When a Delaware County Nursing Home Breaks Your Trust
Placing a parent, spouse, or grandparent in a nursing home is one of the hardest choices a family can make. You are not only choosing a place for them to live. You are trusting a facility and its staff with daily care, medications, safety, and dignity, often for the rest of your loved one’s life.
Most families want to believe that staff members will treat residents like their own relatives. The truth is much harsher. Reports of nursing home abuse and neglect surface across Pennsylvania every year, including in facilities that looked fine on the tour.
If you believe a Delaware County nursing home or assisted living facility has failed your family, a nursing home abuse lawyer can investigate what happened, explain your legal options, and help you pursue justice through a civil claim.
The Legal Duty Nursing Homes Owe to Residents
Under both federal rules and Pennsylvania law, nursing homes and assisted living facilities must provide residents with a safe environment and adequate care. Residents are entitled to live free from verbal, physical, sexual, and emotional abuse, and to receive basic daily care, nutrition, and medical attention.
That duty includes:
Keeping hallways, rooms, and common areas clean, uncluttered, and reasonably free of fall hazards
Providing enough trained staff to supervise residents and help with mobility, hygiene, and meals
Giving medications as ordered and monitoring for side effects or changes in condition
Following infection control procedures to prevent and contain outbreaks
Screening employees and supervising them so abusive workers are not placed near vulnerable residents
When facilities ignore these responsibilities, residents can suffer preventable injuries, illnesses, and emotional trauma. That is not just bad care. It can be negligence.
Abuse vs. Neglect: How Harm Happens in Nursing Homes
The Schuster Law nursing home abuse materials explain that harm usually appears in two broad ways: active abuse and neglect.
Abuse involves intentional acts that hurt or humiliate a resident. That can include hitting, pushing, rough handling, sexual contact without consent, yelling, threats, or cruel “jokes.” Financial exploitation and emotional bullying also fall into this group.
Neglect occurs when staff or management fail to provide the basic level of care the resident needs, even if they did not set out to cause harm. Common examples include not repositioning bedridden residents, letting bedsores form, failing to help with bathing or toileting, ignoring call bells, or allowing residents to sit in soiled clothing.
Neglect often grows out of chronic problems at the facility: understaffing, poor training, lack of supervision, or management that values profit over patient safety.
Types of Nursing Home Neglect You Might See
The Schuster Law practice page describes four main kinds of neglect that families frequently encounter:
Social or emotional neglect: Residents are routinely ignored, isolated, or prevented from joining activities and visits.
Personal hygiene neglect: Staff fail to help with bathing, brushing teeth, changing clothes, or laundry, leaving residents dirty and uncomfortable.
Basic needs neglect: The facility does not provide enough food, water, clean bedding, or a reasonably safe living space.
Medical neglect: Staff do not give medications on time, fail to monitor health problems, or do not prevent and treat issues like bedsores or infections.
Any of these can lead to serious injuries, infections, rapid decline, or even wrongful death if not corrected quickly.
Warning Signs of Abuse or Neglect in a Delaware County Facility
Because many residents cannot speak up for themselves, family members often provide the first line of defense. Sadly, nursing home abuse and neglect remain among the most underreported types of harm.
Warning signs may include:
Sudden weight loss, dehydration, or repeated infections
Unexplained bruises, cuts, burns, or fractures, especially in different stages of healing
Frequent falls or trips to the emergency room
Bedsores, especially on heels, hips, or tailbone
Poor hygiene, strong odors, or dirty bedding and clothing
Rope marks, bruises on wrists or ankles, or signs of restraints
New agitation, fear, withdrawal, or depression without a clear medical cause
Genital infections, bruising, or torn undergarments that raise concern for sexual abuse
If you notice several of these, or if the staff’s explanations keep changing, trust your instincts and start asking hard questions.
Elder Abuse Is a Crime – Civil Lawsuits Are Different
Pennsylvania’s criminal laws treat elder abuse and serious neglect as crimes that can lead to fines and jail time for individuals who hurt or exploit older adults. The Older Adult Protective Services Act and the Criminal Neglect of a Care Dependent Individual Act both create strong penalties for abusers.
However, a criminal case is about punishment, not about paying your family’s bills or recognizing your loved one’s suffering. That is where a civil lawsuit comes in.
A nursing home abuse or neglect lawsuit is a private civil claim that seeks financial compensation from the facility and, in some cases, other responsible parties. The focus is on the harm your loved one suffered and how that harm has affected both them and your family.
What Families Must Prove in a Nursing Home Abuse Case
Most nursing home cases are built on negligence. Schuster Law explains four core elements that usually must be shown:
Duty of care: The facility agreed to care for your loved one, creating a legal duty to provide reasonable, safe care.
Breach of duty: The nursing home either did something careless or failed to act when it should have, putting residents at risk.
Injury and damages: Your loved one suffered physical, emotional, or financial harm that can be measured.
Causation: The injuries were directly caused by the nursing home’s negligence, not by unrelated factors.
A nursing home abuse lawyer uses medical records, care plans, staffing schedules, inspection reports, and witness testimony to tie these pieces together.
What To Do if You Suspect Nursing Home Abuse in Delaware County
If something feels wrong about your loved one’s care, you do not have to wait for “proof” before acting. Steps that often help include:
Document what you see: dates, times, photos of injuries or unsafe conditions, and names of staff on duty
Ask calm but direct questions about falls, bruises, weight changes, or infections
Request copies of care plans, medication lists, and incident reports
Consider moving your loved one to a safer environment if you believe they are in immediate danger
Contact a nursing home abuse lawyer in Delaware County, PA for a free case review before signing any releases or settlement paperwork
You trusted the facility to protect your loved one. If they broke that trust, you have the right to demand answers, accountability, and fair compensation so your family member can receive the care and respect they deserve.
