When you place your loved one in a nursing home you expect them to receive the care and respect they deserve. Unfortunately, this is not always the case. Nursing home abuse is a serious issue, and it’s time to take action. Nursing home abuse can happen for many reasons, but the most common cause of nursing home abuse is neglect. Many elders experience this type of injury in long-term care facilities without knowing they have been wronged until it’s too late. Nursing homes have an obligation to provide adequate care for their patients at all times, and when that doesn’t happen, there are legal consequences.
In this article, we will discuss how you can help your loved ones by hiring a Nursing Home Abuse Lawyer from our firm here at Altman-Nussbaum-Shunnarah Trial Attorneys.
- How Does A Nursing Home Abuse Lawyer Help?
- What Will You Be Compensated For After A Motorcycle Accident?
- Financial Abuse
- Physical Abuse
- Emotional Abuse
- Abandonment And Neglect
- Sexual Abuse
- Frequently Asked Questions About Nursing Home Abuse
- Let Us Go To War To Fight For Your Loved Ones
How Does A Nursing Home Abuse Lawyer Help?
Compassionate attorneys specializing in nursing home abuse can help you obtain legal compensation for your injuries. Lawyers handling nursing home abuse cases take on a lot of the work associated with these proceedings. The following are some of the ways that an attorney can assist: collecting information, filing your claim, lessening your stress, helping you through discovery, settling your case.
Medical records, photographs, and other evidence and information may be collected by your lawyer to build a successful case. As soon as all the facts are collected, your lawyer can build the strongest possible case for you.
If you plan to file a legal claim, you need to do so correctly. The wrong paperwork can delay your case or cost you money and time. You are also prohibited from bringing a nursing home abuse lawsuit (or any lawsuit) after a certain deadline (usually within 3 years) under laws called statutes of limitations. Your claim can be filed on time with the help of an attorney.
In the discovery phase of a case, both legal teams ask for additional information about the case from each other. To strengthen your case, your nursing home neglect lawyers will gather statements, records, and other types of evidence from those being sued.
It is common for elder abuse cases to settle before going to trial. When a settlement is reached, you receive payment. An attorney for nursing home abuse can represent you in court if you cannot reach an agreement on a settlement.
During the legal process, nursing homes will employ their own lawyers and use their financial resources. An experienced nursing home abuse attorney can provide the victims with the help, protection, and peace of mind they deserve.
What Is The Most Common Type Of Nursing Home Abuse?
Elderly Abuse is classified into five major categories by the Center for Disease Control: emotional abuse, physical abuse, abandonment and neglect, sexual abuse, and financial abuse. These acts may be done by a nursing home employee or even some nursing home staff members that are not immediate caretakers.
Financial Abuse can occur when a nursing home caregiver misuse, steals, or improperly distributes an elder’s assets or funds. Forgery, misuse or theft, improper usage of guardianship privileges, coercion or deception to surrender their assets, and are all examples of financial abuse.
Physical AbusePhysical abuse means using physical force against an elderly person to cause distress, pain, impairment, or injury. The act of physical abuse can be easily defined as when a nursing home caregiver hits, chokes, slaps, burns, kicks, shakes, or suffocates a nursing home resident.
Emotional AbuseEmotional abuse, or mental abuse, is also common, but often overlooked. Elderly people can suffer from this type of abuse by nonverbal or verbal behaviors that cause them distress, fear, or mental anguish. This type of abuse involves controlling a senior’s access to resources, isolating them from a family member or from friends, threatening them, and humiliating them.
Abandonment and neglect refer to the failure of a nursing home caregiver to provide the necessary care to an elderly person in their premises. It may involve avoiding medication, hygiene, exercise, water, or food, or failing to protect the elderly from harm. In addition, another example may also be caretakers leaving elderly people in nursing homes or public places.
Sexual AbuseA caregiver who has forced, coerced, or unwanted sexual contact with an elderly person is engaging in sexual abuse. An elderly person can also be sexually abused when they are too weak to consent. All forms of sexual abuse include unwanted touching, penetration, and attempted sexual assault.
Frequently Asked Questions About Nursing Home Abuse
A long period of time can go by without nursing home neglect or abuse is noticed. An abusive caregiver can hide the signs of neglect or injuries before a visit and limit a family’s access to them. Older people may not be able to express what has happened to them, or they may feel ashamed of what has happened to them.
Elder abuse can manifest in various physical and psychological ways.
Poor Sleeping Conditions & Bed Sores
Physically untidy
Bruises and fractures
Mood swings
Abrasions and cuts
Dehydration symptoms (dry skin, dark urine, fatigue, sunken eyes, and rapid breathing)
Sudden emotional outbursts
Caregivers who are on-call all the time and won’t let the family see their loved one alone
Frequently infected and open wounds
Unexpected weight loss
Poor hygiene (foul smells, unclean hair and skin, and soiled clothing)
Keeping quiet and refusing to speak
Refusing to eat
Resisting medication intake
Changing mental health conditions
Unexplained loss of assets and missing funds
Signs of nursing home abuse can be difficult in some cases, such as sexual assault and financial abuse. If you think an elder has suffered abuse, look for immediate signs of abuse like little cuts and bruises. Be sure to alert the nursing home supervisor if you notice any of these signs. As soon as you know that your elderly loved one has been abused, get in touch with an elder abuse attorney and ask for professional medical advice if they sustained serious injuries.
