If your parent has dementia and they are in a nursing home, you need to learn the signs of abuse. This is because your parent will likely not remember what happened to them so would not be able to tell you. To help you out, below are some signs of emotional and physical abuse you can watch out for. If you see any of these signs, call a nursing home abuse attorney immediately as they can be a big help to you and your parent.

Emotionally Abused

One type of abuse is emotional abuse. This includes things like yelling loudly at your parent, threatening them, humiliating them, intimidating them, and harassing them.

If your parent has been abused in this way they will likely be much more agitated than normal. They may also constantly mumble to themselves, suck on their fingers, and rock back and forth. Your parent may also withdraw from activities that they enjoy, as well as not be as alert. Depression is another common symptom of emotional abuse.

Because many of the signs above are also signs commonly found in people with dementia, emotional abuse can be hard to catch. This is why you must watch and listen to your parent closely as you will be the one that will notice even small changes or that something is off.  

Physically Abused

Physical abuse is much easier to see as your parent will have bruises on their arms, neck area, legs, and other places. You do need to check their entire body, however, as the bruises they have may be covered up. Because your parent's nursing home likely has to call you if your parent is injured, you will be getting called often. This should be a warning because they should not be getting injured that much.

Your parent may also have welts in areas of their body or even burns. They may also have a sprained, fractured, or broken bone.  Keep an eye on your parent's wrists because if you see any type of rope marks they are likely tied up at times.

Your parent may also seem combative to you or may be fearful of you even though you are their child. Depending on how far they are into their disease they may not know who you are so being fearful of you will be more understandable. Still, your parent should act like they always do when you visit them.

The nursing home abuse attorney can give you more information about elder abuse, and can go over the steps they will take to start legal proceedings against the nursing home.