Your Dedicated Nursing Home Neglect Attorney
When you are in need of an experienced Jackson law firm that will help you pursue a personal injury case against a Tennessee nursing home, feel free to get in touch with us for your free case assessment.
The Reality of Nursing Home Abuse: Profit Over Patients
When a nursing home accepts a new elderly resident, it also accepts a certain degree of responsibility. This is known as the duty of care. They have the responsibility of providing residents with a reasonable degree of care to protect them from injuries and abuse in a safe and appropriate environment.
There are times, however, when nursing homes resort to cutting corners to increase profit. They may hire employees without conducting background checks to determine if they are properly qualified or if they have a record of abuse or violence.
Some homes deliberately hire fewer employees than what is required for the facility. A low staff-to-resident ratio causes more work for staff members, putting residents at risk of neglect. Overworked employees tend to be more stressed out, which can lead to a loss of compassion and care for their residents, which can then lead to abuse and violence.
When this duty of care is not fulfilled, your loved one can become a victim. If this happens you are entitled to seek compensation for your loved one.
Of the 316 nursing homes in Tennessee, a disturbing 13% or 41 homes have been found with serious deficiencies.
Nursing Home Abuse Found in Nursing Homes
Physical signs of abuse can include unexplained bruises and cuts, torn or bloody clothing, sudden weight loss, and broken bones.
Sudden changes in behavior such as being angry, upset, withdrawn, or moody where there should be none, may indicate emotional and mental abuse such as intimidation, humiliation, and isolation from other residents or activities.
Other instances of abuse can include improper administration or even outright withdrawal of required medications, unsanitary living conditions, and financial exploitation.
Financial exploitation or abuse is the most common form of non-physical abuse of the elderly, usually in the form of misuse of the elder’s checks, accounts, credit cards, forged signatures, or unauthorized withdrawals or transfer of monies.
Signs of sexual abuse may include bruises or bleeding around the genital, anal region, venereal disease, or bloody undergarments.
If your loved one is a victim, they may be threatened into not telling you for fear of repercussions. Awareness of these signs of abuse can give you an advantage early on.
Our Nursing Home Negligence Attorneys’ Expertise
Morrison and Barnes Lawyers have vast experience in handling a diverse array of incidents that involve injury and death within a nursing home. These cases are categorized as abuse:
Nursing Home Neglect: Bed Sores and Infections
Signs of neglect, such as unsanitary conditions or advanced-stage pressure sores, can contribute to systemic infections or sepsis can be life-threatening when left untreated.
Bedsores and pressure ulcers are caused by patients who are left in a stationary position for long stretches of time, which indicates neglect. In advanced stages, these wounds could lead to pain and infection, or even death.
Nursing Home Neglect: Falls and Fractures
Falls typically account for 10% to 20% of injuries to elderly patients. Broken bones, concussions, and death are the grim results of these falls. The facility must assess each patient’s risk and make sure that safeguards are in place to prevent incidents such as these.
Fractured bones have a highly negative impact on elders, constant pain being one crucial factor. Surgical treatment alongside long-lasting medical care is the usual consequence.
Nursing Home Neglect and Abuse: Choking
Dysphagia, or difficulty in swallowing is quite common in elderly patients. When an elderly patient’s swallowing is not constantly monitored, they can either choke on their food or suffer aspiration pneumonia wherein food and even liquids go into the lungs.
Nursing Home Neglect: Malnutrition and Dehydration
When patients are deprived of an adequate amount of nutrients and fluids, weight loss can eventually lead to medical complications. Nursing home staff must be able to assess the patient’s condition so that malnutrition and dehydration are avoided.
Nursing Home Neglect: Elopement
Elopement usually involves a patient suffering from Alzheimer’s disease or dementia who leaves or wanders away from the home without the staff knowing about it. When injury results from this negligence, the nursing home can be liable.
Nursing Home Abuse: Sexual Assault
Very few facts are known regarding sexual abuse of the elderly in a nursing home. What is commonly known is these incidents usually involve patients who either cannot communicate verbally or are disabled. Disturbing sexual assault signs can include emotional distress, sexually transmitted diseases, or bloody and torn clothes.
Nursing Home Neglect: Errors Involving Medication
It is the responsibility of the staff to distribute patients’ medications. When patients are given the incorrect dose of their own medicine or even medication intended for another patient, the nursing home can be held liable.
Nursing Home Abuse: Untimely Death
If your loved one has become a victim of elderly abuse, your first immediate step is to file a report with the State Department of Health. You should supply pertinent information such as the name of the nursing home resident, what happened to the nursing home resident when the incident occurred, and the name and exact location of the facility.
Once this report is filed, an investigation will ensue, wherein state nursing home investigators or surveyors will be sent to the nursing facility in question. They will review a patient’s medical chart and interview staff members who may have information about a specific incident or episode of neglect/abuse.
A written report will then be issued so that the determination of a patient care violation can be substantiated or not. While these findings may be inadmissible in court as evidence, they can be made as a solid base for nursing home abuse lawsuits.
How Can Our Nursing Home Abuse & Neglect Attorneys Help You?
If all the legal elements prove that abuse has indeed been inflicted on your loved one, you may be entitled to compensation in the form of medical expenses, non-economic, and even punitive damages. Our primary goal is not only to recover damages for you but also to help in deterring other nursing homes from doing the same thing.
We are deeply committed to protecting the legal rights of elderly people in nursing homes. We are available to listen to you 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Feel free to call us for your complimentary case review of your legal rights and options. Get in touch with a personal injury lawyer today.
