Negligence in Nursing Homes: Understaffed and Underprepared

Las Vegas, like most cities, bears a significant population of elderly residents residing in assisted living facilities. Here, they can get the daily assistance they need to live quality everyday lives.

Without warning though, unexpected events can befall a facility, leading to a shortage of staff. The remaining staff will in turn become overworked while often going underpaid; usually leading them to take out their frustration on residents or neglect their duties altogether.

This is also with the knowledge that without enough employees, the staff that is employed won’t have time to see to the proper care of every resident simply because they have too much work and not enough time to finish it.

Daily services that nursing homes normally provide range from administering medication and maintaining personal hygiene while providing social interaction with other basic needs.

If any one resident needs specialized and personal attention, the amount of time it can take to finish the assigned task may take longer.

During that time, another resident will then be neglected from the service which he or she is owed simply because of the staff shortage

There are many reasons in which a facility can become understaffed, from lack of funding or perhaps the facility wants to turn a profit by eliminating staff and increasing the workload.

Research shows that 95 percent of Nursing homes are understaffed, though this is also on the basis that the standards that define an understaffed facility are different from state to state.

To avoid such circumstances, do what research and ask the questions you can, before deciding on a nursing home for yourself or someone else.

 If you find yourself or a loved one is a victim of an understaffed nursing home, seek a personal injury attorney to see if anything can be done to take care of the issue or seek compensation for possible neglect.