Nursing Home Abuse Lawyer


It’s a scary thought to think about, especially if you already have a loved one who is living in a nursing home as you read this. The truth of the matter is that almost all nursing homes have internal staffing problems or at some point or another have abused the elderly in some fashion or another.

Evanston elder abuse attorney Robert Rooth is one of the lawyers around the United States who has had to deal with the growing problem of elder abuse, and if you have a loved one in a nursing home or retirement facility of some kind you may want to ask them about what they’ve seen.

But we have the numbers and it really is staggering, with just about 10% of all American elderly at some point in time or another having been the victim of elder abuse. This type of abuse we can describe as an unspoken tragedy within our very culture, but there are outlets and ways to make sure elder abuse doesn’t happen to your parents and loved ones, even when they are very vulnerable and need full-time assistance.

To be fair almost all nursing and retirement facilities are very cooperative with their elder residents, but no one is perfect and problems continue to arise in sometimes heated situations. A lot of times it is hard to know the living situation of your loved ones in a nursing home from a more personal, everyday perspective.

Know the Staff and Their Friends

Getting to know the staff at your loved one’s nursing/retirement facility is definitely your very best bet at starting to get an understanding of who they are living with, and of course the other residents at the location too.

The biggest thing to try to understand about your loved one is how they are socializing in their everyday situation. There can be problems sometimes if your loved one isn’t socializing with too many people or anyone at all. Studies have shown that preventing social isolation, in general, can prevent elder abuse and neglect or any type of professional mistreatment.

Elderly people who are more active in their communities have a much less likely chance than non-active members of the community do. Of course in many instances, older people can’t be too active, and that is of course a catalyst of facilities being understaffed and mistreatment occurring.

But it’s important to know that if you find yourself in the type of situation in which you need legal support for a loved one who does in fact report that they have been abused in some way or another then you can know that people like Robert Rooth and other elder abuse attorneys have been through this situation before and can help you. It may seem crazy, but this type of thing happens more often than most people would like to admit.

Lawsuits Abound

But just listen to this statistic. This is a 36 billion dollar legal dispute per year. That’s how you know there is a problem, and it’s sadly true, but elder abuse has most certainly become an epidemic that is widely not reported.

The saddest part is that those elderly people with mental impairments of some kind are more likely to suffer from elder abuse because the people who take care of them know that they are less likely to understand what is going on? It’s sad, but it happens. Elderly with dementia and even things like Alzheimer’s will many times not be treated as much as they should be, and it does take a lot per person which can be tough. That’s granted. But it will always be unacceptable to treat the elderly in an unprofessional manner purposely and with neglect.

We get it. You may never know exactly what’s going on with your loved one with a disability, and trust is the biggest thing to consider. So choose wisely who takes care of your loved ones.