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CHICAGO, IL – If you suspect someone you love may be suffering from elder abuse in their nursing home facility, it’s important to ask questions. The following questions were adapted from the Elder Abuse Suspicion Index (EASI). EASI is a set of questions that doctors may ask if they think an elderly patient is being abused. You can use these assessment questions to check on your loved one’s well-being and begin to take action from there.

Has anyone limited your daily activities?

If someone is limiting a seniors daily activities, they may be doing so in order to take advantage of them, which is known as “willful deprivation.” Willful deprivation can have a wide range of negative consequences.

Through willful deprivation, seniors may not receive food and water, proper medications, glasses or hearing aids, or medical care. According to the National Institute of Aging (NIA), this is a form of emotional abuse.

If a senior tells you someone has been restricting or changing their daily activities, it’s important to find out who. Many times the person who is abusing a senior is someone close to them such as a family member, at-home caregiver, or nursing home staff member.

Has someone talked to you in a threatening way?

Verbal harassment can cause elders to be scared, agitated, and withdrawn; furthermore, can lead to mental health problems such as anxiety and/or depression.

An abuser may use threats to prevent a senior from speaking to loved ones, nursing home staff, and law enforcement officials. This type of intimidation can make it much harder for seniors to seek the help that they need.

Has someone forced you to give them money or sign strange papers?

If someone has forced an elder to give them money or sign papers such as legal documents and checks, it can be a sign of financial abuse.

Financial abuse can drain seniors of their life savings, leaving them unable to afford basic living expenses. It can also cause seniors to suffer from distrust, depression, and feelings of worthlessness.

Unfortunately, some cases of financial abuse may not come to light until months or years after because it can be hard to detect. Some seniors with mental or physical health issues may not be able to properly track their finances. For example, a former attorney store nearly $1 million dollars from a nursing home resident who suffered from dementia over a seven-year period.

Has anyone touched you without your consent or hit you?

If a senior is being inappropriately touched or hit, these physical interactions could be signs of sexual or physical abuse. Other signs of physical abuse can include broken bones or sprains, bruises, scratches, or loss of hair or teeth.

Even if a loved one has not been physically injured, any unwanted touching in inappropriate areas is considered sexual abuse and can traumatize them.

It’s a good idea to take a less direct approach when asking about these sensitive questions. You may want to ask your loved one to explain how they got an injury on their body if one is visible.

Other Elder Abuse Assessment Questions

A senior may not answer elder abuse assessment questions honestly out of fear that their abuser will find out and will hurt them. There are questions you can ask yourself if you think your loved one is being abused.

Ask yourself:

Does the senior seem withdrawn or in a bad mood?
Are they not making eye contact with you or others?
Are they suffering from poor hygiene?
Are they improperly clothed?
Do they have strange and/or unexplainable cuts, bruises, or other injuries?
Are they not regularly taking their medication?

Elder Abuse Assessment: Next Steps

If you believe your loved one is being abused or neglected, it’s important to remove them from that environment as soon as possible. From there, you should take them to a hospital to seek treatment, if necessary. It’s also important to report nursing home abuse or elder abuse to the police or Adult Protective Services (APS). Finally, it’s important to explore legal options to receive compensation for their injuries, medical treatment, and other expenses.

The Dinizulu Law Group, Ltd. has extensive knowledge and resources in this area of the law and provide highly personalized service by working closely with clients throughout every step of the process. Our attorneys have represented hundreds of individuals and families in making claims against abusive nursing home facilities and have helped them receive the compensation they deserve. Please call our office to schedule a free consultation at (312) 384-1920 or visit our website for more information.

Nursing home abuse and neglect often goes unaddressed because residents and their families don’t necessarily know the rights a resident has. The Illinois Nursing Home Care Act (210 ILCS 45) specifically protects nursing home residents who may be more vulnerable to exploitation, neglect or abuse. Residents have the same rights just as any other person has under Illinois law, federal law, and state laws.

What is abuse or neglect?
Anyone residing in a long-term care facility has the right to be free from abuse, neglect, mistreatment, and financial exploitation. Abuse generally refers to the harmful actions, while neglect refers to the negligence or carelessness.

The statue reinforces the rights that every Illinois citizen has and details a number of specific rights and protects nursing home residents have that are guaranteed by state law or under the U.S Constitution. Those include:

Rights regarding spousal impoverishment. Nursing home facilities must inform all new residents upon being admitted of their spousal impoverishment rights under the Illinois Public Aid Code and the Medicare Catastrophic Act.

Right to private visits. Residents cannot be denied the opportunity for family and friends to visit, unless there is a verified medical reason for restricting visitations.

Right to personal property. Nursing home staff are not allowed to withhold or take a resident’s personal property; however, if there is medical reason for why the resident cannot have access to an item, they may be prevented from doing so.

Right to manage your own finances. Due to the nature of many resident’s illnesses, residents may not always have immediate access to their money; however, nursing homes are prohibited from spending a resident’s funds without proper authorization.

Right to your own physician. Nursing home residents have the right to choose their own physician and cannot be denied an opportunity to see their physician.

Right to respect and privacy in medical care. Residents have the legal right to privacy, and undisclosed personal information with their doctors and/or physician.

Right to participate in medical care and refuse treatment. Nursing home residents have the right to understand medical treatment they are undergoing and/or refuse treatment or medical interventions.

Right to exercise religion. Nursing homes cannot prevent a resident from expressing his/her religion.

Right to be free of physical or chemical restraints, unless medically necessary. Often times nursing homes must put restraints on a resident who puts themselves or others at risk of hurting them. The only exception a verified medical reason and when absolutely necessary. A residents physician is the only one who can order the use of physical or chemical restraints.

Right to rescreening when admitted with serious mental illness. When residents are admitted into a nursing home facility, they have the right to be rescreened and annually assessed.

Right to be free from unlawful discrimination. No resident should be unlawfully discriminated by any owner, licensee, administrator, employee, or agent of a facility.

Right to authorized electronic monitoring. A resident has the right to allow electronic monitoring devices placed in their rooms.

Right to see an attorney or social worker. Residents cannot be denied the opportunity to receive counsel from an attorney or social worker.

If you or a loved one has been abused or neglected in a long-term care facility such as an assisted living facility or nursing home, please contact an experienced nursing home abuse attorney. Schedule a free consultation today with Dinizulu Law Group today at (312) 384-1920.