Despite all the oversight in place, residents of nursing homes still suffer abuse. And for them to get financial compensation for their suffering, evidence linking the liable parties to the incident is necessary.
Investigating the abuse can be an uphill task, especially for a family still processing the anguish from the incident. A NY personal injury lawyer can take care of all the legal aspects of the case until you get compensation.
What Methods Are Used in Evidence Collection?
When your loved one has been abused, you can observe signs that can show you that they are not okay. You might notice:
- A tense or strained relationship between the elderly person and the caregiver
- Frequent arguments between the caregiver and the elderly person
- Weight loss
- Poor hygiene
- Unattended medical needs
- Bedsores
- Unusual depression
- Sudden change in alertness
- Unexplained withdrawal from usual activities
- Burns
- Abrasions
- Broken bones
- Pressure marks
- Bruises
The first step you need to take when you notice the above signs is to help your loved one get immediate medical assistance. Notably, the diagnosis can be critical evidence in getting compensation.
The doctor might discover that they have suffered:
- Spinal cord damage
- Pneumonia and other respiratory illnesses
- Internal bleeding and organ damage
- Neck and back injuries
- Head injuries
- Bedsores and resulting infections
- Broken bones
- Soft tissue injuries, strains, sprains, and bruises
- Scrapes, lacerations, and cuts
Who Can be Sued Using the Evidence Collected?
When you decide to hold someone responsible for the abuse your loved one has gone through, you have to assign liability and prove it. It can be a challenging undertaking, but a Bronx nursing home abuse attorney can help.
Examining the issue can determine who will be sued, and some of the common problems include:
- Incorrect administration of medicine
- Improper supervision of staff
- Poorly maintained grounds that caused falls
- Maintenance and housekeeping issues
- Problems with beds, wheelchairs, and walkers
- Issues with admission and discharge
- Changes in your loved one’s condition that the home failed to address on time
- Accidents leading to injury
Government Agencies
If the government agencies tasked with licensing, permitting, and oversight fail in their mandate, they might be the liable parties.
The Nursing Home’s Administration
The administration might be liable if they fail to:
- Adequately secure the nursing home
- Properly staff the nursing home
- Adequately train their employees
- Conduct background checks on their workers
The Employees
Since elder abuse is becoming common, employees directly involved in the abuse of nursing home patients should be held responsible for their actions. Some forms of abuse have nothing to do with the administration but result from inappropriate personal vices. You can sue the caretaker, nurses, doctors, and other medical professionals responsible for the medical malpractice.
Other Nursing Home Residents
Other nursing home residents can abuse their loved ones financially, sexually, emotionally, and physically. An attorney serving the Bronx, Queens, Manhattan, Staten Island, and throughout New York State can help you file a claim against them and recover compensation in full.
How Much Time Does the Victim Have to Present the Evidence?
A nursing home abuse claim is subject to the statute of limitation, like all other cases in New York. So, it is important to compile the evidence and line up the proper evidence in the shortest time possible. A Bronx nursing home abuse attorney can work with other experts in collecting all the evidence needed and initiate the claim process before time lapses.
The limits are:
- 3 years for abuse and negligence
- 1 year for medical malpractice involving the discovery of a foreign object in the victim’s body – counting begins on the date of the discovery
- 2 ½ years for injuries – counted from the day of injury or the end of continuous treatment
- 2 years for wrongful death – from the day the victim died
What Forms of Compensation are Available in New York?
Understanding a nursing home resident’s rights is important in telling when they have been infringed. They are entitled to:
- Safeguards in admission, transfer, and discharge in nursing facilities
- Safeguard of money and personal property
- Freedom to make independent decisions regarding personal and medical care
- Quality treatment and care without discrimination
- Comfortable living environment
- Respect and dignity
- Participation in activities of their choice
- Privacy in communications with family, friends, and your doctors
- Exercise all their rights without fear of being punished
- A responsive and easy-to-use complaint procedure in the facility
It is also essential to be aware of the types of abuse that they can sue for. Find out if your loved one has suffered:
Financial Exploitation. Elderly persons can be targets for financial abuse. Evidence of this includes the transfer of property, falsifying records, forgery, and stealing.
Passive Neglect. It is the responsibility of a nursing home to provide the needed care and monitor its residents regularly. Passive neglect comes in when they forget to bathe the resident or give them their medicines.
Active Neglect. Active neglect involves intentional actions such as abandonment, deprivation of medical care, and the caregiver withholding water or food.
Sexual Abuse. Sexual abuse happens when a caregiver touches the resident forcibly or makes non-consensual contact.
Emotional Abuse. Emotional abuse is as debilitating as other forms of abuse. This happens when the caregiver humiliates, intimidates, or threatens a resident causing them emotional or mental anguish.
Physical Abuse. This could be a caregiver burning, hair pulling, pushing, slapping, hitting, or restraining a resident improperly. Such actions cause pain, injury, or a disability.
A Bronx nursing home abuse attorney can fight for your loved one to recover money for:
- Loss of enjoyment of life
- Scarring and disfigurement
- The cost of moving to another nursing facility
- Restitution for financial exploitation
- Emotional distress
- Pain and suffering
- Future, present, and past medical costs
A Client-Focused Firm Recovering the Compensation the Clients Deserve
With the proper compilation of evidence, you can win a personal injury case in New York. And evidence has to be presented in a way that no doubts will remain in the minds of the jury. This requires expert skills and experience.
At The Law Offices of Thomas J. Lavin, we are passionate about justice and compensation. We strive to recover damages for losses our clients suffered. Book your first case evaluation with us. Call us at 718-306-9162 for a no-obligation consultation with us.