By nursing home abuse attorney, Blake Dickson

Tragically, at The Dickson Firm, we receive calls from families whose loved one has died as a result of neglect.  Often these residents have died of dehydration and/or malnutrition.

Many nursing home residents need assistance with eating.  Some residents have suffered a recent injury.  Many of the residents who we represent have suffered a fall at home leading to a fracture, often a hip fracture.  They have been taken to the hospital, where they have required surgery. 

And then, after the surgery, they need assistance.  They are transferred to a nursing home to recuperate.  Other nursing home residents, because of dementia or other conditions causing confusion, need assistance with eating and drinking.  Some residents just need to be reminded to eat and drink.  Other residents actually need help with eating and drinking.

Many, many of the nursing homes that we sue, here in Ohio, are understaffed.  The owners and operators of the nursing home intentionally understaff the nursing home.  Once a nursing home has filled all of the beds in the nursing home, they cannot make any additional money.  The only way to increase profits is to reduce their costs.  The largest line item in any nursing home budget is staffing.  Many of the nursing homes replace RNs with LPNs.  They replace LPNs with aids.  And overall, they understaff the nursing home to reduce their costs and increase their profits.  This puts the residents at risk.

Here at The Dickson Firm, we carefully investigate cases involving dehydration and malnutrition.

If someone you love has been neglected or abused in a nursing home, please call us at 1 800 OHIO LAW. We would be happy to talk with you and help you in any way that we can.

Proper hydration and proper nutrition helps people avoid skin breakdown.  It also helps people heal skin breakdown.  Residents who suffer from dehydration and or malnutrition are at greater risk of skin breakdown.  It is also very hard for a resident who is not properly nourished and not properly hydrated to heal skin breakdown.

Nursing home residents maintain records.  Here at The Dickson Firm, we are very experienced in analyzing nursing home records.  Most nursing homes maintain documentation of a resident's meals.  There are codes for how much help the resident got.  We often see cases where the resident requires someone to sit and help them eat.  However, the records indicate that the staff brought the food and simply left it for the resident.  If the resident cannot eat on their own, then they are unable to get the nutrition and hydration that they need unless the staff helps them eat.

We have many families who call and report finding their resident in their room with a tray of food untouched on a table next to their bed.

We represented one family in a very tragic case in Steubenville, Ohio, where the resident was eating in the dining room.  He was apparently unattended.  No one was helping him eat.  He attempted to take some plastic wrap off of one of the containers of food, and he wound up ingesting the plastic wrap and choking to death.  We found out later that one of the aids working in the dining room was a recovering drug addict, who was not paying adequate attention to the residents and did not see this individual ingest this plastic wrap.

Many nursing home residents have a condition called dysphagia, which is a problem with swallowing.  They must be monitored on a regular basis.  And the nursing home must make sure that they only receive certain types of foods.  If they do not receive the proper types of foods, they are unable to consume them, and they suffer malnutrition.

Nursing homes should monitor the weights of their residents.  Anytime there is a significant unintended change in a resident's weight, that should be reported, and their care plan should be updated.  Nursing homes can give their residents supplements like Ensure, which provide them with supplementary nutrition and help them avoid malnutrition.

Nursing homes should also carefully monitor the protein intake of their residents.  This also helps with avoiding skin breakdown and healing skin breakdown.  It also helps with the residents strength.  If residents do not take in enough protein, they are unable to maintain muscle, and they can begin to lose mobility.

Years ago, there was a tragic case in Columbus involving a resident who suffered from dementia and would not remember to drink.  He was in a facility for a very short time.  The staff failed to remind him to drink on a regular basis.  They failed to monitor his fluid intake.  They failed to monitor his condition.  If a resident is being monitored, the nursing home can determine if they are dehydrated.  They can note dehydration by the condition of the resident's skin.  As the resident becomes dehydrated, sometimes their nail beds appear blue.  Their lips can appear blue.  This resident was not properly monitored, and tragically he died of dehydration, simply because the nursing home failed to remind him to drink enough fluid.

Nursing homes are legally obligated to provide a comprehensive assessment for each and every one of their residents and to develop a care plan that addresses all of their residents' needs.  They are then legally obligated to update that care plan on a regular basis and also in response to any significant change in condition. 

If the resident has a significant change in condition, they are obligated to contact their doctor and to contact their family.  If a resident is receiving proper care in a nursing home, and being properly monitored and assessed on a regular basis, there is no excuse for them suffering dehydration or malnutrition.  Multiple staff interact with every resident every day.  Every resident is gotten up out of bed and assisted with their morning routine. 

At a minimum, a staff person brings the resident their meal.  Every time that happens, the individual should determine whether or not that resident needs help with their meal.  If they need help, then the nursing home staff should make sure they receive the help they need.

We have represented numerous families in cases involving dehydration and malnutrition, often with tragic consequences.  

If someone you love has been neglected or abused in a nursing home, please call us at The Dickson Firm at 1 800 OHIO LAW, as we would be happy to talk with you and help you in any way that we can.