Each nursing home and assisted living facility resident has the right to be safe from abuse and neglect. Staying informed about these issues and knowing how to respond when we suspect they may happen can protect nursing home residents and keep the long-term care system in check.
Nursing home elder abuse is any intentional act that aims to harm a resident. Here is how to recognize it and report elder abuse.
The signs of nursing home abuse include unexplained injuries, such as bruises, cuts, or fractures, sudden changes in mood or behavior, and withdrawal from activities and social life. Financial exploitation can show through unexpected changes in finances or missing personal items.
If you notice these signs, act quickly — speaking up can protect your family members and prevent further abuse.
Nursing home residents can suffer several forms of elder abuse, sometimes occurring at the same time:
You can report abuse and seek support through several routes:
Contact your state-specific services to report suspected abuse confidentially. Taking action promptly can protect the resident from further harm. Call a law firm for additional assistance in holding facilities liable.
Nursing home abuse victims and their families can file a personal injury lawsuit against the nursing facility, seeking compensation for emotional or physical harm. Family members can also hire a law firm to pursue wrongful death claims if abuse leads to a resident’s passing. Additionally, victims may be eligible for punitive damages to hold the facility accountable.
Yes, you can sue a nursing facility for abuse if there’s evidence of negligence or intentional harm by staff or management. A law firm can help you obtain evidence.
Contact nursing home abuse attorneys for a free case consultation. After the consultation, the process looks like this:
Many nursing facility abuse lawyers work on a contingency basis, meaning you only pay the attorney fee if they win your case. The attorney fees are calculated as a percentage of your financial compensation, often between 30% and 40%. Before hiring an attorney, always clarify the fee structure and ask about additional expenses such as expert consultations.
Your financial compensation can include medical expenses, pain and suffering, relocation costs, and sometimes punitive damages. In wrongful death claims, you can also recover damages for funeral expenses, loss of financial support, and loss of companionship and emotional distress.
If you suspect abuse and believe a resident is in immediate danger, call 911. In other cases, you can do the following:
Nursing home abuse cases are complex, and you usually need a personal injury attorney to guide you through the process and protect your loved one’s rights.
Your parent’s well-being is your top priority. If you suspect they are in an unsafe or abusive situation, you can file a formal complaint to have them relocated. However, moving them to a new facility can be damaging if they are not directly affected. If unsure, speak with their care team, consult a lawyer, or call a nursing home hotline to evaluate the situation.
Yes. The statute of limitations for filing a nursing home claim varies by state. In most cases, it is between one and three years from the date of injury or its discovery.
Nursing facilities have a legal and ethical responsibility to prevent abuse by:
They can be held liable if they fail to fulfill their obligations, which results in harm.
Every nursing home employee is legally required to report observed or suspected abuse and neglect. If you’re worried about retaliation, know that the Nursing Home Care Act legally protects you. If you have suffered consequences for speaking out, you can file a lawsuit against the facility by contacting a nursing home lawyer.
All residents have the right to a safe and respectful environment, medical care, proper nutrition, and freedom from elder abuse and neglect. Unfortunately, their rights aren’t always respected in a nursing home setting.
Neglect in nursing facilities happens when employees fail to provide adequate care to residents, which results in harm or potential harm. Such cases are common in understaffed nursing homes where employees struggle to provide basic residential care, such as:
Neglect involves failing to provide necessary care, such as food, medical attention, or safety, while abuse is intentional harm, including physical, emotional, sexual, or financial mistreatment. Both can cause significant harm, but neglect is often more passive.
The signs of nursing home neglect include:
Although it can cause serious harm and pain, neglect can be unintentional. It’s often a result of staff shortages, poorly qualified or trained staff, or inadequate supervision.
The consequences of nursing home neglect can be severe, leading to physical injuries like falls resulting in broken bones, pressure ulcers or malnutrition, infections, and even death. Victims may experience a decline in physical, cognitive, and mental health, loss of dignity, and emotional distress.
You’ll need strong proof of nursing home negligence if you want to take legal action. An attorney can help you collect:
Multiple parties can be held liable for nursing home neglect or abuse. These include the nursing facility, employees such as aides and nurses, the facility’s management, or third-party contractors such as medical professionals.
If you suspect your loved one is suffering neglect in a nursing home setting, you can take action to protect them. Start by gathering evidence of neglect and then report the neglect to management. If unsatisfied with the outcome, contact APS or your state’s long-term care ombudsman.
You can also move your family member to another facility and contact a personal injury law firm for help.
Understaffing can be considered neglect, as long-term care or assisted living facilities fail to hire enough staff to provide proper resident care. Understaffing is a key factor in many neglect cases.
It’s good to ask as many questions about the nursing home as possible. You can start with the following:
Abuse or neglect are the main reasons for nursing home litigation, as they often result in injuries, reduced mobility, poor health, disability, and even death.
The most common types of nursing home injuries are:
Falls are caused by various factors, including understaffing, failure to implement a fall prevention plan, an unsafe nursing home area, medications, certain health conditions, and improper mobility aids such as wheelchairs and walkers. A lack of assistive devices, such as grab bars and fall mats, can also contribute to falls.
Falls can be prevented by ensuring adequate supervision and training, sufficient staff, and an environment free from accident hazards. Nursing homes should also implement fall prevention plans for high-risk residents.
Bed sores can appear as slightly reddish bruises at first and may be less visible on darker skin tones. In stage two, they become an open wound that affects the first two layers of the skin. In stage three, the wound penetrates deeper into the subcutaneous fat, while stage four pressure ulcers reveal muscles, tendons, and bones,
Besides the pain, discomfort, and social isolation the residents suffer, untreated bed sores can be life-threatening. As open wounds, they can lead to infections, sepsis, septic shock, and death.
Many regulations and healthcare standards aim to prevent medication errors, and nursing homes are required to comply. This includes clear labeling, keeping expired and unexpired medications separate, double-checking, and safe storage rules.
Medication mistakes, such as missed, delayed, wrong, or incorrectly dosage medications, can affect the resident’s health in many ways. Family members, other residents, and staff should pay attention to unusual symptoms or side effects and significant changes in blood pressure, heart rate, or respiration.
Common types of infections in nursing homes include:
Each nursing home must adhere to established infection prevention and control protocols. These include adequate hand hygiene, the proper use of PPE, wound care, incontinence care, vaccination, monitoring and isolating sick residents, and regular cleaning and disinfection.
If someone you love has been injured due to abuse or neglect, you can take measures to protect them and hold the facility accountable. Here’s what you should do:
Yes, you can sue the facility if the injury was directly caused by neglect, abuse, or medical malpractice. Contact a nursing home attorney to discuss your case.
The nursing facility, staff members, management, or third-party contractors such as physicians can all be responsible for Injuries in nursing homes and assisted living facilities.
Depending on the injury and circumstances, nursing home injury victims have several legal avenues, including:
To prove the facility’s negligence, you must show that the facility’s action or inaction directly caused the injury. You will need strong evidence such as witness statements, photographs, medical records, and expert opinions.
You can recover compensation for medical expenses, pain and suffering, emotional distress, punitive damages, and funeral expenses.
Nursing home abuse and neglect affect one in ten residents, and the toll these issues take on older adults and their families is immeasurable. If you have any suspicions about abuse or neglect or are worried about a facility’s standard of care, contact us for a free consultation with a nursing home abuse and neglect lawyer by calling (800) 926-7565 or filling out our online form.