Nursing Home Abuse Statistics

When children with elderly parents are placed in nursing homes, they expect to receive a call that their loved one is sick or has passed. No one expects to receive that dreaded phone call that a parent has been abused. Unfortunately, news about nursing home abuse isn’t rare — it has become the new normal.

Here are important nursing home abuse statistics everyone with a parent living in a nursing home should know.

• 5 Million senior citizens are abused annually in the United States, according to recent statistics. Although these numbers are alarming results, nursing home statistics are not even close - they're much higher. An elder abuse study was taken that involved 2,000 elderly adults, approximately 95 percent had witnessed other elderly people being neglected/abused and 44 percent were actually abused.
• In the United States alone, 60 percent of senior citizens are struggling financially, just to make ends meet. Approximately, 40 percent of Americans are older than 60 years old. Many elderly people have experienced financial lose due to various scams and rip offs.
• The average cost, in 2003, in a nursing home for a private room was $66,000. The projected cost by 2021 is to reach $175,000, which is over double the rate of inflation in real estate.
• About 10% of residents in a nursing home have had pressure ulcers. In fact, 35% of residents in a nursing home with pressure ulcers at Stage 2 or higher needed wound treatment to care for bedsores. The second most infection that is frequent is urinary tract infection (UTI) in long-term care facilities, and the most typical cause for bacterial infection of hospitalization.
• Individuals over the age of 85 years old comprise in the United States the fastest-growing segment of the population, nearly half of those with dementia. Symptoms include loss of memory, and a decline of various mental faculties; this makes it a challenge for sufferers to articulate any mistreatment they endure. Among the most prevalent abuse for a dementia patient is overmedication. This option is cheaper for nursing homes that are understaffed than offering the necessary TLC to the residents.

As far as the warning indications of elder abuse is concerned, they are the following in nursing home abuse statistics:

Neglect, mistreatment, or physical abuse, which entail pressure marks, abrasions, bruises, burns, and broken bones.

Unexplained withdrawal from routine exercises and activities, unusual depression, or a sudden change in alertness; tense or strained relationships; and regular arguments between healthcare caregiver and elderly resident can be emotional abuse.

There could be sudden, unusual changes in financial circumstances, which is financial abuse. Poor hygiene, weight loss that is unusual, unattended healthcare needs, and bedsores are all examples of neglect.

Emotional and verbal abuse, such as threats, belittling, or other forms of control and power by staff members and other parties. Nursing home abuse statistics reveal that these are problems that are too real in various nursing home environments across the nation.

Are you or a loved one a victim of nursing home abuse? Contact us for a free consultation or call Anzalone Law Firm PLLC, at: 603.548.3797.