The Ohio Health Care Association recently reported that Ohio is home to 950 skilled nursing facilities and 700 assisted living facilities caring for 120,000 people, including those in nursing homes, hospice, and day-based care operations.
A Cleveland Plain Dealer article citing these statistics blames the ratio of trained and licensed caregivers to the vast number of patients, reporting that 40 percent of all Americans die in nursing homes and 65 percent who enter a care facility are likely to pass away within a year.
According to the Merck Manual of Patient Care Guide, substandard care leads to:
- Medication errors that can cause additional illness or death
- Bedsores when patients are not turned regularly or are incontinent and not changed regularly
- Falls that break hips and other bones—landing 800,000 patients over 65 years old in the hospital yearly, which often leads to death within 12 months
- Infections including urinary tracts from in-place catheters; if left untended, an infection can spread through the bloodstream leading to sepsis and sometimes death
Patient rights were conceived to counter the problems residents face in Toledo nursing homes.
The first two rights mentioned in Ohio Revised Code § 3721.13 entitle residents to a safe and clean environment and to be free of sexual, verbal, mental, emotional, and physical abuse.
If a loved one residing in an assisted living facility indicates they are being abused, or a family member suspects substandard treatment because of what they witness, do not hesitate to contact a dedicated elder neglect attorney who advocates for the most fragile citizens.
