Nursing home unaccountability and mismanagement are widespread issues affecting many facilities. These cases often lead to in-facility injuries or abuse, which triggers affected families to seek compensation. Fortunately, besides providing financial and emotional support to victims, compensation also drives community changes. Here is how settlements promote accountability and create a safer environment for the elderly and those with disabilities.
1. Higher Settlement Leads to Improved Care
People expect the highest standards of care when entrusting nursing homes with their loved ones. Most families are ready to seek compensation when nursing facilities fail to be accountable, leading to harm. These compensations, often in millions, help victims cover medical expenses, therapy costs, and relocation to better homes. Since most nursing homes cannot afford these settlements, they are compelled to reevaluate their services and practices to prevent possible lawsuits.
Nursing home settlements compensate for many incidences resulting from negligence and unaccountability. These include wrongful deaths, exposure to harmful substances, personal injuries, and illnesses resulting in extreme medical expenses. To avoid these problems or legal steps against them, facilities can upscale their caregiving services, hire qualified staff, and invest in state-of-the-art monitoring systems.
2. Rebuild Community Trust
Nursing home abuse not only affects victims’ lives but also shatters the community’s trust in the facilities. Families can start entrusting them again with their loved ones by holding these facilities accountable for harmful incidents. This serves as a bridge between the facility and the community, which helps implement systemic reforms.
Restoring trust in nursing homes has various advantages for individuals and the facilities. For instance, by trusting the facilities, communities can participate in funding projects to improve service quality. These include sponsoring programs, empowering families through community education, and volunteering in caregiving. Communities also participate in setting and implementing new caregiving standards, making the facilities appealing to older people and those with disabilities.
3. Lead to Policy Changes and Regulatory Reforms
Higher nursing home settlements often lead to policy changes and regulatory scrutiny. Most state and federal agencies use high-value cases to evaluate and inspect systematic failure within facilities. Some of these failures include understaffing, lack of training, and the need for more monitoring from local or state bodies. By publicly addressing these failures, nursing homes can undergo mandatory policy and regulatory changes.
Agencies also use settlement cases to set up advocacy groups that provide real-time examples of the consequences of neglect and unaccountability. These groups drive public awareness through community education and one-on-one engagements with families. They also demand legislative action by including policymakers in their fight for nursing home accountability. Advocacy groups can create a safer and more trustworthy nursing home system by requiring mandatory facility improvements.
Endnote
Nursing home settlements are more than financial and emotional compensation to affected families. They are also a wake-up call for facilities to reevaluate their practices and communities to demand better caregiving services. By triggering policy changes and stricter regulations, nursing home settlements can create a supportive and responsible care system, reducing the risk of injuries or deaths.
By Chris Bates
