Nursing home facilities and their staff have a responsibility to protect the health and safety of residents at all times; however, a new report is claiming Texas is not doing enough to protect patients from nursing home abuse and neglect in the state.

The claims come on the heels of video that was released last year, which depicted a nursing home care provider hitting, slapping, and throwing objects at a patient who was under her care. The findings in the report, which are substantiated by several local non-profit organizations, claim one of the reasons Texas nursing home abuse is so rampant is because of the lack of accountability placed on facilities by the Department of Aging and Disability Services (DADS).

According to an article released by KVUE News, the regulations established by DADS for patient standards of care are not strict enough to prevent errors in care and creates few consequences for nursing homes that are found to be repeat violators.

This has resulted in a call for several nursing homes in Texas to be closed, as well as for administrative penalties for violations being increased. DADS has stated these are just recommendations though and has stated they will respond to the report within several weeks.

At Daniel Stark Injury Lawyers, our team of Texas personal injury attorneys is curious as to the public’s take on the subject. Is Texas failing to take enough action to keep nursing homes safe? Tell us what you think by responding and posting to our social media outlets.