Federal statistics have reported the state of Ohio is ranked as one of the poorest states for nursing home care.
As a medical malpractice attorney for 40 Years, you can imagine this does not sit well with me. My first question when I read the Cleveland Plain Dealer’s article on Ohio nursing home care was, “what underlying factors are the cause for Ohio’s poor nursing home care?”
Nursing home negligence and abuse can be difficult to monitor for a multitude of reasons and, for this reason, many instances of negligence are under reported.
An estimate of only 1 in 14 elder abuse incidents are reported.
Without filed complaints, statistics for nursing home abuse may be even lower than the recent federal statistics illustrate!
The rating system used nationwide is called Nursing Home Compare. This allows “consumers” to compare nursing home information to make the right choice for their loved one by providing ratings of 1 through 5 stars.
This system rates the following factors:
- Health inspections
- Staffing within facilities
- Quality measures for residents (addresses their treatment, physical health, pain, etc.)
Unfortunately, resident opinions are not included in the standard rating system. Many complaints often go unheard or are not properly managed.
In a startling discovery, almost half of Ohio’s nursing homes received below-average ratings for their care.
Here are some of the highlighted facts from the federal statistics as of December 2016:
- There are 963 nursing home facilities in the state of Ohio.
- All nursing homes are ranked through the federal Nursing Home Compare rating system.
- 41% of Ohio nursing home facilities received 1 or 2-star ratings on this rating system.
- The state of Ohio only requires 75 hours of aide training in nursing facilities, whereas other states like California require 150 hours.
- 30% of Ohio’s nursing homes were fined approximately $6.37 million in a 3-year span.
My job as an attorney is to fight for the injured victim’s justice and Make Them Pay. When it comes to nursing home negligence, fighting for justice is not enough. My duty to those who are injured by negligent medical professionals is to fight for change and ensure these injuries never happen again.
It is important that you or anyone who has been hurt by a negligent nursing home reports any and all incidents immediately.
You can do so by filing an online complaint with the Ohio Department of Health as soon as possible.
If you or a loved one has suffered nursing home negligence and/or abuse, call me today. As your Ohio nursing home negligence attorney, I’ll be there for you, and I’ll Make Them Pay!®
Author: Tim Misny | For over four decades, personal injury lawyer Tim Misny has represented the injured victim in in birth injury, medical malpractice, and catastrophic injury/wrongful death cases, serving Cleveland, Akron/Canton, Columbus, Dayton and neighboring communities. You can reach Tim by email at misnylaw.com/ask-tim-a-question/ or call at 877.944.4373.