Nursing home abuse and neglect put vulnerable residents at serious risk, leading to malnutrition, dehydration, infections, and preventable injuries. When facilities fail to provide adequate care, residents suffer, and families are left feeling helpless. Lack of supervision, improper medical treatment, and unsafe conditions can result in devastating harm. Understanding the warning signs, knowing your legal rights, and holding negligent facilities accountable are crucial steps in protecting your loved ones. Learn how to take action and seek justice.
January 2, 2026
3 min
Infections are one of the leading causes of hospitalization and death among nursing home residents. Elderly individuals often have weakened immune systems, chronic illnesses, and limited mobility, making them especially vulnerable to illness. For this reason, nursing homes are legally required to maintain strict infection prevention and hygiene practices.
Yet across Ohio and the United States, preventable infections continue to spread inside nursing homes at alarming rates. Urinary tract infections, pneumonia, sepsis, MRSA, C. difficile, and other contagious illnesses frequently result from poor hygiene, inadequate staffing, and failure to follow basic infection control protocols.
When a nursing home fails to prevent infections, the consequences are often devastating—and entirely avoidable. This article explains how infections spread in nursing homes, why poor hygiene constitutes neglect, and what families can do to protect their loved ones.
Older adults face unique health challenges that make infections far more dangerous than they are for younger individuals.
Common risk factors include:
Because of these vulnerabilities, even minor infections can escalate rapidly into life-threatening emergencies.
Infections in nursing homes are rarely random. They often stem from failures in cleanliness, monitoring, and care.
UTIs are frequently caused by poor catheter care, infrequent toileting assistance, or inadequate hygiene. Left untreated, UTIs can lead to confusion, kidney infections, and sepsis.
Aspiration pneumonia often results when staff fail to properly assist residents with swallowing difficulties or ignore respiratory symptoms.
Sepsis is a life-threatening response to infection and a common cause of death among nursing home residents. Delayed treatment is often fatal.
Poor hand hygiene and inadequate cleaning of shared equipment allow bacteria to spread rapidly between residents.
This highly contagious infection is commonly linked to improper sanitation and antibiotic misuse.
Untreated bedsores and poor wound care can lead to serious infections affecting muscle and bone.
Each of these infections is often preventable with proper care.
Infections thrive when basic hygiene standards are ignored. Common failures include:
These lapses create the perfect environment for infections to spread quickly through a facility.
One of the strongest links to infection outbreaks is chronic understaffing.
When nursing homes lack adequate staff:
Understaffing is not an excuse—it is often a conscious business decision that places residents at serious risk.
Nursing homes are legally obligated to protect residents from preventable infections.
Under federal law (42 CFR § 483.80), facilities must:
The Ohio Administrative Code (OAC 3701-17) reinforces these requirements, mandating:
Failure to comply may result in fines, citations, loss of licensure, and civil liability.
Families are often the first to notice signs that a loved one is developing an infection.
Red flags include:
If staff minimize concerns or delay treatment, infection-related neglect may be occurring.
Prompt action can save lives.
Do not rely solely on the nursing home’s assessment. Request evaluation by a hospital or outside physician.
Take notes, photos, and record timelines of symptom onset and staff responses.
Ask for medical charts, infection logs, care plans, and staffing schedules.
Legal guidance is critical when infections result from neglect.
To hold a nursing home accountable, attorneys often show that:
Evidence may include medical records, infection logs, inspection reports, witness statements, and expert testimony.
Families may pursue compensation for:
Legal action also pressures facilities to improve infection control practices.
Attorney Michael Hill, based in Cleveland, Ohio, has extensive experience representing families whose loved ones suffered serious infections due to nursing home neglect.
Michael and his team:
Michael understands that infections are not just medical issues—they are often signs of deeper neglect.
Failure to prevent infections in nursing homes is a deadly form of neglect. When facilities ignore hygiene standards, cut staffing, or delay treatment, elderly residents suffer the consequences.
Families must remain vigilant and act quickly when signs of infection appear. If your loved one has suffered due to preventable infections in a nursing home, Attorney Michael Hill can help uncover the truth and pursue justice.
Seniors deserve safe, clean, and attentive care. When nursing homes fail to provide it, accountability is essential.
