If you’re a loved one who has decided to take a senior member of your household to a retirement community, you need to make sure that the institution offers everything to make their stay worthwhile. You wouldn’t want that person to stay in a community or facility that lacks decent amenities and provides care that is beyond the bare minimum. Unfortunately, there are nursing homes that significantly fall short of the bare minimum.
You can’t always count on good marketing to give you an idea of the actual service a nursing home provides. Underneath the empathetic messaging and serene shots of neighborhoods and fitness facilities, it might not meet the standard care required of such establishments. Your loved one could be the victim of neglect, to which you have the right to demand compensation and hold the nursing home liable. Here’s how you can start and win a nursing home negligence case to give your elder family member justice.
1. Know what negligence entails
First off, you need to understand the nature of negligence so you will know what legal steps to take as you pursue compensation. With nursing homes being expected by law to assume a duty of care to their clients, they could be held liable for negligence if they fail to provide even the most basic yet critical needs of patients. This may include overlooking medication schedules and failing to respond immediately to emergencies such as falls.
Nursing homes are also responsible for caring for the social and mental wellness of their patients. Negligence could take the form of keeping elders indoors for long periods and without any social interaction, as well as ignoring their personal hygiene needs. If your elderly family member has experienced all these and more, then you may want to consider filing legal action.
2. Gather evidence that matters the most
Much like taking any other legal action, demanding liability for nursing home negligence requires proof showing that the facility failed to provide proper care and, in doing so, made your loved one’s physical and mental condition worse. For this, it matters to have your loved one undergo checkups for injuries that may not have healed properly and other conditions that could indicate neglect.
You may have to get a medical professional to weigh in on these details and make a confirmation. To corroborate this evidence, consider reaching out to the families of other elders in the nursing home and asking them if they also suspect that their loved ones are being neglected. On top of this, make sure to record or save correspondences such as emails and chats with nursing home officials.
3. Get a good lawyer specializing in such a case
Even with such a wealth of evidence, you may not get the kind of outcome you would expect if you’re getting a generalist lawyer by your side. You will have a better chance at winning a compensation amount that’s more than enough to cover the damages and injuries your elderly loved one has suffered if you get a lawyer focusing on this field.
Consider a legal expert who has had a long history of winning nursing home settlements that cover not just medical bills but also non-economic damages and punitive costs against the nursing home.
4. Stay focused on your goals
As your negligence lawsuit builds momentum, you will need to make sure you’re still on the right track by staying organized and consulting with your attorney on what to do and say. The other side will try their best to derail your case by offering to settle at an amount that’s significantly lower than what your attorney has estimated.
Be sure to limit your online activity. You may not know if the other party is observing your social media interactions and content, especially photos of your elderly loved one, for details they could use against you to justify a lower compensation amount.
Endnote
Your loved one could be a victim of nursing home neglect, but you have the legal means to help them recover from their ordeal and attain justice.
