As the human body ages and becomes more susceptible to illnesses and injuries that were not previously common in a person’s youth, it can be difficult for the family members of the elderly to care for their needs and protect them from the things that may cause them harm. In the cases where an individual needs constant supervision or medical support, the expense of a home nurse may be unreasonable for the average family. For many people, the answer is to place their elderly loved one into the care of a nursing home facility.
For those families who are considering placing their elderly loved ones into a nursing home facility, it is critical that they do their research and examine all facets of the facility. Remember, the people who work at these nursing facilities will be around your loved one 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, so they need to understand how to care for them and what medical issues they need to be aware of.
When an individual is admitted to a nursing home, the expectation from the family and friends of the elderly resident is that the person will receive exceptional care on a personal and medical basis. Nursing home residents should be treated as they would in their own homes and receive the necessary medical treatment required by their physical or mental ailments.
If you are looking into admitting your loved one into a nursing facility, be sure to educate yourself about the potential options in your area. When you contact the nursing home, be aware of their response time and their willingness to communicate. If they do not have time to discuss your loved one’s care with you, how can you be sure they will have time to actually care for your family member.
Likewise, be careful when choosing a facility. Your family member’s life and health depend on making the right decision for their well-being. Researching the amenities of the potential facilities, looking up their ratings with such groups as the Better Business Bureau, and finding actual patient reviews online are great steps to ensure that you are making the right decision for your elderly loved one.
Finally, it is advisable to visit the facility prior to making any serious financial commitments or actually moving your loved one into the facility. Sometimes the brochure or what they say on the phone does not tell the entire truth behind a facility. If you are welcomed into the nursing home and given a full tour, be sure to look at the patients and ask questions. The more you know about the nursing home and its residents, the better off you and your loved one will be. Listen to your gut! If something seems off with the residents or staff members, it might be time to move on.
If nursing home residents are not provided with the proper care or necessities they require, the nursing home or the specific staff members caring for the elderly patients may be at risk of having a nursing home abuse lawsuit filed against them. No one deserves to be abused or neglected in any way, and when it happens, those responsible should be held liable.
At Gregory Spektor & Associates, our Queens, New York, nursing home negligence attorneys are here to provide legal advice and representation to any nursing home resident (or a family member) who has endured physical abuse, sexual abuse, or any other type of elder abuse or nursing home negligence.
Our New York personal injury lawyers have the knowledge, skills, and experience in the elder abuse legal practice area to fight for your rights as a victim and to get you the best possible outcome for your case. The nursing home abuse attorneys at Gregory Spektor & Associates work diligently to get nursing home abuse or neglect patients the compensation they deserve for their injuries.
Nursing home negligence is when the staff members working for a specific nursing home fail to meet the standard of care for the facility. These expectations are usually well-known and established, so there is no reason that any staff member at the nursing home would not be able to meet the expectations.
There may be issues with the hiring practices of the nursing home, a lack of staff training (especially in cases of specialized needs or medical concerns) by assisted living facilities, or understaffing. One of the main difficulties of identifying nursing home neglect is that even family members of residents at nursing homes may not be able to recognize when the neglect is happening.
There are many commonalities in cases of neglect in nursing homes.
These include:
In order to pursue a nursing home neglect case, the victim or the family needs to demonstrate that the injuries were sustained due to the direct nursing home negligence and the attendant’s failure to complete his or her job properly. The nursing home resident must also prove that the nursing home negligence injuries also resulted in economic or non-economic damages.
While some people use the terms nursing home negligence and nursing home abuse interchangeably, there is a clear difference between them. As described above, nursing home negligence deals with a staff member’s failure to meet the standard of care in the nursing home. On the other hand, nursing home abuse is much different.
Nursing home abuse deals with the intentional infliction of injury, intimidation, or punishment by a staff member at the facility that results in physical harm, pain, and/or mental suffering. In many cases, there are outside forces causing stress to the staff of the nursing home such as staff shortages and the requirement to work long hours. This stress is then unfortunately taken out on the nursing home residents.
Nursing home abuse can take several forms including physical abuse, emotional abuse, sexual abuse, financial abuse, and other situations. As a family member of a resident in a nursing home facility, it is important to be able to recognize signs of nursing home abuse and report it to the proper authorities. You may also have a legal case against the nursing home that is supposed to be caring for your loved one.
Unfortunately, nursing home abuse and neglect are quite common but are often underreported. It is critical, then, for family members to visit their elderly loved ones in nursing homes to ensure that they are being properly cared for and all of the medical needs are also met.
Those residents in long-term facilities, especially ones who have serious degenerative conditions such as dementia, are particularly susceptible to nursing home abuse and neglect because many of their family members do not visit them anymore.
Elder abuse takes many forms, and the victims residing in nursing homes who have had to endure this type of mistreatment deserve to fight for their rights and bring justice to the perpetrators of these heinous acts.
