File this case under “Be careful what nursing home you choose for your loved ones.”
Here’s the story. An 82-year-old woman, who was confined to a wheelchair, and also had advanced dementia and impaired decision-making abilities, was admitted to a nursing home for care.
While there, staff members became increasingly suspicious that the woman was receiving inappropriate physical contact from a younger male resident. Some witnessed the young man touching her and having inappropriate physical contact with her. However, staff members who witnessed the improprieties were allegedly told to literally “keep their eyes shut.” As it turns out, the young male resident sexually molested the woman on several occasions.
Ultimately, law enforcement was notified and the male resident admitted to inappropriately touching the woman on numerous occasions.
This Massachusetts nursing home abuse case settled for $250,000.
As a Dedham Massachusetts nursing home abuse attorney, I can safely say that nursing home abuse represents one of the fastest-growing areas of Massachusetts personal injury litigation. Why, you might ask? There are two main reasons. First is the increased number of nursing home residents, due to longer life spans of the average American. Second is the fact that many nursing homes are owned by large corporations, which care more about the “bottom line” of profitability, than they do patient care. When a nursing home cautions its workers to “keep their eyes shut,” as they allegedly did in this case, it makes a strong statement how corporations keep their on the bottom line, more than anything else. I’ve blogged about this before. Sadly, it is a theme that repeats itself far too often.