Study: 1 in 5 nursing home residents abused

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The horrific possibility that their loved one has been abused in a nursing home can dawn on family members after the appearance of an unexplained cut or bruise.

Now, researchers say that such injuries are often inflicted not by overworked health aides, but by a seemingly harmless roommate, or someone living just down the hall.

The first study to look at the scope of negative aggression between residents of U.S. nursing homes has found that almost one in five people who live in these facilities are involved in such encounters within a four-week period.

These invasive, disruptive or hostile incidents — from something so mild as rummaging through a fellow resident's belongings to outright physical or sexual assault — are so common at long-term care facilities that “staff members seem almost unaware” that it's a problem, said lead author Karl Pillemer, a professor at Weill Cornell Medical College and Cornell University.

The study results were made public Thursday at the annual meeting of the Gerontological Society of America. They provide new insight into the lives of almost 1.4 million nursing home residents in the United States, more than 72,000 of them in Florida. 

“Nursing home care is essential for some older Americans; these are very necessary institutions and often very caring institutions,” Pillemer said. “So it may come as a surprise that we found such high rates of conflict and violence. It's very likely that the consequences of resident-to-resident mistreatment are severe, leading to lacerations, bruises and fractures. The residents' frailty makes these altercations more dangerous."

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Study: 1 in 5 nursing home residents abused