| Nursing Home Abuse Legal Glossary
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Neglect: In the nursing home
context, when a care taker fails to give a person the care, services or
goods necessary to avoid harm or illness.
Negligence: In its broadest sense,
carelessness. More precisely, conduct which falls below the standard of
care established by law for the protection of others against
unreasonable risks of harm. In order to prevail in a negligence action,
the plaintiff must prove, by a preponderance of the evidence, the
following four elements: (1) that the defendant owed the plaintiff a
duty of care; (2) that the defendant breached that duty; (3) that the
defendant's breach of his or her duty of care caused the plaintiff's
injury; (4) that the plaintiff suffered injury.
Nurse: A person trained to take
care of the sick, injured, or disabled under the supervision of a
doctor.
Nurse's Aide: A nurse's assistant.
Nurse Practitioner: A nurse having
two or more years of advanced training and who has passed a specific
exam.
Nursing Home: A residential
facility that gives nursing care or custodial care to an ill or injured
person. A nursing home also provides a room, meals, rehabilitative care,
medical services, and help with daily living and recreational
activities.
Nursing Home Abuse: Any physical,
sexual, verbal, psychological, or financial abuse perpetrated against
residents of a residential care facility. Although nursing home abuse is
a growing problem, many victims do not report violations because they
are scared or ashamed.
Nursing Home Negligence: The
failure of any person having the care or custody of a nursing home
resident to exercise that degree of care which a reasonable person in a
like position would exercise by failing, for example, to give the
resident the care, services, or goods necessary to avoid harm or
illness.
Nursing Home Reform Act of 1987:
Federal law that governs nursing homes and gives nursing home residents
certain rights.
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