You have agreed to be an elder care provider for your loved one, or for a friend, or as a job, having responded to an ad looking for help. While you may or may not have a lot of experience with elderly home care, it’s important that you protect yourself, legally, from any issues that could arise during your care of the patient.
What legal protections do you need?
First, make sure that you are legally entitled to provide elderly home care within the town that the elderly patient lives. If you need to have a certain license or certification to provide this level of care, and you don’t have that, you could be legally liable for any accidents, mishaps, or health emergencies that could arise.
If you’re providing care for someone, do you need to have CPR training? What about first aid training? If that’s a requirement, then you need to enroll in a course and become certified before you start elder care. Not all communities have the same requirements and few actually have set requirements when it comes to elderly home care. However, it’s a good idea to be sure before you set out to begin this kind of work.
What protections should you have for yourself?
If you’re going to be caring for someone in their home, find out if you should have any type of insurance or other protections. You should also be sure that the elderly patient has insurance on their home. If there is an accident and you are injured, if you don’t have insurance, would your medical bills be covered by the homeowner’s policy?
What about liability? What if you are trying to do something and accidentally knock over an expensive vase? Would you have to pay for that or would you be protected?
There are numerous legal aspects that are often overlooked when it comes to providing the best elder care for a patient. The more than you focus on protecting yourself, the more you’ll be able to focus on offering the elderly individual the ideal level of care that he or she needs.
When it comes to elder care, we often think about the patient first, and that’s the goal, but make sure that you are legally allowed to provide elderly home care to them and that you have the protection you need, in the event of an accident or mishap while on duty.
If you or an aging loved one needs elder care in the Fair Oaks, CA area, remember Senior Home Care Services for all services needed. Call us at (916) 514-7006 for more information.
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