Why Was My Mother Dehydrated?

Written by Adam Peck Category: Dehydration August 1st, 2013 3 min read

Dehydration is a serious health problem. Defined as an excessive loss of bodily fluid, dehydration can cause serious health complications including seizures, kidney damage or even death. Unfortunately, seniors in nursing homes are often at risk of dehydration if they do not get adequate care from nursing home staff.

If your parent or relative in a nursing home develops dehydration or complications related to dehydration, this is a clear sign that the nursing home staff was not doing its job and providing a reasonable level of adequate care and assistance. The nursing home can be liable for the neglect of your relative and the injured patient or family members can pursue a claim for nursing home abuse and neglect with the help of an experienced attorney.

Why Do Nursing Home Patients Receive Inadequate Water?

There are a lot of potential reasons why nursing home patients may not be given a sufficient amount of water, leading to dehydration. Some of the factors that can lead to a nursing home patient not receiving water include:

Undiagnosed clinical issues such as undiagnosed dysphagia.
Cognitive and functional impairments that prevent nursing home patients from providing themselves with sufficient water.
Patients having difficulty swallowing and not being provided with the proper support or assistance.
Patients inability to communicate thirst.
Lack of attention to the patient’s desired beverage preference (some patients may not like to drink water and will need other beverages to provide proper hydration).
Overstaffing at the nursing home resulting in inadequate attention to patient needs.
Undertrained staff who is unable to recognize dehydration or tend to patients care.
Inadequate nursing home policies that fail to ensure patients receive or have access to water in between meals.
Lack of supervision of staff.
Neglect or intentional wrongdoing by nursing home staff.

When a nursing home does not have reasonable policies in place or does not provide a sufficient amount of staff to care for patients, the nursing home can be considered negligent and can be liable for any injuries that develop from dehydration or other lapses in care. A nursing home can also be vicariously liable for the negligence of its staff. In other words, if an individual staff member or group of staff members fails to live up to the obligation to provide reasonable quality care for the nursing home residents, then it is as if the nursing home itself was negligent.

Insufficient water and dehydration are clear signs that a nursing home failed in some way to provide appropriate care to a patient. As such, patients or relatives of nursing home patients who received insufficient water should consult with an experienced attorney for help pursuing a damage claim.

– from Steven Peck, Senior Nursing Home Abuse Attorney at Peck Law Group

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Written by Adam Peck

Expertise: Personal Injury

Adam J. Peck, ESQ is a principal with Peck Law Group, APC. In 2008, Mr. Adam Peck received his Juris Doctorate from Whittier Law School where he graduated Cum Laude. His practice is primarily dedicated to representing Elders, Dependent Adults, along with their loved ones and family members, who have suffered horrific personal injuries.