Nursing Home Abuse

Your Loved One Deserves Justice for the Abuse They’ve Endured

Nursing Home Abuse Lawyers

The choice to put an aging loved one in an assisted living facility is never an easy one. If your relative is being abused or neglected, you may feel helpless and angry over the pain and suffering they have been subjected to. Contact a New Orleans nursing home abuse attorney today to ensure the guilty parties are held accountable for their actions.

When Is a Nursing Home Liable for Abuse or Neglect?

If a nursing home is found to have acted negligently in the care of your loved one, there are several different ways they may be found liable.

Breach of Regulatory or Statutory Rights

Nursing home residents are entitled to dignity, autonomy, and respect. If these rights are breached, the nursing home may be liable, and the family has the right to sue for damages.

Medical Errors of Mistakes with Medication

Nursing homes are required to properly administer any necessary medications to the patient to ensure their continued health and safety. The facility may be responsible if they fail to do so.

Inadequate Nursing Home Training

In some instances, nursing home staff members don’t receive proper training to for work in the facility. This may mean they provide insufficient care to residents, which can also lead to neglect, injury, or death.

Understaffing

If a nursing home does not have the resources to provide adequate staff for the facility, overworked employees can also feel the effects of increased hours and demands on their work schedule. In turn, residents may receive unacceptable care, or no care at all.

Negligent Hiring

If a member of the facility’s staff is not thoroughly screened for criminal history or past abuse, the home may also be liable for hiring the employee if they neglect or abuse a patient.

Third-Party Responsibility Claim

Nursing homes are also required to provide residents protection from injury by other residents. A third-party responsibility claim holds the home liable when a patient is injured while in its care by an individual that is not employed by the facility.

Types of Nursing Home Abuse

When you make the heart-wrenching decision to place your loved one in a nursing home, you have a reasonable expectation that they will receive care and dignified and respectful treatment. Sadly, this is not always the case.

Physical Abuse

This refers to harm done to the patient’s body. The law doesn’t limit physical abuse to battery, as it also refers to over medication, the use of unnecessary force or restraints, and force feeding. This may include bedsores, bruises, scratches or other types of injuries associated with improper care and abuse.

Emotional or Verbal Abuse

This type of abuse covers a broad range of behaviors. Mental abuse may come in the form of manipulation, isolation, sarcasm, hurtful language, or insults. This is an extremely damaging type of abuse, as it is not only harmful to the patient’s mental wellbeing and self-esteem, but it can cause the patient to act against their own needs in the interest of placating their cruel caretaker to avoid further abuse.

Sexual Abuse

One of the most disturbing forms of abuse is sexual abuse of the elderly. It can occur when a resident is forced or tricked into a sexual encounter, or when the resident cannot refuse. The resident may be completely unaware of what is taking place or may feel too ashamed to admit the abuse to a trusted person. Unwanted sexual contact can come from a staff member, a caretaker, or another resident. A nursing home abuse attorney can help today.

Financial Abuse

Financial abuse usually takes the form of misappropriating a patient’s funds. The person in charge of handling the resident’s finances may use the money for their own benefit or use it to pay fraudulent charges from the nursing home. Any financial abuse is grounds for a claim against the nursing home.

Neglect

Neglect refers to the failure of a senior’s caretaker to provide them with the attention and the care expected from a person in their position. It can cause serious physical and emotional trauma to the patient. The family also has the right to sue after their loved one neglected in an assisted living situation.

SERVING THE STATE OF LOUISIANA

Contact a New Orleans Nursing Home Abuse Attorney

Mike Brandner Law cares about every client, but we are especially passionate about holding accountable those who abuse vulnerable populations. Our firm shows compassion when fighting for the rights of your senior loved one. No family should endure nursing home abuse. If you and your loved ones have suffered, take the first step toward justice today by calling us at (504) 345-1111.