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Older adults face a heightened risk of choking injuries due to age-related changes that can affect swallowing and other underlying health conditions. Choking accidents can quickly become life-threatening, especially when timely medical attention or staff intervention is not provided. Without prompt assistance, a choking emergency may result in severe injury or death.
It is distressing to receive a call that your elderly relative in a care home has choked on food or another object. If your loved one suffered injuries from choking in a Philadelphia nursing home, and you suspect the outcome resulted from negligence, our team of well-versed nursing home abuse lawyers at Lowenthal & Abrams, Injury Attorneys can help you seek justice. Consult with an attorney to discuss your legal options.
Factors That Increase the Risk of Choking in the Elderly
While choking tragedies in Philadelphia nursing homes are largely preventable, certain conditions and factors can increase the risk. These include medical conditions that impair swallowing reflexes.
Examples include Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, multiple sclerosis, ALS, dementia, and other neurological disorders. Individuals with dysphagia are also at risk of choking during meals. People recovering from serious health conditions, such as a stroke, may struggle with swallowing because of weakness in the mouth and throat muscles.
A less common but equally significant risk factor is medication side effects. Some drugs administered to elderly nursing home residents may affect swallowing reflexes, cause dry mouth, or interfere with alertness, increasing the risk of choking.
What Causes Choking in Nursing Homes?
The staff and management of nursing home facilities are expected to be familiar with possible choking hazards. Yet, that is not always the case, as choking accidents are often attributed to care failures. These may present as the following:
- Ignoring the resident’s dietary restrictions
- Leaving high-risk individuals unsupervised during feeding
- Disregarding established feeding routines
- Serving food with an inappropriate texture or consistency
- Overlooking clear feeding instructions
- Administering large pills to residents who have difficulty swallowing
- Seating residents improperly during meals
- Missing signs of a choking emergency as it unfolds
These often preventable mistakes may be further worsened by a lack of adequate care staff, a lack of supervision, or carer inexperience. In many cases involving choking in a Philadelphia nursing home, one or more of these failures contributed to the accident. No matter the real issues that led to these choking injuries, the reality is that the facility’s negligence likely contributed to your loved one’s harm.
An experienced nursing home abuse lawyer in Philadelphia can help establish what went wrong and bring legal action against the facility or the specific caregiver who was negligent.
Enlist The Help of a Philadelphia Nursing Home Abuse Attorney After a Choking Accident
When you leave clear feeding instructions to prevent instances of your elderly relative choking in a Philadelphia nursing home, you expect that they will be implemented. Yet, even with all that information, some caregivers simply ignore them, leading to avoidable choking injuries. If your loved one suffered harm because the facility failed in its duty of care, you have every right to seek justice for your relative.
At Lowenthal & Abrams, Injury Attorneys P.C., our nursing home abuse lawyers can assist you in holding all responsible parties accountable for your loved one’s injuries. We can review and investigate the circumstances, identify who failed at their job, and bring legal action against the facility.
Contact our team now to discuss your case.
