Restraints in Nursing Homes: Potentially Harmful, Yet Still Used
Pursuant to the Nursing Home Reform Act (NHRA), of OBRA 1987, elderly nursing home residents maintain the right to be free from physical, mechanical, or chemical restraints that may restrict movement or normal access to their own body, or from restraints that are not required to treat the resident's medical symptoms, but are used simply for purposes of discipline or convenience.
As Elder Abuse and Nursing Home Neglect Lawyers, we, at Young & Wallin, find the practice of using restraints inappropriately in nursing homes quite concerning. The misuse of restraints places elderly nursing home patients in jeopardy of becoming victims of nursing home abuse, neglect, abandonment, and isolation.
Historically, restraining elderly nursing home patients was perceived to prevent falls and injuries. Contrary to those perceptions, research has clearly shown that residents of nursing homes with a high rate of restraint usage experience many adverse events, such as:
More Severe Fall-Related Injuries
Decreased Mobility Abilities
Pressure Sores or Ulcers
Depression
Aggression
Impaired Cognitive Performance
Impaired Social Engagement
Death
Despite the restraint reduction mandates of the Nursing Home Reform Act (NHRA), nursing home patients continue to be restrained inappropriately and often, the medical staff, the families of nursing home residents and the residents, themselves, accepts the practice as a matter of inevitability.
Although Elder Laws have been enacted to protect nursing home residents from the misuse of restraints, a cross-cultural study published in Z Gerontol Geriatrics 2005, estimated that 41-64% of nursing homes continue to use physical restraints on residents. The most frequently used restraints in nursing homes are bed rails, bed belts and table-chairs with belts. Medications have also been used as a means of restraining and subduing nursing home residents. (See: Medication Errors in Nursing Homes)
Another study, published in Gerontologist, 2004 showed that elderly residents of nursing homes that had a high-restraint usage rate remained in bed, during the day, 10% more than nursing homes with a low rate of restraint usage. The nursing home residents observed in the study were more frequently confined with bed rails in use and received less assistance with feeding during meals.
In light of a report released last year by The California Healthcare Foundation, the nursing home neglect attorneys of Young & Wallin remain extremely committed to defending the rights of California nursing home residents. The alarming report entitled, Snapshot: California's Fragile Nursing Home Industry, estimated that physical restraints are used on twice as many of the 110,000 California nursing homes residents, than are used across the nation. Also, more California nursing home residents remain in bed all or most of the time, than residents do nationally.
A major part of the problem appears to stem from nursing home staffing practices. According to the report:
Certified Nursing Assistants (CNAs), with approximately four weeks of on-the-job training, provided 64% of daily care to nursing home patients.
Ninety-five percent of California nursing homes failed to meet the recommended daily standard of 4.1 hours of nursing care per resident, per day.
Nearly 25% failed to meet the state mandate of 3.2 hours of daily nursing care.
The elders we love and care about deserve enforcement of the laws set forth in California to protect them. If you or a loved one have been harmed by the inappropriate use of restraints in a California nursing home or long-term care facility, a California Nursing Home Neglect Lawyer or California Elder Abuse Attorney can provide you with legal help and assistance necessary to obtain justice and any damages that may be due you.
