Malnutrition
Our elders need good nutrition to lead healthy lives. Sadly, many nursing homes fail to provide nursing home residents with adequate nourishment.
State and Federal laws require that nursing homes take steps to
ensure that each resident maintains good nutritional health and must
provide all residents with a well-balanced, palatable meal.
Many things can cause malnutrition in nursing home residents. The
following are factors that may prevent a resident from receiving
adequate amounts of the vitamins, minerals, protein, and calories the
resident needs:
Physical Causes:
- Illness
- Adverse drug effects such as nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, cognitive disturbances, or sleepiness
- Food and drug interactions which decrease the ability of the body to absorb vitamins and minerals
- Depression
- Swallowing disorders
- Mouth problems such as tooth loss, dentures that do not fit properly, mouth sores, and mouth pain
- Tremors, which affect the residents' ability to feed themselves
Environmental Causes:
- Inadequate attention from staff for residents who need assistance eating
- Staff who are uneducated about malnutrition and proper ways to feed residents who need help
- Reliance on liquid supplements
- Special diets
Signs That A Resident is Malnourished:
Ask the following questions to determine whether your loved one is demonstrating signs of malnutrition:
- Do clothes fit more loosely than usual?
- Are there cracks around the mouth?
- Do lips and mouth look pale?
- Has the resident complained that his/her dentures no longer fit?
- Has the resident's hair been thinning or growing more sparse?
- Do wounds seem to take longer to heal?
- Does the resident appear confused (not as a result of a disease such as Alzheimer's)?
- Is the resident's skin breaking down?
- Does the resident's eyes look sunken?
- Does the resident appear to be losing weight?
WHAT YOU CAN DO
Visit often. Residents who have frequent visitors are less likely to be ignored by staff.
Ask your loved one how they are. Are they eating?
When you visit check for the signs of malnutrition listed above.
Don't be afraid to look under the sheets for the presence of bedsores. Bedsores usually develop on the lower back or buttocks and are frequently found on patients suffering from malnutrition.
If you find any signs of malnutrition, dehydration, injury or abuse, immediately bring it to the attention of the facility. Speak to the nurses, ask them what they know. Remember to document everything.
The owners and operators of nursing homes can be held accountable for their actions. The law provides for specific causes of action that you can pursue in order to hold them accountable. Don't allow them to increase their profits at the expense of the suffering of our loved ones. Contact us by filling out and submitting the contact form or by calling us at (866) 372-0570. An attorney experienced in nursing home litigation will return your call withing 24 hours.