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In order to make sure that your loved one is not the victim of
abuse or neglect at a nursing home, you must know what you're
looking for. My name is Justin Varughese; I'm one of the
nursing home abuse attorneys at Parker Waichman. And I just
wanted to take a couple minutes to talk to you about some signs
and some symptoms of nursing home abuse that everyone should
be aware of. Most people don't think when a loved one -
particularly an elderly loved one - falls at a nursing home
that that's a sign of neglect and abuse, but it is. Don't let
anyone tell you, at the nursing home or anywhere else, that
falling is just a part of getting older or that preventing
someone of falling at nursing home is impossible because it's
simply not true. There are an array of things that a nursing
home must do to prevent your loved one from falling while at
a nursing home. There is a care plan that they should be putting
into place in various preventive interventions: checking on them,
helping them go to the bathroom, using belts when it's
appropriate, alarms that will alert the nursing home staff
when your loved one is trying to get up or needs to go to the
bathroom. An array of things they can do to help prevent your
loved one from falling. So if your loved one has suffered a
fall at a nursing home, it is a sign of neglect or abuse and
there are things you can do about that. Another thing that
you should be looking out for is medical decline in your loved
one. You go to the nursing home, you're noticing changes in the
way that they act and they way they talk, they seem more
lethargic. Things are changing and they seem to be declining.
Oftentimes that's a sign of abuse or neglect by the nursing
home staff and it's something you should be aware of and
something that you should make known to the staff, and there is
something that you can do about that as well. And finally, a
sign that most people don't know to look for is behavioral
changes. And that is when a loved one begins to say things
that are out of the ordinary, they begin to behave in a way
that is sometimes erratic or angry or not consistent with
their personality. That can often times be a sign of nursing
home abuse or neglect. If you have questions, I want you to
pick up the phone and give me a call because I'm able to answer
them. And I handle cases like this every single day; I'm well
aware what the signs and symptoms of nursing home abuse
are. So if you give me a call, we can talk about it and I can
let you know if I'm able to help you. My name is Justin
Varughese. Thank you for spending a couple of minutes
with me.