexplained weight loss
- Dehydration
- Untreated bedsores
- Inadequate hygiene
- Mental decline
- Physical decline
- Inappropriate dosage of psychotropic medication
If you see signs of neglect in a nursing home, you should reach out to a family law attorney. They can investigate the matter and start a lawsuit against the nursing home.
