Resident-on-Resident Abuse Not Uncommon

According to a new study, approximately one in five nursing home residents has experienced some form of verbal or physical abuse from another resident.

Researchers from Weill Cornell Medicine’s Center for Aging Research and Clinical Care conducted surveillance on 10 urban and suburban nursing home facilities in New York for one month, observing more than 2,000 residents.

If your loved one has suffered resident-on-resident abuse or any other type of mistreatment while residing in a nursing home facility, do not hesitate to contact our Milwaukee nursing home abuse lawyers for help getting the justice and compensation they deserve.

The residents who participated in the study were about 84-years-old, 73 percent were women and about 16 percent were dementia patients.

It was the first large-scale systemic study focused on resident-on-resident abuse and found that out of the 2,011 residents who participated in the study, 407 experienced at least one form of mistreatment throughout the duration of the study.

Mistreatment included a wide variety of unwelcome behaviors that had the potential to lead to physical or psychological distress for another resident. This could include entering another resident’s room and going through their things, calling names or yelling, or being run over by a wheelchair, as well as physical and sexual abuse.

Study results revealed that 45 percent of abusive events were verbal, 26 percent were physical and 20 percent involved an invasion of privacy. Just less than three percent of events involved some form of sexual abuse.

The most common forms of verbal abuse included yelling or using inappropriate words, while physical abuse included hitting or pushing another resident.

Researchers conducted the study by observing residents within the facilities; conducting interviews with staff, family members and residents; and analyzing charts and accident or incident reports. Because the study relied on interviews with involved parties, it is likely that resident-on-resident abuse is much more common than suggested in the results of this study.

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