Doral Nursing Home Abuse Lawyer

Under Florida Statute § 95.11, the statute of limitations will generally only allow for personal injury claims to be filed a maximum of four years after the nursing home abuse has been discovered. However, if you are pursuing a medical malpractice lawsuit or a wrongful death claim, the statute of limitations may be different. 

You may have as few as two years to get your claim filed. Since the statute of limitations expiration date may not always be clear, it is important to get a knowledgeable nursing home abuse attorney on your side who can help you protect your loved one's injury settlement.

Nursing home negligence is a failure of staff and supervisors to adequately care for nursing home residents. This leaves nursing home residents without proper medical care, food, or other support. About 15 percent of all complaints of nursing home abuse are complaints about neglect.

You might run into four main kinds of nursing home negligence:

• Medical Neglect. This occurs when staff members at nursing homes fail to provide adequate medical care. They may forget some medications, allow infections or bedsores to develop, or cause other similar issues.
• Basic Needs Neglect. In this situation, a nursing home will not provide a resident with enough food, water, shelter, or protection.
• Personal Hygiene Neglect. Many nursing home residents need help to brush their teeth, use the restroom, do laundry, take showers, etc. Sometimes, staff neglects to provide adequate hygiene care for residents.
• Social or Emotional Neglect. This occurs when a nursing home resident is left alone, ignored, or otherwise harmed emotionally and socially.

Any of these types of neglect could occur at any time. In some cases, you may see more than one type of neglect in the same patient.

There are many causes of nursing home neglect. A few of the most common causes include:

• Staff shortages. Staff shortages are rampant in nursing homes across the United States. In many nursing homes, residents far outnumber the staff, making it challenging for nursing home staff to provide every resident with the care they need.     
• Staff training. In some facilities, staff training does not cover all appropriate care. Because nursing homes are so desperate for staff, they may not take the time and money necessary to appropriately train staff on how to care for residents. Some residents may be aggressive towards the staff, leading the staff to respond in kind.     
• Negligent hiring. Many nursing homes have poor hiring processes. They may fail to perform appropriate background checks or provide staff with the medical knowledge they need.     

Under-trained and under-supported staff cause neglect. Because this is so common in nursing homes, it is not unusual to see nursing home neglect even from staff members who truly care about their patients.

Nursing home neglect can be difficult to diagnose, especially if you aren't in the nursing home regularly. However, there are several common signs that you should be aware of if you visit a loved one in a nursing home.

The most common signs of nursing home neglect that you might see in your loved ones include:

• Falls or bruising. If you notice that your loved one has weird bruises and has been falling more than they should, you may be seeing signs of neglect. It could be that staff is not carefully watching your loved one or supporting them when they need it.
• Pressure sores. Pressure sores or bedsores are one of the most common complications of nursing home neglect. When staff members fail to move their immobile patients regularly, the patients can develop serious and painful blistering where their body puts a lot of pressure on the bed. These sores are most common on bony areas like hips that constantly press against a bed.
• Medication problems. If you notice your loved one is acting strange or doesn't seem to be getting enough medication, you may be seeing neglect. Many nursing home residents need medication to function properly, and they may struggle to interact if they have received an improper dosage.
• Poor living conditions. If you notice that your loved one's room is dirty or unsafe, it may demonstrate that the staff is neglecting to care for them.
• Poor personal hygiene. If your loved one seems to be missing showers, clean teeth, or other hygiene support, it may be because the staff is neglecting their duties.
• Malnutrition or dehydration. Though many elderly patients struggle with malnutrition or dehydration, nursing home staff should be doing what they can to support their patients through regular meals and IVs if necessary.
• Emotional distress. If your loved one is acting angrier or more depressed than usual, they may be suffering from emotional and social neglect. Make sure you know how often they get to see others and whether the staff is meeting their needs.

If you notice any of the above signs of neglect, make sure you talk to your loved ones and do what you can to seek help and support for them.

There are a few places you can report nursing home negligence once you notice it in your loved one. If you suspect they are in an emergency and need immediate care, call 911 to speak to the police and find medical care.

