If your loved one has suffered abuse or neglect in a nursing home, you are entitled to seek compensation for the damages associated with their injuries.
Experienced nursing home abuse attorney, Scott Distasio is eager to hear your story and advise you as to your legal options for recovering these damages for the injuries caused to long term care facilities residents and nursing home residents. Call Distasio Law Firm today for a free, no-obligation case review and consultation with a Brandon nursing home abuse lawyer about the legal actions you may take. Don’t wait, as the statute of limitations holds us to a timeline to file your claim.
POSSIBLE CULPRITS OF ABUSE AND NEGLECT AT AN ASSISTED LIVING FACILITY
When we place a loved one in the care of a nursing home, we do so with the faith that they will receive the care and attention they need. Nursing home abuse and neglect (as defined by Florida statutes XLVI.825.102), however, can come at the hands of people who serve in various roles at the facility, including doctors, nurses, staff, visitors, and even other residents of the nursing home.
A Brandon nursing home abuse and neglect attorney with Distasio Law Firm can take your case, expose the appropriate parties for their roles in this negligence, and demand that they compensate you.
TYPES OF NURSING HOME ABUSE AND NEGLECT
Abuse and neglect can take many forms within a nursing home. Look for the warning signs of nursing home abuse of elderly residents. Each type of abuse and neglect leaves tell-tale signs that might tell you that your loved one is in trouble. Stay alert for types of abuse including:
PHYSICAL ABUSE
Your loved one will have injuries—bone fractures, burns, bruising, or dislocated joints, to name a few—they cannot explain and for which there seems to be no logical explanation.
FINANCIAL ABUSE
You may begin to note that checks are missing, or you will spot unauthorized charges on your loved one’s monthly credit card statement.
EMOTIONAL ABUSE
You may have cause for concern if your loved one exhibits changes in their personality. Perhaps they seem unusually anxious, depressed, or despondent. In some cases, they become emotionally withdrawn.
SEXUAL ABUSE
If you detect that your loved one seems overly anxious when presented with the possibility of being alone in a room with someone at the facility, especially if your loved one has been complaining about urinary infections, bleeding, pelvic pain, or sexually transmitted diseases, you may need to consider the possibility that they are a victim of sexual assault.
NEGLECT
It is possible your loved one’s basic needs, like food, sleep, hygiene, water, and safety are not being met. Perhaps they are also being denied medical treatment or medications, or these medications are being improperly administered. In these cases, your loved one is experiencing neglect, a serious and deeply damaging problem. If the neglect occurs at the hands of a medical practitioner, like a doctor or nurse, you may have grounds for a medical malpractice case.
For a free, no-obligation case review and consultation, call Distasio Law Firm today.
Investigating Nursing Home Abuse and Neglect
When you hire a Brandon elder abuse lawyer from Distasio Law Firm to handle your case of nursing home abuse and neglect, we will begin by laying a solid foundation of evidence to support your claims. Our private investigation of your loved one’s abuse and neglect will entail:
- Visiting the facility to gather evidence
- Taking photos and obtaining videos from surveillance cameras
- Interviewing witnesses and recording their statements
- Obtaining your loved one’s medical records
- Getting a copy of the facility’s safety records and accident reports
We will leave no stone unturned when it comes to finding the evidence that will validate our claims of neglect or abuse.
Establishing Liability for the Abuse or Neglect
Our investigation of your loved one’s injury will highlight one or several people or parties who we can establish as liable for the damages resulting from the injury. The steps we will take in this effort involve meeting all the legal requirements that apply to any case of personal injury, namely:
- Duty of Care–The defendant owed your loved one a duty to take reasonable steps to protect them from injury.
- Breach of Duty–The defendant failed to fulfill their obligation of care.
- Causation–Because the defendant violated their duty of care, your loved one sustained an injury.
- Damages–Your loved one’s injury has resulted in physical, economic, and emotional losses.
Once we have attached our evidence to support each of the above required criteria, we are well on our way to completing the construction of your nursing home abuse or neglect case.
Calculating and Proving Damages
Our capable attorney’s investigation of your loved one’s nursing home experience in Brandon will produce much of the evidence we need to establish the damages resulting from their abuse and/or neglect. We will also consult with experts in the fields of medicine, economics, vocational therapy, and lifecare planning to fully explore how your loved one’s injury will continue to affect them down the road.
Each case has its own set of facts and numbers, so it is impossible to say which damages or values might arise from your loved one’s case. However, some common types of damages that people recover in nursing home abuse and neglect cases include:
- Doctors’ and surgeons’ fees
- Prescription medicines
- Lab tests and imaging
- Hospitalization
- Relocation costs
- Pain and suffering
- Emotional trauma
- Diminished quality of life
If Nursing Home Abuse or Neglect Results in Death
In 1998, the Journal of the American Medical Association reported that the abuse of an elder heightens their risk of dying by 300 percent. If your loved one died as the result of the abuse or neglect suffered in a nursing home, you are entitled to pursue a wrongful death action. Distasio Law Firm can represent you in this effort.
See How a Brandon Nursing Home Abuse and Neglect Lawyer Can Help You
Scott Distasio takes nursing home abuse and neglect cases very seriously. His outrage at the cruelty and lack of compassion your loved one has suffered will fuel him to represent you to the fullest extent of the law and get you the compensation you deserve.
Call Distasio Law Firm today for a free consultation and no-obligation case review from a Brandon nursing home abuse lawyer.
