If you have a loved one in a nursing home, you trust the home to care for your mom, dad, or grandparent. However, not all nursing homes take good care of their patients. If you’ve discovered abuse or neglect, you can file a legal claim and bring the perpetrators to justice.
The first step is to find a good lawyer. Rosenberg and Gluck nursing home abuse lawyers can help by determining the cause of the abuse and the claim that would be best for you to file. Once you’ve hired an attorney, you can focus on helping and relocating your loved one to safety while your lawyer does the legal work.
Whether or not you hire a lawyer, filing a nursing home abuse claim is complicated. When you first realize there might be an issue, you should be aware of your options for filing and how to document everything. Here are the four things you should consider before filing your abuse claim.
Everything Should be Documented
Whether it’s an accidental fall or abuse, you should document anything unusual that happens to your loved one. If you have to file a claim, you need evidence for it, and you are the best person to document that throughout your time at the nursing home. Keep a list of everything you think has happened and any evidence you might have.
When you file a claim, you will need to show evidence of abuse. Even after you talk to the nursing home manager or owner, start taking pictures and writing things down. If nothing changes once you’ve reported it, you will have evidence of the abuse from when it started.
The Case Should be Reported
Before filing a claim, you will need to report the abuse to the nursing home owner. Anyone who owns a nursing home is legally required to investigate every claim of abuse or neglect, whether or not it turns out to be real. To avoid being accused of lying, you should report signs of abuse the moment you see them.
Nursing home abuse can look like several different things. It can be neglect, negligence, or outright abuse. No matter what form it takes, it’s wrong and punishable by law. In order to keep your loved one safe and get them away from their abuser, you should document and report it as soon as possible.
Hire a Lawyer
Of course, hiring a lawyer is a crucial part of filing a nursing home abuse claim. This is especially true if you’ve recorded and reported evidence of the abuse, but it hasn’t stopped. Finding the guilty party can be difficult, and asking for the proper compensation is complicated. With a lawyer, however, you can focus on your loved one’s healing.
An experienced nursing home abuse lawyer will be able to discuss your case with you, the nursing home, the courts, and medical experts or insurance companies. They will ensure that everything gets filed correctly and on time, so you don’t break the statute of limitations. A good lawyer can also tell you which type of case you should pursue.
Types of Claims You Can Make
When it comes to filing an actual abuse claim, there are several routes you can take. These depend on the depth of the abuse, the type of the abuse, and what happened after. Here are a few of the claims you can make against the nursing home or nursing home staff:
- Neglect or negligence
- Absence of care
- Wrongful death
- Breach of contract
- Medical malpractice
Concluding Thoughts
While a lawyer can help you decide which of these claims most applies to your situation, you should be able to tell based on the type of abuse that happened. Once you’ve decided on your claim, you can gather evidence, file the claim, and get justice for the abuse.