Nursing home negligence and abuse impacts residents safety, health, and overall wellbeing. Every year, assisted living facilities in the United States care for millions of elderly people. Unfortunately, it is often difficult to detect and prosecute abuse within a facility.
Abusers often hide the elderly person’s injuries from their family members or supervisors. An elderly person can also be intimidated into keeping quiet about abuse by their abusers. Elderly individuals suffering from a condition like Alzheimer’s disease or dementia may not be able to remember and tell someone that they are being abused. Due to this, abuse of elders often goes unreported.
Nursing home patients are safe in a professional and skilled nursing facility. However, elder abuse is a widespread problem in these institutions. Finding out if your loved one has been abused or neglected at the nursing home can help you seek help.
Working with a general lawyer is not usually sufficient to file a lawsuit alleging nursing home abuse. Nursing home abuse is best handled by an attorney who has experience handling such cases. An experienced nursing home abuse lawyer can help you get the most out of your compensation.
Find out the key factors that all outstanding nursing home abuse lawyers share by reading below.
Legal Costs
Legal representation from the best nursing home abuse attorneys is contingency-based, so you will not be required to pay any money upfront. Lawyers handle settlements and trial awards by taking a percentage of the award. When a lawsuit fails, the lawyer does not earn a payment.
In some cases, lawyers require an upfront payment. Typically, they charge by the hour or by the project. It is very risky to work with these lawyers since you need to pay them even if they cannot bring you any money.
In some cases, working with a lawyer who doesn’t operate on a contingent fee basis may result in you losing money.
Expertise
In nursing home abuse litigation, the experience can make a world of difference. It’s ideal that you hire a nursing home abuse lawyer who has handled numerous cases successfully over the years. Ask the lawyer about their experience when speaking to them.
You may want to ask an attorney the following questions:
Do you have experience handling this kind of case?
How often do you succeed?
Are your former clients likely to recommend you?
Attorney-Client Relationship
It can be embarrassing for victims of nursing home abuse to disclose details of their mistreatment due to the sensitive nature of their cases. The person you choose for your case should be trustworthy and make you feel comfortable. You should keep in mind that a competent lawyer will gladly answer any questions you may have and will be able to help you fight for what you deserve.
Personal injury lawyers include nursing home attorneys as part of their practice. Basically, they help elders who have been abused while living in a long-term care facility or assisted living facility. Lawyers who represent victims of nursing home abuse and neglect devote a great deal of their time and effort to building strong cases. In this way, they may be better equipped to help elder abuse victims than general personal injury lawyers.
The following services can be provided by a nursing home abuse attorney:
Build a strong case using detailed information
Encourage elderly nursing home residents to take action against their abusive caregivers and facilities
Taking advantage of their legal services to obtain compensation
Those who suffer from nursing home abuse can experience long-term psychological and physical issues. Sadly, severe cases of abuse can even result in the wrongful death of a resident, leaving their families with heavy financial burdens and grief.
Your family can hire a nursing home abuse lawyer to obtain compensation for medical bills, and medical treatment costs, as well as hold the facility and its staff legally accountable. Get a free legal case review to see if you qualify for working with a lawyer.
A Nursing home abuse claim falls under personal injury law. Typically personal injury law firms work on a contingency-fee-basis. This means the lawyer will take your case with no upfront fees. The lawyers will work hard for a fair settlement for the victims of abuse and hold the nursing home accountable for their actions. Once you have won compensation, then a percentage will be charged for legal counsel.
Altman-Nussbaum-Shunnarah Injury Lawyers has Nursing Home Abuse Lawyers that has been practicing law for years, dedicated to representing those who have suffered from nursing home abuse.
Nursing home facilities have a responsibility to provide adequate level of care for their patients at all times, and they should be held accountable when that doesn’t happen. At Shunnarah Trial Attorneys we will fight on your behalf and make sure you receive financial compensation you deserve from the negligent facilities.
Let us handle the legal action of your Nursing Home Abuse case so you can focus on the important things in life. We know how important it is to keep our elders safe during their golden years, and we will do everything in our power to help you.
Let Us Go To War To Fight For Your Loved Ones
Long-term care facilities have a legal obligation to keep residents safe and cared for. The residents living in a nursing home are some of the most vulnerable adults who rely on others for thier basic needs. Sadly abuse in nursing homes happens too often, and an elder person you know could be experiencing this without anyone else knowing. Know the common warning signs, and immediately contact an experienced attorney if you suspect your loved one is a victim of nursing home abuse or neglect.
If you are not sure what to look for when assessing whether or not there might have been neglectful behavior on behalf of the staff at their healthcare facility, here are some warning signs that indicate they may need help from attorneys specializing in nursing home abuse cases: unexplained injury; lack of responsiveness; sudden weight changes; fearfulness towards caregivers; suspicious bruises or injuries after returning from visits with family members. These common signs should raise red flags indicating something isn’t right.
Hiring a Nursing Home Abuse Lawyer to look over the patient’s case will ensure the legal rights of our loved elderly will be protected. Altman-Nussbaum-Shunnarah Trial Attorneys is here for you, so don’t hesitate and contact us today for a free case review. Let’s discuss your legal options.