The elderly that reside in nursing homes require quality care and comfort. When someone hurts your loved one in a nursing home, not only are they committing a heinous crime, they are liable for any of the damages and injuries they caused.
If caregivers have taken advantage of a loved one, you should have a Mableton personal injury attorney by your side. We can help you get started filing a claim against the abuser or abusers. John Foy & Associates can help you start your claim with a free consultation.
What Should You Do If You Suspect Nursing Home Abuse?
It can be a jarring realization that your loved one is being abused in their nursing home. You have to stay calm, though, and do everything you can to make sure the abuse is clear and that the right people know about it.
If you suspect your loved one is being abused by their nursing home, you should:
- Collect any documentation of the abuse that you can, including pictures of injuries, videos, and written details of where and when the abuse happened.
- Get the names and information of any workers who you believe are responsible for the mistreatment.
- Talk to the loved one in question and listen to what they have to say.
- If there is immediate physical danger, call the police.
- If there is no immediate danger, report the elder abuse to Georgia’s Department of Aging Services.
- Contact a nursing home abuse lawyer to help you file a claim.
Something important to keep in mind is that, if the nursing home or abusive caretakers learn that you are planning on filing a claim, they may have their own lawyers talk to you. They’ll try to nip your lawsuit in the bud and keep you quiet. Anything you say to them can be used against you.
That’s why you should get in touch with a nursing home abuse attorney in Mableton as soon as possible. A lawyer will be able to represent you and say the right things to get your loved one the compensation they deserve for their ordeal.
Nursing Home Abuse Is More Common than You Think
Many people believe that elderly abuse isn’t as common as domestic violence or child abuse. The unfortunate truth is that elder abuse happens way more than you may believe. Throughout the U.S., thousands of elder abuse cases happen every year, and many abusers are not brought to justice.
This leaves the families of these elderly victims to cover the costs of all the damages and injuries. Not to mention having to help their elderly loved ones get through the emotional and psychological pain they’ve endured as well.
The State of Georgia Department of Human Services states that the abuse of older or disabled adults is one of the most underreported and undetected types of abuse in this country. All abuse is intentional, negligent, and illegal. You should contact one of our lawyers immediately to start building your case.
What Is the Most Common Type of Nursing Home Abuse?
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), emotional or psychological abuse is the most common form of elder abuse. Unfortunately, it can also be the hardest to detect. While physical abuse or neglect can show on your loved one, emotional abuse can go unseen for years.
There are some telltale signs of emotional elder abuse, but they can also be signs of any number of other conditions. As always, make sure you have the facts before you accuse a nursing home of abuse.
Signs of emotional abuse in a nursing home can include:
- Anxiety
- Depression
- Fear or jumpiness near the nursing home staff
- Behavior changes
- Weight loss
- Nursing home staff not letting you be alone with their patient
If you think someone is abusing your loved one, talk to a personal injury lawyer in Mableton. They can assess the signs of nursing home abuse and tell you what the next steps should be.
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Who You Can Hold Liable for Nursing Home Abuse
You can hold the abuser, the staff of the nursing home, and the nursing home itself liable for the abuse your loved one has suffered.
The Abuser
Holding the abuser accountable for their actions is a given. With evidence, testimony, medical records, and accurate calculations of your damages, we can help you punish the abuser for their crime.
The Nursing Home Staff
How can you hold the staff accountable? Medical and professional staff inside of a nursing home are considered to be mandatory reporters. This means that they are obligated under the law to report any misconduct or abuse they may have seen while on the job.
Failure to report fails to uphold the duty of care they are supposed to have for all of the elderly they support. Their willful ignorance towards the abuse that your elderly loved one went through also directly contributed to the damages sustained. Therefore, both from a moral standpoint and a legal one, they were partially responsible for the abuse.
The Nursing Home
Nursing homes are supposed to thoroughly vet all of their employees. The responsibility is on them to hire quality and compassionate employees with no negative history that would impact the critical work that nursing home staff do every day.
If the nursing home didn’t adhere to the standards set in place for nursing home employees, or their standards were so lax they allowed bad people to join their staff, you can hold them accountable for that. If they had just cared from the beginning, this abuse was likely to have never happened in the first place.
Common Damages You Can Be Compensated for
You can recover compensation for various damages:
- Medical expenses, surgeries, medical equipment, prescriptions, etc.
- Psychological services for mental anguish and emotional trauma
- Loss of enjoyment of life
- Wrongful death
- Pain and suffering, both physical and mental
- Assisted living expenses
Don’t pay for the damages caused by an abuser. The abuser and their enablers should be the ones to cover all of your costs and provide financial closure. Our nursing home abuse lawyers will accurately calculate all of your damages and ensure that you get the best settlement possible.
How We Can Help You Win Your Case
Asides from calculating your damages, we can help you win your case by:
- Representing your best interests in court or during negotiations and always pushing to settle in your favor
- Helping you gather and retain all of the critical evidence necessary to support your case
- Consulting with various experts to bolster the strength of your case
- Holding all of the at-fault parties liable and ensuring no one gets away with abuse
- Handling all of your legal paperwork and any communications with other third parties
The defense won’t give you the settlement you need right off the bat. Having a strong attorney helps benefit you by protecting you from the exploitative tactics that the abuser’s legal representation or the insurance companies may employ against you.
Get Help from Our Mableton Nursing Home Abuse Lawyers Today
The Mableton nursing home abuse lawyers at John Foy & Associates are ready to provide you with expert legal assistance. With more than two decades of experience in personal injury law, you can rely on us to get the job done.
Don’t miss out on your chance to get compensated and get justice. Call us today or contact us online for a free consultation.
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