Nursing Home Abuse in Arkansas is No Laughing Matter

It’s unbelievable the types of things employees in nursing homes do for fun. Often that fun comes in the form of abuse.

Little Rock, AR (Law Firm Newswire) September 28, 2010 – “This case that I heard about is really disturbing, as it involves a so-called prank that really amounted to elder abuse in a nursing home. It happened in a California nursing home and the result of the incident was several staff members were fired and ultimately faced criminal charges. It boils down to ‘What on earth were they thinking?’ when they were dealing with their elderly patients,” said Michael Smith, an Arkansas personal injury lawyer.

What was supposed to be a joke turned out to be insulting and demeaning and potentially dangerous to dementia patients

residing in a nursing home. Four staff members at the facility in question took lubricant and covered all the dementia patients with it, from head to toe. Their intention was to make the patients slippery for the workers on the next shift. Furthermore, it turned out that there two other workers who saw what the others did and said nothing.

“This is nothing short of demented and hardly something to laugh about. Anytime a senior in a nursing home is demeaned or treated like a joke or subjected to incidents like this, their self-esteem is harmed. While they may be dementia patients, they are humans and they deserve respect and decent care. They do not deserve to be taunted and to become the object of someone’s insulting games. Whatever happened to respect for older people? Whatever happened to the serious commitment needed to care for those who can no longer care for themselves?” Smith said.

The long and short of this particular California case is that all of the staff that participated in this disgusting incident will face misdemeanor charges of injury to an elder/dependent adult, battery committed on an elder/dependent adult and battery committed on hospital property. “Let this be a lesson in what not to do if you work in a nursing home and that the seniors in that home are entitled to dignity and not denigration,” Smith said.

“If you have a family member in a nursing home and you suspect they are being abused or that they are the object of derision and insulting behavior, do not stand by and let this happen. Take action, as the person being abused could well be you in the future. This has to stop and by bringing your case to me, I can assure you we will take action to right the situation,” Smith said.

Learn more by contacting Arkansas personal injury lawyer, Michael Smith at http://www.arkansaslawhelp.com.

Michael Smith
425 W. Capitol Av., Suite 3700
Little Rock, AR 72201
Call: 501.519.4357