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Nursing Home Abuse & Neglect

5/27/2008
Thomas Pleasant
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Dehydrated Nursing Home Patients: Nursing Home Abuse & Neglect Lawyers Can Provide Guidelines
Weight loss is the most obvious and critical factor in determining whether the nursing home is properly feeding and hydrating the resident-patient. There are industry standards and guidelines that can be used to determine whether the rate and amount of weight loss is acceptable, and these are a good starting point for determining whether there is a problem. If the nursing home staff tells you that the weight loss is because the resident just won’t eat, know that this is, in itself, not an acceptable excuse. If a resident is not eating, it could be because he or she is not getting the proper help. Stroke and dementia victims, for example, require a lot of patient help: patience and help an understaffed nursing home might be unable/unwilling to give. Stories of nursing home staff leaving trays of food beside residents’ beds, out of reach, are not uncommon. There is rarely a good excuse for resident weight loss, and you should “investigate” when weight loss is significant in accordance with the above guidelines. In some cases, nursing home residents may actually have a feeding tube. Amazingly, some feeding tube patients still lose weight. There is virtually no excuse for this. The nursing home controls the quantity of food, and should ensure that the resident receives proper nutrition. Residents on feeding tubes often lose weight when staffing is inadequate, and the work required to ensure proper feeding tube feeding is simply not done. For example, in some patients the feeding must be stopped and started again at certain intervals, which requires more monitoring. If your loved one is a patient in a nursing home, and suffering from weight loss, contact my office for a consultation. We can discuss the weight loss guidelines and other issues in your case, and make a determination as to what to do.
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Labels:If your loved one has been hurt or injured in a nursing home, contact a North Carolina nursing home injury, abuse, neglect and wrongful death attorney/lawyer.

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The Law Offices of Thomas Waitt Pleasant, PLLC
427 Franklin Street
Fayetteville, NC 28301

Toll Free: 888-HELP-156
Phone: (910) 323-3250