When your loved one is neglected in a nursing home, it’s understandable to feel outraged. Maybe they had a medical emergency, pulled the alarm, and then waited for help. It should have taken a few minutes — at most — for someone to get there. Instead, it took half an hour, and they suffered serious complications as a result. 

Your instinct may be to blame the workers. Were they just talking or looking at their phones? Why did they ignore the alarm for so long? But is this really their fault? 

Most homes struggle with staffing issues

The workers could be to blame, but the fault could also lie with the administrators or the owners of the home. Reports have found that most  nursing homes are understaffed  or have related staffing issues. They need to have more people on the clock to help the residents, but they don’t, often because it simply costs more to employ a greater number of workers for the same shift. 

Imagine that those staff members who took 30 minutes to respond weren’t just browsing their phones. Instead, they were swamped. Other alarms were going off. They had half as many workers as they needed. They were working as quickly as they could to get to your loved one, but there was just no way to get there sooner. It was physically impossible. 

What should you do after a loved one suffers from nursing home neglect?

Understanding what may have caused the problem doesn’t mean that the home wasn’t negligent. Nursing home residents deserve better conditions and faster response times when they need assistance. You still need to know how you can  seek compensation and justice  for your loved one. Until nursing homes are forced to reckon with their lapses, the problem won’t get any better.