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People who live in nursing homes often totally rely on their nurses and caretakers for assistance with daily living and medical care. This level of reliance makes them vulnerable to negligence and mistreatment. Your loved one has the right to expect a high level of care from nursing home staff members. When nursing homes fail in providing the expected standard of care to residents, nurses and facilities can be held liable for the injuries and worsening illnesses that result. Hiring Reno nursing home abuse lawyer Stephen Osborne can help ensure nursing homes are held accountable for negligence and abuse, make sure your loved one receives compensation for his or her losses, and prevent others from enduring needless pain and suffering. Call our trusted personal injury law firm today to learn more.
The elderly are vulnerable to nursing home negligence and intentional mistreatment that can cause severe injuries and life-threatening illnesses. Understanding the types of nursing home abuse and neglect, and recognizing the signs of nursing home abuse, can help you protect your loved ones living in nursing homes and long-term care facilities.
Nursing home residents may suffer physical abuse through negligence or intentional actions. They may suffer punching, slapping, twisting, or pinching at the hands of a caregiver or another resident. Caretakers’ negligence can lead to falls, bedsores, infections, choking, and other physical injuries. The medical staff may commit medical malpractice that can lead to injuries, worsening illnesses, or even wrongful death.
Sexual abuse is a serious threat to nursing home residents. Those with advanced dementia may not have the ability to communicate the abuse to their families. Sexually transmitted infections, unexplained cuts or bruises, bleeding in the genital area, and extreme fear of a staff member or fellow resident are signs of sexual abuse.
Personality changes, loss of interest in activities, withdrawal from staff or other residents, or worsening depression, among other things, can be signs of emotional abuse. Verbal and emotional abuse can be extremely damaging to elderly nursing home residents, since they are already subject to loneliness and a heightened risk of depression.
The elderly may become victims of abandonment. Abandonment occurs when those responsible for the care of the elderly desert them in a hospital, nursing home, or other public location. Nursing home employees may abandon a resident by failing to check on them or care for them regularly.
Many nursing home residents rely on caretakers to move them from their rooms to other areas in the facility, such as common rooms, activities, and the dining room. When residents are left isolated in their rooms too often, they can become lonely and suffer severe mental and emotional problems.
Caretakers at nursing homes may have access to elderly residents’ possessions and information. They may take advantage of this by stealing money or credit cards. You should be suspicious if your loved one is missing cash, or you notice new or strange spending patterns in his or her bank account.
Reno nursing home abuse attorney Stephen H. Osborne can help you protect your family and recover damages for any abuse they suffer.
Victims can file a lawsuit with the help of a nursing home abuse lawyer if they suspect nursing home negligence or abuse. With a nursing home abuse lawsuit, victims can recover economic damages and possibly deter the facility from future abusive behavior.
Victims of nursing home negligence or abuse may recover the financial losses they incur due to the abuse or neglect. These damages may include medical bills arising from the abuse, recovery of stolen money, or the lost wages of family members who missed work to help their abused family members. Your nursing home abuse lawyer can determine the amount of economic damages if you have accurate records of the expenses incurred due to the abuse. If your nursing home abuse attorney proves abuse, these damages should be easy to recover.
Victims may also recover non-economic damages. Non-economic damages usually consist of compensation for pain or suffering the victims suffered due to the nursing home staff’s negligence or abuse. The value of non-economic damages is difficult to determine. Your nursing home abuse lawyer will use your economic damages as a basis for estimating the value of your loved one’s non-economic damages. To recover for pain and suffering, your nursing home abuse attorney must gather enough evidence to accurately convey what your loved one has endured to a jury.
Punitive damages are sometimes awarded as a punishment for the wrongdoer’s actions. The amount of punitive damages your loved one may receive has nothing to do with the victim’s economic loss. Instead, when a nursing home facility and its staff are guilty of especially reckless or intentional behavior that causes harm to its residents, the court may determine that punitive damages are appropriate to discourage them from committing similar acts. Punitive damages are often larger for bigger, more prosperous facilities and those that have committed heinous acts.
If you notice signs of abuse or neglect, or your loved one makes allegations of abuse, you should take the situation seriously. You should investigate claims of abuse, even if the staff attempts to explain them away. If you are not satisfied with the nursing home’s response to your investigation, you should call Reno nursing home abuse lawyer Stephen H. Osborne. He can help you investigate your loved one’s treatment and file a nursing home abuse lawsuit, if necessary.