For many families, moving a parent or spouse to a nursing home or assisted care facility is a difficult choice. Entrusting your loved one's care to others is never easy. When you make that decision, you trust that staff members will do everything in their power to protect your loved one.

Unfortunately, nursing homes sometimes violate that trust, inflicting harm rather than care and healing. Some even have a longstanding track record of maltreatment. Overcrowding, understaffing and inadequate training can all contribute to the problem. So, too, can an atmosphere of carelessness or lax enforcement of basic standards of care.