When Maryland families move a loved one into a Maryland nursing home, they are entrusting the home and the staff to take care of their loved one, to keep them safe, healthy, and comfortable. Tragically, however, nursing home neglect is a significant problem in nursing homes across the country, and Maryland is no exception.
Nursing home neglect can take many forms. Perhaps staff members fail to check up on a sick resident every hour, as they are supposed to, and as a result, the resident suffers alone with no one realizing. Neglect can also be medical neglect—failing to take medical concerns seriously, or administer medication on time. Sometimes neglect can simply be leaving the resident alone when they are in dangerous circumstances.
For a tragic example of neglect, take a recent nursing home death where a 90-year-old woman was found dead outside her nursing home one morning. According to a local news article covering the incident, the resident allegedly got into an argument with a staff member at the nursing home one night and walked outside to get some space. The next morning, she was found dead on a bench on the property. Temperatures that night dropped to around 26 degrees, and it is suspected that the resident froze to death. The resident’s family was not even contacted by the nursing home—they found out of the death only through the local coroner’s office.