However, if the neglect does not pose an immediate danger to your loved one, here are some things you should do:

1. Visit Eldercare to view available eldercare resources in your area. You can call an Eldercare representative at any time at 1-800-677-1116 to get personal help reporting suspected neglect.
2. Contact a local long-term care ombudsman for support. Ombudsmen support elders and their families. Ombudsmen educate people on the responsibilities of nursing home facilities, deal with problems that come up, and help elders understand and fight for their rights. Each state has its own ombudsman program.
3. Report the nursing home to the Adult Protective Services (APS) in your state. APS will then investigate to determine if neglect is occurring and how to solve the issue for your loved one.

Once you have reported suspected neglect to the above agencies and received the help you need, you may want to discuss your case with us. Our nursing home neglect lawyers can help you recover compensation for losses in a neglect situation and hold the nursing home staff in question responsible for their actions.

You can file a legal claim in a nursing home negligence situation. However, you must follow a few important guidelines to get the support you need. You can file a few different claims depending on the specific laws in your state and the circumstances of your case.

You'll want to file a claim as soon as possible. If you live in Doral, for example, you only have two years to make a claim. Most states have a similar statute of limitations.

You might file a claim for:

• Negligence and personal injury
• Medical malpractice
• Wrongful death

In any situation, you will have to prove four main things:

• The defendant (the nursing home staff members and/or operators) owed you or your loved one a duty of care.
• The defendant breached their duty of care.
• That breach of duty by the defendant caused a loss, injury, death, etc.
• The resident (you or your loved one) sustained damage from the breach of care.

The first thing you'll want to do when pursuing a claim is get in touch with a lawyer familiar with nursing home negligence. A lawyer can support you as you go through the legal process. They will help you by gathering evidence and filing a complaint against the defendant.

After you file the initial complaint, the defendant has 75 days to respond. During this time, a governing agency and lawyers on both sides will investigate the case to determine its validity. At the end of that time, the defendant must either reject the claim or make a settlement offer.

Following this initial complaint process, your lawyers will negotiate to attempt a favorable settlement for all parties. If you can't settle, the case may go to court, where a judge and jury can try it.

In a nursing home negligence claim, there are several main types of damages you can recover from the defendants. You can seek compensation for:

• Medical expenses, specifically if the neglect of your loved one led to serious medical issues
• Pain and suffering, both physical and mental
• Emotional distress

If your case involves a wrongful death because of the nursing home's injurious actions, you may recover other kinds of compensation. The total amount of compensation you can recover will depend on the circumstances of your case and can vary widely. It's best to discuss your claim with a lawyer to determine how much you might be able to recover in your particular circumstances.

Many injury victims and their families wonder whether they have the right to recover punitive damages in their case. Unfortunately, punitive damages are awarded very rarely. In fact, the Doral civil court system will only award punitive damages when they find the actions of the defense to be grossly negligent or reprehensible in some way. 

They may find it necessary to punish the defendant beyond the compensatory damages you are entitled to recover. Awarding punitive damages is also a way of sending a message to the public that actions like those of the defendant will not be tolerated by the Doral civil courts.

To appropriately argue your case, you will need a lot of evidence. You should take notes and, if possible, photos of any signs of neglect that you see in a nursing home. You will also need to gather medical bills and records to prove your claim. However, it can be challenging to get records from the nursing home, especially if they are the defendants in the case.

Thankfully, the law requires every nursing facility involved to release all pertinent records. A nursing home that fails to provide you with the necessary records may break the law. All you need to obtain records is a HIPAA release form signed by the resident or their legal representative.

Yes. The legalities surrounding a nursing home negligence case, a medical malpractice case, or a wrongful death case are often varied and complicated. You need legal support to make sure you follow all the rules and proper procedures for obtaining records and other evidence.

If a nursing home neglected or abused you or your loved one, you are likely suffering from stress and concern. That's where we come in. Our Doral nursing home negligence lawyers can help relieve some of your stress by gathering evidence for you, taking down your statements so you don't forget anything, and pressing your claim on your behalf.

Negligence lawyers want to see justice done for each of their clients. If you or your loved one recently suffered from nursing home neglect, reach out to our nursing home neglect lawyers as soon as you can for a free consultation and get started on your claim.

It is difficult to say whether you will need to bring your case before a judge to recover total compensation for your loved one's suffering. In many cases, the abuser and other liable parties privy to nursing home abuse will be protected by some type of insurance policy. 

If you file a claim with the insurance company, you may be able to recover certain types and amounts of damages. But if the insurance company is unable or unwilling to compensate you for each and every loss, you may need to be prepared to bring your case to court if you hope to get the most out of your claim.