Nursing Home Abuse in Mississippi – Hold Abusive Facilities Responsible

Sadly, four Mississippi nursing homes were cited for abuse for various health and safety violations. Failure to provide basic needs, high staff turnover rate, and dirty living environments all contribute to rising rates of nursing home abuse in Mississippi facilities.

If your loved one is currently a nursing home resident in Mississippi, there are things you can do to ensure they are well cared for despite the bleak news stories. These include:

1. Learning to spot nursing home abuse signs
2. Knowing how and when to report, and
3. Securing legal assistance

When ready, we can also help you find a nursing home abuse attorney to represent your case. You have the right to legally defend yourself with an abuse attorney – and stop future crimes against other vulnerable adults.

Mississippi Nursing Home Resident Rights

In order to protect the vulnerable adults living in nursing homes, Mississippi established various resident rights all facilities must follow. These rights must be posted and made available to all residents, employees, sponsors, all while viewable to the public.

Various examples of Mississippi’s nursing home resident rights include:

• The right to engage in religious ceremonies and other activities of their choice.
• The ability to privately manage their financial affairs, or choose a representative that can manage such responsibilities for them.
• Voicing complaints and changes to the nursing home facility if issues arise without retaliation
• Receiving or rejecting treatment according to their health and personal preference
• Respectful and kind treatment with recognition of their dignity and individuality

Note that much more rights than those listed above exist to protect your loved one’s health, safety, and individuality. If you feel your rights were violated, you may need to check with an attorney to analyze your case.

What is Nursing Home Abuse in Mississippi?

Any action or omission causing physical or mental harm to a vulnerable adult is considered nursing home abuse in Mississippi. These may take various forms, up to and including:

• Physical and emotional abuse
• Financial exploitation
• Sexual abuse
• Nursing home neglect

“Abuse is an act or omission of an act against the vulnerable person that causes physical pain, injury, or mental anguish. Abuse includes the unreasonable confinement of a vulnerable person or the willful deprivation of services by a caretaker.”

–Mississippi Attorney General

If you suspect your loved one is suffering abuse, it is time to gather evidence, report the abuse, and consider filing a legal claim to collect damages.

Physical and Emotional Abuse

When someone intentionally inflicts bodily injury to another vulnerable adult, their actions constitute physical abuse. Not all physical injuries stem from assault, but a lack of supervision can cause falls, medication errors, or even bedsores.

Examples of the kinds of actions that may contribute to physical abuse include:

• Punching, slapping, kicking
• Intentional shoving
• Unintended falls
• Use of physical or chemical restraints
• Intentional refusal of resources

Emotional or psychological abuse is more subtle and hard to spot. There are no visible marks associated with this form of harm, making documentation more difficult.

Additionally, many nursing home residents stay quiet about this type of abuse for fear of retaliation. Nursing home emotional abuse may look like:

• Humiliation and harassment
• Intentional embarrassment
• Isolation from other residents
• Intimidation
• Name-calling
• Blaming for minor offenses

Financial Exploitation

Financial abuse, which people sometimes refer to as exploitation, is a particularly cruel and common way to take advantage of the elderly. Examples of exploitation may include:

• Taking belongings or money from a resident’s room
• Unauthorized use of a nursing home resident’s credit, debit, or bank card
• Changing the recipients of a will or life insurance policy

Many seniors don’t even realize someone is siphoning their funds until it’s too late. Stay open about such topics to your loved one to prevent such manipulation from hurting their finances. As such, finances are an area to be extremely vigilant about monitoring.

Sexual Abuse

Inappropriate physical touching or sexual assault is another form of physical abuse that occurs in nursing homes. Signs include:

• Injury to the genital area
• Difficulty in sitting or walking
• Fear of being alone with caretakers
• Patient reports a sexual assault

Sometimes the perpetrators are staff, but often they’re other residents. No nursing home resident should have to deal with unwanted sexual conduct and if they have, legal action may be taken.

Nursing Home Neglect

Another form of abuse your loved one may encounter is nursing home neglect, where caretakers fail to provide basic care to their residents. Withholding basic care enough to constitute neglect may include:

• Failing to provide adequate medical or wound care
• Not offering shelter, clothing and food & water
• Leaving residents on their beds too long for bed sores to develop
• Refusing to clean residents’ living quarters up to a basic standard
• Ignoring call lights that alert caretakers of an emergency

Nursing home neglect is related to the abuses above, but it is different in that it isn’t often willful. Those who live in a nursing home cannot perform basic functions without assistance from staff.

Neglect indicates inadequate care or apathy, whereas abuse involves intentional harm. Whether it’s on-purpose or not, long-term care facilities are responsible for nursing home neglect whenever it occurs.

