How Do You Report Abuse in a Nursing Home?

Common Types of Nursing Home Abuse and Neglect

You need to know what the common types of abuse or neglect in nursing homes are when thinking about making a report. 

Common forms of nursing home abuse or neglect include:

• Physical harm, such as hitting, kicking, spitting, slapping, shoving, punching, or any action that was meant to inflict pain on the body. 
• Sexual harm, such as rape or inappropriate touch. Signs of sexual abuse in a nursing home include unexplained Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs), unexplained bruises or scars, and torn clothing. 
• Mental or emotional abuse, such as insults, isolation, verbal harassment, humiliation, and other harm to the resident's mental state. 
• Intentionally or unintentionally failing to provide proper care, also known as active and passive neglect. This may include failing to give food, water, shelter, or medical attention when necessary, abandoning residents, or failing to prevent illnesses, injuries, or other problems. 
• Financial abuse, such as forcing a resident to sign documents without his or her true consent, stealing or misusing a resident's money or assets, or exploiting a resident's vulnerabilities for financial gain.
• Inhospitable residential environment, such as a dirty living space, overcrowding of residents, understaffed personnel, and lack of social interaction or activities. 

Knowing how to identify the common types of abuse and neglect in a nursing home can help you understand when you can and should file a report to the proper authorities. 

Where to Report Abuse in a Nursing Home

Victims and their advocates have several options to report abuse in a nursing home. The Illinois Department of Public Health can address concerns of abuse and neglect if a complaint is filed. Your local Adult Protective Services (APS) office is another resource that will examine nursing home abuse reports. You can also file a police report with local law enforcement detailing the imminent danger and severe injuries a resident received at a nursing home. 

Reporting to the Facility

Nursing home abuse reports are usually first provided to nursing home administrators and local ombudsmen. People in those positions have a more immediate presence and involvement in nursing home environments. Therefore, they may be able to promptly address reports of abuse or neglect in nursing homes. 

You can report nursing home neglect or abuse to a nursing home administrator if you are looking for an immediate response to your report. Once a report is brought to the attention of an administrator, an investigation into the matter begins. 

The nursing home administrator will review the details and circumstances of the report's allegations. Evidence that is relevant to the details in the report will be collected and examined by the administrator. The investigation into the abuse or neglect by a staff member will continue even after that staff member is suspended and prevented from coming back to the nursing home facility. The purpose of the administrator's investigation is to determine if the staff members are in violation of the nursing home's policies. 

Making a Complaint With the Local Ombudsman

Your local ombudsman is another authority you can turn to in filing a report of nursing home abuse or neglect. Like with a nursing home administrator, an ombudsman is responsible for overseeing any issue facing residents in nursing homes and assisted living facilities. They often visit nursing homes and observe the operations at the facilities. 

An ombudsman will typically receive a complaint alleging a nursing home's abusive or neglectful environment, and will initiate an investigation into the matter, report the case to other authorities, and provide recommended solutions. Ombudsmen take reports with confidentiality to protect the identity of those who made the complaint. Confidentiality can prevent retaliatory responses from the nursing home staff. Ombudsmen have a direct presence and are more involved with nursing home facilities.

You are more likely to receive an immediate response to your report by reaching out initially to a nursing home administrator or an Ombudsman. 

Filing a Formal Report With IDPH

Reports of nursing home neglect or abuse can also be directed to the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH). The IDPH accepts complaints involving claims of abuse or negligence by staff members in a nursing home. 

The IDPH looks into whether the care provided to the residents was harmful, unprofessional, and dangerous to the resident's life. This could include harm to a resident, medical errors, failure to prevent infections, and any other violation of a resident's rights. 

Residents or their family members can report to the IDPH and file their complaint by an online website form, phone, email, fax, and mail. If the resident is facing imminent danger, you can reach out to the IDPH's Nursing Home Hotline, which can provide emergency medical services and law enforcement intervention when necessary. 

Before you begin the process of submitting a complaint, it's important to know the details of the entire situation. This could include the name of the resident, name of the abusive or negligent staff member, name of the facility and its location, date and time of the incident or a list of dates and times of repeated incidents, and the nature of the abuse or neglect. Submitting a complaint to the IDPH is confidential. After reviewing the complaint, the IDPH may start an investigation. 

