Nursing Home Neglect: Understanding the Impact of Malnutrition and Dehydration
Elderly adults who reside in nursing homes and long-term care facilities cannot adequately meet their own needs and must rely on the facility’s staff to provide care that ensures the healthiest, happiest quality of life possible. Nursing home staff are responsible to uphold a high standard of care for facility residents that includes the fulfillment of their physical, emotional, and medical needs.
When nursing care staff fails, whether intentionally or unintentionally, to attend to each component of a resident’s wellness, it may signal neglect at the hands of facility staff. One easily overlooked mode of nursing home neglect shows up in the form of dehydration or malnutrition. Let’s take a look at how to spot the signs and how you can protect a loved one you suspect is at risk for this condition.
Seniors and the Impact of Malnutrition and Dehydration
Though both malnutrition and dehydration are detrimental for all ages, older adults are at a greater risk for both the development of these conditions and for the negative health consequences that may result. In some cases, malnutrition and dehydration can cause significant health complications that call for urgent medical attention.
Seniors who reside in a nursing home are subject to the menus, feeding schedules, and care practices of the facility. If a nursing home resident is malnourished or dehydrated, illness, fatigue, a weakened immune system, and decreased cognitive and bodily functioning can occur.
When a nursing home resident has pre-existing health conditions, it is especially imperative that the nursing home meets their nutrition and hydration needs. Inadequate nourishment has both physical and emotional effects and can make nursing home residents depressed, anxious, fearful, distrustful, or otherwise distressed.
Signs and Symptoms
The symptoms of malnourishment and dehydration can be difficult to spot unless you know what to look for. Some of these signs include:
- Anemia or other nutrient deficiencies
- Dizziness and disorientation
- Dry mouth
- Infrequent urination or bowel movements
- Recurring sickness or injury
- Thirstiness and hunger
- Unexplained fatigue or irritability
- Weight loss
Both dehydration and malnutrition are often accompanied by symptoms that may seem unrelated to the conditions, such as confusion, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, or excessive sleepiness. In these instances, the resident should receive medical attention as soon as possible.
Malnutrition and Dehydration as Nursing Home Neglect
Nursing home residents often have weaker hunger and thirst signals, immune systems, bodily function capacities, and energy levels. They may also experience memory impairments, physical imbalances, more frequent illnesses, and various physical or emotional impairments that require third-party intervention in order to be successful in their day-to-day lives.
Employees at a nursing home are responsible to ensure residents remain healthy and well cared for in spite of the residents’ lack of personal capabilities. From noting important medication side effects to monitoring mental and physical health symptoms, nursing home staff are not only mandated by their employer to provide a high standard of care but they are legally obligated to do so.
Under the law, each staff member is obliged to stay on top of each resident’s potential fluid imbalances, nausea and diarrhea, fevers, medication-related side effects, and diet changes and adjust care as needed. When staff fails to attend to a resident’s, their actions can be found to be unlawfully neglectful. In these cases, both the individual nursing home employees and the facility itself may be found liable.
Suspected cases of nursing home neglect should be reported right away to avoid serious health complications that can impact the quality and duration of a resident’s life. Whether a loved one has begun to exhibit the symptoms of malnutrition and dehydration or you have concrete evidence of nursing home abuse or neglect, the law offices of Bradley, Drendel & Jeanney can step in as an advocate for your family.