Know Your Rights

The Nursing Home Reform Act of 1987 states that all residents in nursing homes are entitled to receive quality care and live in an environment that improves or maintains the quality of their physical and mental health. This includes freedom from neglect, abuse, and misappropriation of funds. It should be reiterated that neglect and abuse are criminal acts, and the residents do not surrender their rights to protection from criminal activity upon entering a nursing home.

Nursing homes have seen an increase in residents over the years, thus, there has been an increase in abuse and neglect within the nursing homes. In fact, if the growing trend continues, there could be more than three million people living in nursing homes by the year 2030, about twice as many residents as there are now. More so, it is speculated that over 40% of all people will need some form of nursing care at one point in their lives.

The government has taken steps to handle nursing home abuse and hold them accountable. The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services puts together lists of "special focus facilities" for nursing homes that have alarming numbers of violations during inspections. Typically, a nursing home facility will have five to seven different violations. The special focus facilities have at least twice as many.