Choosing a Phoenix Nursing Home
Lawyers Guiding You Through Nursing Home Decisions
Abuse or neglect in Phoenix nursing homes is best prevented before it starts — by choosing the right home for your loved one. As experienced attorneys, the lawyers at Solomon & Relihan often share with our clients useful guidelines for choosing a nursing home.
What to Look for in Phoenix-Area Nursing Homes
You can learn much about a nursing home on the Internet, but visiting the nursing home is critical to your decision of whether to trust the facility with your loved one’s care.
When you visit the nursing home, there are specific things that you should check to make sure that the home you choose is the right one:
- Smell: Does the nursing home smell all right, indicating cleanliness and proper ventilation, or does it smell like urine and feces? Bad smells can be signs that the residents are not cared for properly, and they can even be signs of neglect.
- The call light: Does the call light work? If the call light successfully alerts the nursing home staff to a problem, how long does it take them to respond? Nursing home neglect starts when staff is too overwhelmed to manage your loved one’s care effectively.
- The ratio of staff to residents: When you visit the facility, the ratio of staff to patients should be posted. If you can’t find it, ask for a copy of their latest ratio.
- Visiting families: Sunday is a good day to visit a nursing home because so many families visit. Talk to these families and ask them what their experience has been with the facility.
Why Arizona Nursing Home “Quality Ratings” Can Be Misleading
The Arizona Department of Health Services (ADHS) gives nursing homes in Phoenix and throughout Arizona a “quality rating” based on information collected in an annual license renewal inspection. Many people rely on these quality ratings in choosing a nursing home. However, they often can be misleading.
Based almost entirely on whatever deficiencies the ADHS employees observe at the time of the annual inspection, the “quality rating” often fails to take into account problems found during previous complaint investigation surveys. The “quality rating” also does not score the facility’s compliance with many state and federal regulations. This means that nursing homes can receive a high quality rating even though significant, dangerous problems exist at the facility.
Contact Solomon & Relihan
If someone you care about has been abused or neglected in a nursing home, take action. Talk to a lawyer about your options. E-mail or call the Phoenix law offices of Solomon & Relihan to schedule a free initial consultation.