Injuries from nursing home abuse and neglect vary depending on the type of mistreatment. No form of elder abuse is ever ok, and some of the outward signs of the abuse can be difficult to spot. Not everything is as obvious as clear physical abuse may be.
Here are some signs to look for when it comes to specific types of nursing home and neglect:
Those who have had to endure physical abuse perpetrated by the staff members of nursing homes that are supposed to be caring for them in their twilight years may show certain physical and mental signs.
These include:
Recognizing these outward signs of physical abuse may save your loved one pain and suffering, and you may be able to file lawsuits against the nursing homes or their staff for the abuse.
When the nursing home abuse being suffered is psychological in nature, the signs may be more difficult to spot.
The most common symptoms include:
Visiting with patients of nursing homes will reveal when there is an issue with the psychological wellness of the residents. Though there may not be any physical trauma, the presence of elder abuse is no less real in these situations.
In cases of nursing home neglect, the staff member(s) responsible for the nursing home negligence may not be intentionally causing the distress or pain.
Some of the common symptoms to be aware of include:
The existence of nursing home neglect is still just as serious as physical abuse or any other type of nursing home abuse, and it is important to recognize when it is happening to your loved one.
Unfortunately, the elderly are no less susceptible to sexual abuse than anyone else. If your loved one is being sexually mistreated, there are some common warning signs to be aware of that nursing homes should also be able to recognize and figure out their underlying cause.
These include:
When your elderly family member is sexually abused by a staff member at their nursing home, it is critical to contact the authorities as well as a nursing home abuse attorney who can help you file a lawsuit against the offending nursing home and/or staff member.
No matter the age, everyone must always be concerned about their financial well-being. When people are in nursing homes, they may allow the facility to take care of their finances, especially when they have no outside family to maintain them. Sometimes, nursing homes or their staff take advantage of the residents’ reliance on them to monitor their financial well-being, and that may result in serious financial losses.
If you suspect that a nursing home or the staff may be participating in illegal financial activities with the money of residents, be aware of some signs that the residents may exhibit such as:
Financial abuse is just as legitimate a form of nursing home abuse as any other, and those who have engaged in the practice should be held legally accountable through lawsuits.
When residents of nursing homes are being mistreated, either nursing home abuse or neglect, it is critical that the situation is recognized as soon as possible and that the mistreatment is stopped to prevent further harm. The first step is to report the abuse or neglect of the nursing home to the proper authorities. This may be the facility administrators or the police.
Following the incident report, it is wise for the victim and his or her family to find legal representation. With a free consultation from an experienced nursing home neglect lawyer, you can determine if you might have a case against the nursing home and what can be done to remedy the situation.
Civil lawsuits can be filed against the nursing home, especially if the case clearly shows that the facility itself is liable for the injuries (or deaths) of its residents. If the residents can show that negligence or abuse took place at the nursing home and that they suffered direct harm as a result of the actions of the staff, a lawsuit can be filed. Your attorneys can then work to develop a solid legal strategy and fight for the compensation you deserve as a victim of nursing home neglect or abuse.
As with many other forms of personal injury, the types of compensation that may be possible for the victims depend largely on the type of abuse or neglect that was present and what types of economic or non-economic damages were incurred by the victims.
In a large majority of nursing home negligence cases, the victims were able to fight for compensation for medical bills, pain and suffering, and other direct financial losses they sustained because of the neglect. Suing a nursing home is also vital to demonstrate that the facility cannot get away with abuse simply because their residents are elderly. Everyone has the same rights to health and happiness, and the nursing home staff who take that away from the residents in their charge through forms of neglect and abuse deserve to be held liable.
If you or a loved one has experienced nursing home neglect or abuse, it is imperative that you contact an attorney who has experience in nursing home negligence law and can stand up to the facility responsible for the abuse.
When abuse and neglect cause serious injuries or even death to residents in an assisted living facility, the nursing home patients or their families deserve to fight for compensation and justice. At Gregory Spektor & Associates in New York City, you can talk to an experienced elder abuse attorney during a free consultation and explain your situation. Our legal team will discuss your circumstances with you to ensure we have all of the facts correct and then determine if you may be eligible to file a nursing home negligence lawsuit against the facility that harmed you or your loved one.
Our nursing home negligence lawyers have experience dealing with facilities like this and we understand how to demonstrate the potential threat that health and safety hazards present at the facility pose to the nursing home patients. Our law firm knows that serious harm can be sustained when negligence or abuse is allowed to continue, and the New York nursing home negligence lawyers at Gregory Spektor & Associates are determined to stop abuse in its tracks.
Each nursing home abuse lawyer at Gregory Spektor & Associates realizes that not all nursing homes are the same and many nursing home residents are well cared for. However, if your nursing facility has mistreated you or not provided you with the appropriate medical care you need, it is time to hold them responsible and work to get the financial compensation you deserve.
Contact us today for a free legal case review with an experienced attorney at Gregory Spektor & Associates.