Early Signs of Nursing Home Abuse

Make sure to keep an eye on potential signs of abuse to prevent further harm to your loved one. The Department of Justice highlights several signs to watch out for when suspecting abuse inside a nursing home:

• Reports of bruising, excessive bleeding, or cuts/lacerations
• Sprains, dislocations, broken bones
• Sudden changes in behavior
• Indications of overdose or under-utilization of medical drugs
• Unexplained purchases or changes in funds
• Changes in sleeping and eating habits
• Untreated bedsores
• Dirty clothing or undergarments
• Unsanitary or unclean living conditions

It’s common for seniors to feel they cannot change their situation or that doing so will make the abuse worse. Reassure them that they have options, and that their circumstances will get better with further legal, medical, and emotional support.

IMPORTANT: Call your local law enforcement agency or 911 if the situation is a life-threatening emergency.

Common Causes of Nursing Home Abuse in Mississippi

There are 12 questions you should ask when considering a nursing home, and one of these is about staff turnover rate.

Understaffing is a big problem in the industry, so be sure to ask about staff ratios before committing to moving into a certain facility. In fact, having adequate staffing is one of the strongest predictors of resident wellbeing.

Unfortunately, understaffing goes hand-in-hand with untrained workers as staff try to fill employment gaps from those who left. In a field where residents are mandated by law to monitor each resident for at least 3.8 hours a day, staffing is crucial.

Preventing Nursing Home Abuse in Mississippi

Start by knowing what is going on with your loved one by calling and visiting as frequently as possible. Next, a big part of preventing nursing home abuse is reporting it. In fact, doing so is required by Mississippi law:

“Any person who… has knowledge of or reasonable cause to believe that any patient or resident of a care facility has been the victim of abuse, neglect or exploitation shall report immediately the abuse, neglect or exploitation.”

–MS Code § 43-47-37 (2023)

How to Report Nursing Home Abuse in Mississippi

Report abuse occurring within licensed care facilities (i.e., nursing homes, personal care homes), or unlicensed personal care homes with four or more residents unrelated to the operator to:

Mississippi State Department of Health
800-227-7308

or

Office of the Attorney General,
Medicaid Fraud Control Unit
800-852-8341

You can also report abuse of a vulnerable person through the state’s online form or by calling the Vulnerable Person Abuse Hotline at 844-437-6282.

Mississippi Ombudsman

The state Long-Term Care Ombudsman in Mississippi provides services that protect the health, safety, welfare, and rights of residents through leadership, oversight, and monitoring for residents in long-term care facilities.

The Ombudsman Program is authorized by the Older Americans Act and Ombudsman services are always confidential and free.

Contact the Mississippi statewide Long-Term Ombudsman Help Line:

1-888-844-0041

Types of Nursing Home Damages in Mississippi

If you qualify for a nursing home abuse claim in Mississippi, you may acquire two types of damages. These are:

• Compensatory damages
• Punitive damages

Payouts for these types of damages depend on your evidence and your attorney’s skill in proving your case. Aspects of your case like negligence are entirely subjective, so acquire legal help to increase your chances of a settlement.

Compensatory Damages

Compensatory damages are monetary payments for actual damages resulting from the incident. The amount of an award will depend on the proven harm, loss, or injury to the victim.

These may be in the form of economic damages, like medical bills or money lost via financial exploitation. Or they may be non-economic damages like pain and suffering or emotional distress. The state has a cap of $500,000.00 for non-economic damages.

Punitive Damages

Punitive damages seek to prevent excessively reckless or grossly negligent behavior through financial penalty.

The idea behind punitive damage awards is to make the financial burden painful for those responsible for the abuse. In this way, punitive damages aren’t meant to make up for losses. Instead, they serve as a deterrent against future incidents of abuse.

In Mississippi, punitive damage caps do exist, but they vary based on the net worth of the defendant. Your attorney can calculate this cap for you if you choose to pursue a punitive award.

Mississippi Statute of Limitations

The statute of limitations for filing a lawsuit alleging personal injury from nursing home abuse in the state of Mississippi is three years. It’s best not to wait so you don’t miss your opportunity to file in court. If more than a year passes, you may not be able to pursue damages in your Mississippi nursing home abuse case.

LegalASAP Helps Connect You With a Mississippi Lawyer

Nursing home abuse in Mississippi needs to be stopped, so getting the right help is important. The best way to immediately address incidents of nursing home abuse is to get a skilled nursing home abuse lawyer in Mississippi who specializes in this type of case.

Specialized nursing home abuse lawyers know the system and can assist you directly with your case. In fact, we can connect you free-of-charge today with a qualified attorney in our extensive law firm network. The sooner you get an evaluation, the quicker you or your loved one can move into a better situation.