Nursing Home Negligence: We all hope that as our loved ones get on in years, they will be able to maintain active and healthy lives, where they can independently, or with our assistance, perform activities of daily life. Unfortunately, it is often the case that health issues make it impossible for persons to care for themselves, even with their family’s help. Under those circumstances, it may be required that a person become a resident in a nursing home. In addition, younger people whose conditions are chronic, or who are undergoing long convalescence (e.g., after a stroke, etc.), and can’t care for themselves, may need to have care rendered at a nursing home.
All New Jersey nursing homes must:
- Provide proper medical and nursing home care for all residents
- Protect resident funds
- Honor the privacy and confidentiality of each resident
- Ensure that residents are free from physical restraints used for purposes other than to treat medical symptoms
- Develop and implement written policies and procedures that prohibit mistreatment, neglect, and abuse of residents and misappropriation of resident property
- Promote the quality of life for each resident
- Protect the dignity of each resident
- Encourage all residents to participate in the planning and in the decisions related to care and treatment and to make choices about significant aspects of his or her life in the facility
- Provide each resident with the right to receive services with the reasonable accommodation of individual needs and preferences, without endangering the well being of the individual or other residents
- Provide an ongoing program of activities designed to meet the interests and physical, mental and psychosocial well being of each resident
While there are many very fine nursing homes, others fail to provide proper and adequate care which comports with the standards established by the State and the nursing home community.
In New Jersey, the State Ombudsman’s Office of the Division of Health and Senior Services, is the entity which is assigned to oversee nursing homes and any allegations of neglect of nursing home residents. For more information, call (877)582-6995, or write to the Office of the New Jersey State Ombudsman, P.O. Box 852, Trenton, NJ, 08625 or you may click here to log on to their website:
http://www.state.nj.us/health/senior/sa_ombd.shtml