A nursing home is supposed to be a place where a frail, ill or disabled person will be watched out for, cared for, fed and nurtured. When a nursing home resident dies, becomes seriously ill or is injured, it may be a result of the natural course of events when the person is in declining health due to old age. Or it may be a result of negligence such as the following:
- Failure to monitor
- Failure to hydrate
- Failure to give proper nutrition
- Failure to monitor intake of food and liquids
It is not enough to simply place food and water in front of the resident at mealtime and assume he or she will eat and drink enough unassisted. Staff members should monitor consumption of food and water to prevent malnutrition and dehydration. In addition, the resident should be weighed regularly. A decrease in weight may be a sign of malnutrition — and a sign of nursing error or nursing home negligence.
Every nursing home or care facility is obligated to make certain that their residents are properly hydrated. Every person in any circumstance needs to ingest proper amounts of fluid in order to stay healthy and survive. This is true in or out of a nursing home setting. But it becomes particularly critical for older people who may be underweight or ill.
The challenge to prevent dehydration in a nursing home may be the result of one or more of the following:
- Failure by staff to monitor a resident’s intake of food and liquids at mealtime
- The elderly or disabled person may not “feel thirsty” as often as before due to the body’s slow shut-down of healthy mechanisms
- The resident’s inability to voice needs such as thirst
We will not settle for equivocations or excuses from the nursing home if our investigation shows a failure to monitor hydration on a regular basis. Do you have reason to suspect that your family member was malnourished in a Connecticut nursing home? Did a rapid weight loss precede your relative’s unexplained death in a long-term care facility? Talk to us at the law offices of Jacobs & Jacobs.
If your loved one has suffered from malnutrition or dehydration at a nursing home, we are here to help. Please contact us online or by telephone at 866-668-7179 to speak with an experienced lawyer.