Are Your Loved Ones Safe In Nursing Homes?
Posted on behalf of Phillips Law Group on Nov 01, 2013 in Nursing Home Abuse
Recently, a bookkeeper at one of Mississippi's top-ranked nursing homes has plead guilty to stealing over $100,000 from 83 of her elderly residence trust funds and then going on shopping sprees with their money. In one case, she even purchased a pair of designer jeans and expensed them to an elderly woman with no legs.
As a result of this incident, the USA Today decided to run an investigation on thefts to trust funds at nursing homes. The shocking results showed that greater than 100 similar cases have been prosecuted during the past three years.
This is largely due to the fact that most states have no audit requirement, which means that most nursing home inspectors do not look closely at the books at these trust funds. More so, many states have no requirements on criminal background checks while hiring nursing home administrators. This means that if someone is convicted of a similar crime in another state, they can relocate and find a similar position at another nursing home.
While the saying goes, once someone has embezzled once, it is that much easier to do it again.
In order to protect our elderly of such crimes, our nursing home abuse attorneys advise requesting and carefully monitoring monthly statements from the nursing home facility. This includes requesting actual receipts from any and all purchases made by the nursing home for your loved one.
If you detect fraud, it is possible to get all the money back, as nursing homes must possess insurance to cover any thefts that may occur.