Virginia Medical Malpractice Blog - Williamson & Lavecchia, L.C.

Virginia Ranks in Bottom 10 for Nursing Home Staffing

U.S. News & World Report is known for its top rankings of colleges, universities, hospital, etc.  Recently they have begun ranking states for providing nursing home care.  Virginia scores close to the very bottom for nursing home staffing.  Virginia was the 8th worst state for nursing home staffing!

The significance of Virginia's dismal ranking can not be overstated.  In my experience most nursing home injuries and deaths are due to either the sufficiency or quality of the staff.  A nurse or nurse assistant can only provide hands on care to one patient at a time.  Therefore, insufficient staff leads to patients not being fed, turned, bathed, etc.  Even a hard working and dedicated nurse is bound to make mistakes if he or she has too many patients to care for.  Ultimately patients in understaffed nursing homes are at risk for malnutrition, dehydration, falls, pressure ulcers, increased restraint use, and other forms of neglect.

It comes as a surprise to many people, but there are no laws or regulations in Virginia setting forth minimal staffing requirements.  The reason is simple: the nursing home industry does not want to hire more staff members because that will lower their profits.  Instead they lobby our elected leaders not to impose reasonable staffing requirements.  Why day care facilities must comply with staffing regulations and nursing homes do not is due to their political influence.

If you believe a loved one has been injured due to an unstaffed nursing home please contact us by email or call us at (804) 288-1661 to discuss your legal rights.  We handle cases throughout Virginia including Richmond, Fredericksburg, Charlottesville, Petersburg, and Hampton Roads.

Labels: dehydration malnutrition nursing home pressure sore Richmond understaffing