Nursing Homes and Diabetic Care
An estimated 18.5% of nursing home residents have diabetes. This means that almost one in five residents in a nursing home is likely taking medications and requires ongoing checkups for proper diabetes care. If you have a loved one with diabetes in a nursing home, it’s crucial that you take certain steps to ensure they’re receiving the proper care they require.
Important Care for Diabetes Residents in a Nursing Home
Nursing home staff are expected to care for the residents, which includes helping them with daily living tasks. Caregivers often have to help nursing home residents bathe, groom, dress, and move around the center. However, if a resident has diabetes, the nursing home staff may need to offer other levels of care, including:
- Administering diabetes medication
- Assisting residents with physical activity
- Monitoring blood sugar levels
- Planning nutritious meals for residents
- Monitoring health for related conditions
Diabetes residents often require more monitoring. Nursing home residents with other disorders, like Alzheimer’s or dementia, may need even more assistance with administering medications and eating healthy meals with limited carbs and fat intake. Diabetes also commonly leads to other disorders, so frequent medical checkups should be a part of the resident’s care.
When choosing a nursing home for your loved one with diabetes, it’s crucial to choose one with experience in diabetes care.
What is Nursing Home Neglect?
Nursing home negligence occurs when a caregiver doesn’t provide reasonable care. This may include failing to monitor residents for health concerns or not providing them with frequent, nutritious meals. Neglect can also occur from overworked or undertrained staff. Nursing homes are sometimes guilty of staffing fewer caregivers than what’s needed so that they can maximize their profits. When these bad practices lead to resident harm, it’s a problem.
Caregivers who don’t correctly monitor residents can lead to them becoming malnourished. The residents may also be at an increased risk of injury and are unlikely to receive the medical care and medications they need to treat medical conditions like diabetes.
Your Options Following Nursing Home Neglect
The first and most important thing to do when you suspect nursing home neglect is to get your loved one to a safe place. This may mean temporarily moving them to your home or a new nursing home. Then, you’ll want to report the neglect. Filing a report with the state will open an official investigation into the nursing home. It’s possible that the police may get involved.
Neglect of diabetes residents may include failing to provide the family or resident with timely updates, not monitoring the resident’s blood sugar, or failing to administer insulin injections timely. Failing to provide the resident with frequent medical checkups can also lead to diabetes worsening.
Once you secure the safety of your loved one and the other nursing home residents, it may be worth reaching out to a lawyer. There are a lot of costs involved with nursing home neglect, including medical bills and moving costs.
You shouldn’t have to cover these costs yourself. There are also non-economic costs to consider, which may include pain and suffering. Failing to care for diabetes properly can worsen the condition, which can be painful.
Contact a Jersey City Nursing Home Abuse Lawyer to Discuss Your Nursing Home Neglect Case in New Jersey Today
Seniors in nursing homes and other care facilities deserve to be treated with respect and dignity. Additionally, nursing home staff needs to ensure that patients are safe and secure at all times. If your loved one suffered an injury, or worse, due to nursing home negligence or abuse in New Jersey, you need to speak with a qualified attorney. The experienced nursing home neglect attorneys at Sugarman Law represent clients throughout New Jersey, including Newark, Jersey City, Paterson, and Elizabeth. Call (866) 657-5660 or fill out the online contact form to schedule a free consultation today. We have an office conveniently located at 80 East Main Street, Somerville, NJ 08876, as well as an office in Marlton, NJ.
The articles on this blog are for informative purposes only and are no substitute for legal advice or an attorney-client relationship. If you are seeking legal advice, please contact our law firm directly.
