Why You Need to Investigate Home Healthcare for Elders

01 May Why You Need to Investigate Home Healthcare for Elders

The elderly population is, obviously, at a higher risk of suffering victimization of every type due to their physical frailty and sometimes lack of mental clarity. In situations where you have a home care worker coming in to take care of an elderly loved one, you have to be absolutely certain that you take the time to thoroughly investigate the company that provides this service. This can be an involved process but, in the end, it can prevent you from making a tragically wrong decision.

First, make sure you ask the healthcare provider the following:

• How thoroughly are your employees screened?
• How quickly can a more qualified employee arrive in the event of an emergency?
• How well-trained is your average home care worker?
• Has your agency ever been sued for negligence or neglect?
• Has your agency ever been sued for abuse?
• If your agency has been sued, how did those cases turn out?

The biggest issue with home healthcare agencies is how well they screen their employees. In a regular nursing home environment, there are usually supervisors close by so it’s much more difficult for abusers to get away with victimizing the residents. In a homecare situation, the only person available may be the one person staying with your loved one. This means that they are in a much more dangerous situation as far as being abused is concerned. While abusive situations in nursing homes are oftentimes systemic in nature, one individual at a home healthcare agency can cause a great deal of suffering.

If you do suspect that there is something wrong about a healthcare agency, make sure you find an alternative. You shouldn’t have any bad feelings about hiring somebody to take care of your loved one. In fact, high quality home health care agencies have excellent staff members and are generally exceptionally qualified for what they do.

If a home healthcare agency has victimized one of your loved ones, you can contact a lawyer for nursing home abuse about the issue. Nursing home abuse attorneys can also go after home healthcare agencies and help you to file a lawsuit that may provide compensation for the pain and suffering and the injuries that your elderly loved one has been put through. You have the option of filing a lawsuit, even if criminal charges are filed as a part of bringing the abuse of your loved one to an end. If you are a healthcare professional who is fed up working under some agencies and are planning of starting a dental practice or other healthcare practices, consult a healthcare business attorney from a reliable law firm like Rocky Mountain Healthcare Law, who will help you in building a rewarding practice.