What Rights Do I Have as a Nursing Home Resident?

As a nursing home resident, you have certain rights that staff members and fellow residents alike must uphold. While some of these rights may seem very basic, the fact is that nursing home residents experience violations of these rights on a daily basis in facilities nationwide. By educating nursing home residents about their rights, we hope to encourage residents and their family members to take steps to ensure that no one is violating their loved ones’ rights.

Every nursing home resident should expect to be treated with dignity and respect at all times, whether he or she is interacting with nursing home staff members or other facility residents. Residents should never experience humiliation, harassment, threats, or abuse, whether it is emotional, verbal, financial, physical, or sexual in nature. Likewise, no resident should be isolated from his or her loved ones or other residents or punished in any manner through restraints, isolation, or abuse.

Staff members and health care providers should ensure that residents are not overmedicated for any reason, and especially if the medication is being used as a chemical restraint to control or modify the resident’s behavior. Doctors should prescribe medication or restraints only when necessary to treat a resident’s particular medical condition.

When conflicts with others arise, all residents should be treated fairly and equally; staff members can help residents who are at odds with one another to reach a mutually satisfactory compromise. Likewise, all nursing home residents are entitled to privacy; staff members and other residents should knock on doors and receive permission to enter the room, if possible. Staff should always provide personal care to residents in a manner that is private as possible, with only the minimum number of staff persons involved, out of the view of others when at all possible.

By working to safeguard the rights of nursing home residents, the hope is that incidents of abuse and neglect will decrease. At Boller & Vaughan, we are here to stand up for the rights of all those residents and their families who have suffered substantial injuries while under the care of those are supposed to prevent such injuries from occurring. Contact us today at (608) 268-0268, set up an appointment with one of our Wisconsin nursing home abuse attorneys, and discover how we can help.