Nursing homes in Texas and other states around the nation are responsible for keeping the facility safe for residents. This includes ensuring that the facility is clean and sanitary, that the residents have access to proper care, and that conditions inside and outside are conducive to healthy living. When a facility fails to maintain healthy living conditions, illness and injury are likely to result. Appalling conditions at one nursing home led to the facility being shut down indefinitely by authorities.
Causes of the shutdown
The nursing home in question failed to provide a safe and healthy environment for the 114 residents living there. Conditions inside the facility were unclean and some residents were left sitting in human waste for hours. Proper sanitation and hygiene is critical to resident health. Now, these residents are being relocated to other facilities.
Residents were not only left in filthy conditions, but they also reportedly suffered from malnutrition, dehydration and pain due to their living conditions. The Florida Agency for Health Care Administration found that “grossly inadequate staff levels” contributed to the unsafe situation. All too often, facilities chose to understaff to maximize profits, resulting in harm to the vulnerable residents.
Legal recourse
When a family must make the difficult decision to place a loved one in a nursing home, there can be significant stress associated with concerns that they will not get the care they need – the care the nursing home is being paid to provide. Nursing home neglect can lead to long-term health issues for residents, and cause unnecessary deaths. Families in Texas who have a loved one in a home that isn’t providing proper care can benefit from speaking with an attorney that has experience handling complaints about nursing home abuse. Complaints can, and should, be made to the Texas Department of Health and Human Services.