If your loved one has suffered an injury, broken bone or suffered a wrongful death inside a nursing home, rehab center or memory care facility, Distasio Law Firm can help. A Pinellas Park nursing home abuse lawyer can assist your family in healing after a preventable tragedy occurs. Most clients come to us with more questions than answers, which is perfectly understandable. Our dedicated injury attorneys have provided a basic primer on assisted living negligence cases below. If you have any questions whatsoever, please don’t hesitate to call or chat with us now. All case consultations are free, and we only get paid if we’re able to make a financial recovery for you on your case.
How Are Nursing Home Abuse Cases Brought If the Injured Person Has Dementia, or Has Passed Away?
Families who have experienced abuse or neglect in a nursing home facility often bring lawsuits against the facility. These suits usually allege that the facility was negligent in its care of the victim. In most cases, the claim is brought by the victim’s spouse or adult children. If the victim is deceased, a personal representative or executor will need to be appointed. These ALF negligence lawsuits seek money damages for injuries to the victim. Unfortunately, we are unable to shut down a facility through a civil suit. However, the goal is to make the facility pay for their negligence through monetary damages, which causes changes to be made in the facility to prevent further suits against them. If you have specific questions on who and how to bring a case, feel free to contact our nursing home abuse lawyers in Pinellas Park for a free consultation.
Who Should Bring a Case Against a Nursing Home?
If the victim is alive but incompetent, the family member with power of attorney usually brings the claim. If the victim is deceased, a personal representative or executor will need to be appointed for the lawsuit.
Most families work together on this. However, occasionally, there will be a rift in the family dynamic. This is not a reason to allow a negligent assisted living facility to get away with their wrongdoing. If you have specific questions on who and how to bring a case, our knowledgeable Pinellas Park nursing home abuse attorneys would be happy to answer them during a free consultation.
Can Falls in Nursing Home Facilities Be Prevented?
Falls are a serious problem in assisted living and memory care facilities. Our attorneys have filed lawsuits against these facilities involving falls resulting in injuries. Usually, these are not isolated incidents.
When we see a pattern of falls in nursing homes, we analyze what the nursing staff and management team did to stop the cycle of falls. Most of the time, no fall preventative measures were put in place. This allows the pattern of falls to continue, and eventually- result in a serious fracture, brain injury, or wrongful death in the patients of these facilities.
How Do ALF Abuse and Neglect Lawyers Get Paid?
Our attorneys work on a contingency fee basis, which means you only pay us if we win your case. We don’t charge any upfront fees, and if we decline to take your case, you owe us nothing. If we lose the case at trial, you still don’t owe us anything.
When we do win the case, our attorneys’ fees are paid only out of the settlement once we win the case. Most of the ALF liability cases we take one end up successfully resolving in favor of the plaintiff, usually through a settlement prior to a trial being necessary.
How Long Does an ALF Abuse or Neglect Case Take?
The timeframe for an ALF negligence lawsuit varies widely and depends on several factors. Some families want to go to court to make their voices heard, while others are content with settling the case. We try to work with our clients to accommodate their desires; however, we cannot control when a case is resolved. In some instances, an ALF negligence lawsuit can be settled within a few months, while others may take two years.
Will My Assisted Living Facility Lawsuit Go To Trial?
This very much depends on the situation, and facilities willingness to accept responsibility for their actions. If the facility accepts accountability for their neglect or abuse, then a settlement is often agreed to, and a trial is not needed. But if you want your day in court, your Distasio Law Firm Assisted Living Abuse Lawyer, Scott Distasio, being a Florida Bar Board Certified Civil Trial Lawyer, is ready and willing to take your case all the way through trial.
How Do I Know if Our Nursing Home Issue Deserves a Lawsuit?
First, we need to discover, what was the act of negligence and what are the damages to the victim?
There are many inquiries about acts of negligence that are terrible and need to be addressed, but do not warrant a lawsuit. Incidents such as a resident with dementia being found wandering alone outside the facility on a road. The patient not being cared for and being allowed to wander off property is neglect, but if the patient was luckily uninjured from the incident, it would not warrant a lawsuit, but would be reported for neglect with AHCA here in Pinellas Park.
On the contrary, if a patient is found have a broken bone, and there is no record of a fall, or knowledge of how it happened, this is a sign of neglect that would warrant a lawsuit, as the facility was likely not able to assist the patient in a timely manner resulting in a fall where it would have been prevented with adequate staffing. These types of catastrophic injuries, along with bed sores (aka pressure sores) are the result of neglect and are issues our nursing home neglect and abuse lawyers would be able to act on to hold them accountable and get the recovery that is deserved foe their acts.
Common Injuries That Result in Lawsuits Against Assisted Living Facilities in Pinellas Park
There is no single list of injuries or acts that ensure a lawsuit can be filed, but there are common injuries and issues that are seen throughout Pinellas Park’s Assisted Living Facilities that are accepted in a lawsuit.
- Falls resulting in broken bones, serious bruising, concussions, etc.
- Medication errors where wrong meds or wrong dosages are given
- Significant weight loss and dehydration
- Sexual Abuse/ Rape
- Elopement injuries (wander from the premises and getting hurt)
- Bed Sores (AKA: pressure sores)
- Physical assault
- Wrongful Death
- And many others
If your loved one was injured in any of these ways, contact our law firm today for a free consultation over your potential case.
Money Isn’t the Issue, So Why Should I Sue?
It may come as a surprise, but a lawsuit is not just about the money. It’s about what that money can do. These facilities are in the business of profit, and when their negligence or greed gets in the way of sufficient care, a lawsuit is the only way to hold them accountable. The desire for profit in some facilities can outweigh the need to provide good care, so taking that profit away from the greedy hand of corporate stakeholders, to better the life of the victim, is often the only way to make change in the places.
You may not care about the money, but they do, and by holding them accountable and financially responsible, you will show them that their action will not go unpunished. A civil suit will not shut down a facility, but it causes these facilities to make drastic changes to ensure they do not get sued and lose their profit lines again in the future. The result, better care of your loved ones, and other families loved ones now ands in the future. When their board of directors has to approve a large lawsuit settlement check be paid, it hits them harder than any small fine ever will.
Professional, Dedicated, Pinellas Park Nursing Home Abuse Attorneys
Distasio Law Firm’s founder, Scott Distasio has over 32 years of experience in Nursing Home/ Assisted Living Abuse and Neglect Trial Experience. Having been a defending attorney for the first 10 years of his career before becoming a plaintiff’s lawyer, Scott knows all the tricks these facilities will try and use to beat the case. Bu that experience is makes Scott Distasio one of Florida’s top Assisted Living Abuse and Neglect Lawyers. With our main office in Tampa and 2 additional convenient offices, we are able to help families across the entire state of Florida, so do not hesitate to contact our firm today for help with your concerns. Chat with us live, call us 24/7, or contact us through our webform and a Pinellas Park nursing home abuse lawyer will do everything possible to help you and your family.
