Need to learn what legal options you have? Contact a nursing home negligence attorney.
When you make the decision to place a loved one in a nursing home, you expect the nursing home to take care of them. Unfortunately, that is not always the case.
If your loved one is hurt because the nursing home didn’t protect them or because of intentional harm, you can pursue a personal injury lawsuit. To learn where to begin, take a look below.
Know What Counts as Negligence and Abuse
The first step that you should take should be to educate yourself about what constitutes neglect and abuse in Florida. Abuse and negligence take many different forms, from active physical, sexual, and emotional abuse to everyday failures to provide care for nursing home residents.
Most commonly, neglect is not the result of one person’s actions but stems from systemic problems within a care facility—understaffed homes often cannot keep up the standard of care for their residents, which leads to injuries like the following:
- Broken bones, cuts, and bruises because of a lack of supervision
- Malnutrition and dehydration
- Infections from bedsores or unsanitary living conditions
Nursing home negligence can also result in the death of a resident when the facility does not provide adequate medical care.
Unfortunately, negligence and abuse do not always leave physical signs on the body. It is critical to your loved one’s safety to pay attention to not only their physical health but their mental and emotional health, too, especially if they suffer from a condition that prevents them from communicating effectively, like Alzheimer’s disease or dementia. If you notice a change in your loved one’s demeanor or mood, it may be time to start asking questions.
Know When a Nursing Home Can Be Held Liable
You can hold a care facility legally responsible for many different actions, intentional and unintentional, that harm your loved one. Whether the abuse or neglect arises from an individual employee or from specific policies that the nursing home has in place, you can still make sure that the law holds them responsible, at least financially.
For example, negligent hiring practices that lead to injury could be used against a nursing home in a civil case. Inadequate training practices also sometimes have dire consequences for residents of nursing homes. Care facilities are also responsible for keeping their premises free of hazards that could lead to an accident, as well as maintaining the health and cleanliness of their facilities and their residents.
If you decide to take legal action against your loved one’s care facility, you can pursue compensation for economic damages, like medical bills, and for noneconomic damages, like pain and suffering.
Contact a Nursing Home Negligence Attorney
If you think your loved one is the victim of abuse or neglect at the hands of their care facility, it’s time to take action. Get in touch with a nursing home negligence attorney at Pacin Levine Attorneys at Law today to discuss the details of your case.