Notifying Adult Protective Services

You can report nursing home abuse to your local Adult Protective Services (APS) office. APS works on investigating and addressing allegations of exploitation, abuse, and neglect of vulnerable adults, including nursing home residents. APS considers nursing home residents to be vulnerable adults because of their reliance on others to help them receive care, support, and safety. 

Similarly to filing complaints with the IDPH, APS will typically require the same type of identifying information included in the report to assist in a potential investigation. A social worker will be responsible for collecting the information from the complaint and examining the report's allegations to see if an investigation will take place. 

The process of filing a complaint with your local APS office will not have immediate effect, like with a nursing home administrator or an Ombudsman. Local APS offices do have close involvement with nursing homes, and this allows APS agents to have a regular presence in the operations of nursing homes. 

Reporting Abuse or Neglect to Law Enforcement

Local law enforcement is another source to which you can report nursing home abuse or neglect. If you decide to contact your local police and make a report about nursing home abuse, it's important to have all the right details about the situation in the nursing home. These details include the name of the resident and the name(s) of the staff members who abused or neglected the resident, the nature of the abuse or neglect, and when the abuse or neglect occurred. 

Law enforcement can respond immediately to situations that concern imminent danger or severe injuries. Your police report may require additional documentation, such as statements from witnesses, photos of any injuries or property damage, financial documents, and medical records. These pieces of evidence that come with your police report may be able to help support your allegations. 

Each of these sources of contact will be adequate to assist you as you report abuse or neglect in a nursing home facility. 

How to File a Claim for Nursing Home Abuse

The process to file a claim for nursing home abuse and neglect can vary depending on where you choose to file your complaint and the procedures that follow your filing. One way to report abuse is through a regulatory agency like the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) or your local Adult Protective Services (APS) office. An alternative method for filing your claim would be with a nursing home abuse attorney. Distinguishing between filing claims through regulatory authorities and nursing home attorneys can help you know which source of contact best applies to your situation. 

Filing With a Regulatory Agency

When you choose to file a claim through a regulatory agency, such as the Illinois Department of Public Health, you can file the complaint on behalf of your loved one. You do not have to be the person that is experiencing abuse or neglect in a nursing home facility. Filing a complaint will require revealing identifying information about the resident you are concerned for, the facility, and the allegedly abusive or neglectful staff members. The complaint is confidential, and the following procedures do not require much participation from the person making the complaint. 

Filing a Claim With a Nursing Home Abuse Lawyer

Choosing to file a claim with a nursing home abuse attorney against alleged abusive or neglectful staff members of a nursing home facility is an alternative option. This option may be preferable because it allows the victim to recover compensation for the costs he or she incurred. 

Unlike filing a claim in a regulatory agency, if you choose to have legal representation, you must have a personal stake in the lawsuit. You must be the resident that experienced abuse or neglect from the nursing home facility, or otherwise have a personal representative act on your behalf to seek recovery. 

If you are a resident that has been abused or neglected in a nursing home facility, an attorney can consult with you about your situation to determine if a lawsuit is in your best interests. The attorney will gather as much evidence as he or she can from you and the nursing home. The attorney may request any documentation you have, collect witness statements and medical records, and investigate the matter fully to help build your case. If the resident’s injuries were sustained while seeking alternative medical treatment, he or she can sue a private hospital for medical malpractice, rather than the nursing home facility. 

How an Investigation for Nursing Home Abuse Works

Knowing how an investigation into nursing home abuse works may be helpful when deciding to report to an authority or file a claim with an attorney. Entities that you can report to about nursing home abuse or neglect may have different procedures for conducting investigations. 

Nursing home administrators will conduct a more internal investigation, focusing on the details of the complaint and the staff member responsible for the alleged abuse or neglect. 

An ombudsman will take an active role within the nursing home in his or her investigation. He or she can visit the nursing home and observe the facility's environment, interview potential witnesses, and document observations. An ombudsman will usually end his or her investigation by reporting findings to other authorities, such as law enforcement. 

The Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) has a similar process to an ombudsman when conducting their investigations, but will differ on the final procedures. The IDPH can issue a response to any violations, such as sanctions, fines, or revocation of licenses. 

If you report abuse in a nursing home to local law enforcement, the authorities will conduct an investigation immediately following a police report. They can be more focused on collecting information on injuries or imminent danger faced by the resident. 

Nursing home attorneys will conduct investigations for the purpose of recovering compensation for the residents they represent.