Orlando Nursing Home Neglect Lawyers
When you entrust the care of an elderly loved one to a nursing home, you want them to receive the best care possible. Unfortunately, however, many of the large corporations that own and operate nursing homes and assisted living facilities put profits over people and do not provide the quality care you expect.
Recent research has suggested that approximately 90 percent of U.S. nursing homes are in fact understaffed, a condition that results in instances of neglect ranging from forgetting to provide necessary care and treatment to careless, abusive lifting, hitting, and moving of patients. Sadly, an estimated 2.1 million U.S. seniors are victims of nursing home abuse or negligence each year.
The Orlando nursing home neglect attorneys at Warner & Warner formerly spent years defending nursing homes, so they know the tactics nursing homes use to fight lawsuits. After choosing to fight for plaintiffs’ rights instead, they now have decades of experience suing those same nursing homes and winning cases for their clients. Their experience and knowledge can help you hold the nursing home or assisted living facility where your loved one was neglected accountable and help you obtain the justice you deserve.
Recognizing the Signs of Nursing Home Negligence
Nursing home neglect can range from staff forgetting or not having time to provide necessary care and treatment to careless, abusive lifting, hitting, and moving of patients. Certainly, all types of neglect can result in injury and suffering, but in the nursing home setting, the threat of serious injury is compounded by the fact that many victims cannot communicate well enough to tell family members about their suffering, so the abusive neglect can go unnoticed, often until it is too late to help the patient recover.
Recognizing the signs of neglect is, therefore, essential. These signs include:
- Dehydration
- Malnutrition
- Bed sores and other skin conditions
- Broken bones
- Unexplained or frequently occurring bruises and cuts
- Continual sedation
- Poor personal hygiene
- Unsanitary conditions
- Decreased mobility
Changes in behavior, such as having a fearful demeanor, acting depressed or angry, or frequent rocking, mumbling, or sucking behaviors can also be signs of neglect or abuse.
Florida Nursing Home Negligence Lawsuits
If a family member has been injured due to negligence at a nursing home, you may be able to file a civil suit against the nursing home and recover damages for your loved one’s pain, suffering, medical expenses, and other damages recoverable under Florida law. The grounds for such a lawsuit might be:
- Negligent Hiring: Nursing homes have an obligation to hire qualified personnel with the requisite academic degrees for the positions for which they are hired and no record of abuse or violence. If a nursing home hires its employees without conducting background checks, they are putting their patients at risk and can be held liable for negligence.
- Inadequate Training: In some cases, nursing home employees are not properly trained to handle disabled or disobedient residents, so they may provide substandard care. If inadequate staff training results in a patient being seriously injured, the nursing home can be held liable.
- Understaffing: The average nursing home staff to patient ratio is 1 staff member to every 1.64 patients; however, many facilities need more than the average number of staff members because their patients require extensive care. If a nursing home is understaffed, patients may be neglected because there is no one available to care for them or because staff members are overworked and stressed. If a patient suffers an injury due to understaffing, the nursing home can be held liable for the injury.
- Medication Errors: Medications are a necessary part of care for most nursing home residents. If they are not given the proper medication or proper dosage, they could suffer serious consequences. When this happens, the healthcare provider, pharmacy, or pharmacist can be held liable for negligence.
- Third-Party Responsibility: Nursing homes can also be held liable for injuries caused by third parties within the facility because they have a duty to provide a safe environment for their patients. For instance, if a patient is injured by another patient or a guest at the facility, the nursing home is legally responsible if they failed to provide adequate security to prevent such an incident.
Getting expert legal advice from an experienced nursing home negligence lawyer is important when a loved one has been injured due to negligent nursing home care. The skilled attorneys of Warner & Warner will help you understand your legal rights and do everything possible to hold the responsible parties accountable.
Why Choosing an Experienced Orlando Nursing Home Negligence Lawyer Matters
Many lawyers have little or no experience suing nursing homes, yet advertise they do. Therefore, when choosing a lawyer to sue a nursing home, you need to be careful and ask about their experience. Look for an attorney with knowledge of the tactics nursing homes use to defend themselves and a track record of success in suing nursing homes.
The nursing home negligence attorneys at Warner & Warner have decades of experience defending and suing nursing homes, whereas not many lawyers can honestly make that claim. Our Orlando nursing home lawyers have, in fact, handled hundreds of nursing home cases in Florida and California and know how to successfully challenge the huge companies that own and control nursing homes.
If a family member has been injured due to negligence at a nursing home, please get the legal help you need to hold the negligent parties accountable by calling Warner & Warner at 321.972.1889 or submitting the “Do I Have a Case?” form on our website.
Sources
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. (30 Nov. 2018). CMS strengthens nursing home oversight and safety to ensure adequate staffing.
https://www.cms.gov/newsroom/press-releases/cms-strengthens-nursing-home-oversight-and-safety-ensure-adequate-staffing
Florida Health Care Association. (2017). Facts about long term care in Florida.
http://www.fhca.org/media_center/long_term_health_care_facts