How to prove nursing home negligence in New York
Brandon J. Broderick, Personal Injury Attorney at Law
We put a lot of faith in nursing homes and the care they can provide for our loved ones. With such trust comes the duty, both morally and legally, to treat nursing home patients professionally, with an emphasis on their safety and wellbeing, in addition to dignity and kindness. Unfortunately, there are instances where staff at nursing homes breach their legal obligations, are negligent and contribute to the mistreatment or death of our loved ones. In these cases, you may be entitled to compensation.
If you're in a situation like this, consider speaking with a?personal injury lawyer?with experience in handling nursing home abuse cases in New York.?Brandon J. Broderick, Attorney at Law?can assist you.
Signs That Nursing Home Neglect May Be Occurring
A sudden occurrence, like a fall or a stroke, can commonly lead to the decision to place a loved one in a nursing home. In other situations, a loved one's health may have gotten worse over time as a result of a chronic illness, a crippling injury, or other illnesses. While in the care of nursing home staff, there are?several indicators?of potential?nursing home neglect?that family members can keep an eye out for. These include:
Bruises and Injuries From Falls
Nursing home residents may be more prone to stand up on their own and have a slip and fall accident if personnel ignore their requests for help. Insufficient staffing or, in the worst circumstances, abuse may be the cause of nursing staff inattentiveness.
Bedsores
Nursing home patients frequently develop bedsores, sometimes known as "pressure injuries," despite the fact that they are clinically preventable. Bedsores are wounds that form as a result of persistent pressure on the skin; they can become highly dangerous infections and even result in fatalities. As a result of the patient's inability to move, roll over, or get out of bed, bedsores frequently develop as a result of their prolonged immobility. As a result, the patient relies on the nursing staff to carry out those duties. Bedsores may be an indication of?nursing home neglect?if the staff is not providing the patient with proper care.
Weight Loss
Facilities with a lack of staff may have trouble regularly feeding and administering medications to all of the residents, including your loved one.?Malnutrition, nutritional deficits, and other issues resulting from not receiving their meds regularly can result from this.
A contributing factor to nursing home neglect is?understaffing, which exposes patients to considerable health hazards and leaves them more vulnerable. According to federal statistics, up to 90% of nursing homes in this nation are understaffed.
Proving Nursing Home Neglect
There are four important components of any negligence claim: duty of care, breach of that duty, causation, and damages. You must be able to demonstrate these components to prove a nursing home neglect claim and win.
Duty of Care
Having a legal responsibility that the defendant owes you is the first requirement for proving negligence. Generally, it is obvious that a nursing home has a legal obligation to provide you or a loved one with reasonable and proper care.
领英推荐
Breach of Care
By failing to take the actions that a prudent nursing home facility would have taken in the same situation, the nursing home violated its duty in this aspect of negligence. A clear breach of care may have occurred if the nursing home disregarded safety procedures or other rules.
Causation
Causation means you need to be able to prove that the injuries suffered by the patient were due to the breach of care. The events leading up to the incident were brought on by a nursing home with inadequate staffing or a lack of safety measures, thus showing their negligence.
Damages?
Damages frequently take the form of medical expenses and future medical treatment that may be anticipated. Non-economic damages, such as pain and suffering, are also recoverable. Alternatively, a wrongful death lawsuit can include extra damages like burial costs, lost companionship, and other recompense for your loss in the event of a death.
Nursing Home Settlements
Nursing home lawsuit settlements take place when a nursing home care facility agrees to give a victim of nursing home abuse or their family compensation. The victim or family member accepts and agrees to not file a lawsuit in return. Depending on a number of variables, settlement amounts can vary, but can go beyond $1 million. Settlements in nursing home lawsuits may make it possible for victims and their families to receive funds more quickly than if the case went to trial.
Health Affairs?reports?that the average nursing home abuse settlement is just over $405,000 in the United States.
In a settlement, the victim is compensated for:
If settlement offers are not made, cases involving allegations of nursing home abuse may be heard by a judge or jury. However, settlements are usually the route taken since they take less time and aren't as risky as going to trial. In fact,?Black's Law Dictionary?states that settlements are reached in around 95% of personal injury cases.
Having an experienced attorney to represent you can aid you greatly in getting fair compensation.
Factors Determining Nursing Home Abuse Settlements