If your loved one resides in a nursing home or long-term care facility and has suffered significant harm due to negligent care, you may have a right to sue the nursing home.
The nursing home abuse lawyers at Morgan, Collins, Yeast & Salyer have the Kentucky Courage to stand up to negligent nursing home operators and their insurance companies and demand justice.
If you suspect that someone you care about has suffered neglect or been injured by abuse in a Kentucky nursing home or a long-term care facility, contact us. We can meet with you for a free consultation to discuss your legal options and whether filing a nursing home neglect lawsuit is appropriate. Our nursing home abuse attorneys will do whatever they can to get your loved one out of harm’s way and hold the nursing home responsible.
If your family member has suffered nursing home neglect, physical abuse, sexual abuse, or psychological abuse, we will pursue the financial compensation needed for their medical requirements and other expenses related to their injuries. Taking legal action might prevent other nursing home residents from suffering similar harm.
What Is Nursing Home Neglect?
When a family makes the hard decision that a family member needs to move into a nursing home to receive appropriate medical care and support, the family expects their loved one will receive attentive and appropriate care from nursing home staff members.
Unfortunately, many nursing homes are understaffed, increasing the risk of nursing home abuse and neglect. When residents of Kentucky nursing homes suffer from a lack of care that leads to physical harm or even death, it is often due to nursing home neglect.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says neglect is the failure to meet an older adult’s basic needs, which include:
- Food
- Water
- Essential medical care
- Hygiene
- Shelter
- Clothing
Active neglect is the willful failure of nursing home workers to fulfill their caregiving responsibilities. Passive neglect of a nursing home resident is unintentional failure to fulfill caregiving functions due to inadequate training or knowledge of such services.
If you have questions about whether an injury sustained by your loved one amounts to nursing home neglect or physical abuse in Kentucky, talk to a nursing home neglect lawyer. At Morgan, Collins, Yeast & Salyer, our attorneys are proud to use our legal abilities to help our fellow Kentuckians.
How Can I Sue a Nursing Home for Neglect?
If a nursing home resident has suffered significant physical or psychological harm, the nursing home owner may be held financially liable in a personal injury lawsuit. A nursing home owner would also be named in a claim over neglect perpetrated by a nursing home staff or contractors, such as:
- Nurses and nurses’ aides. Employers are vicariously liable for the negligent actions or inaction of their employees.
- Third parties supplying services to the nursing home. For example, a janitorial company that provides contract services to a nursing home might be held liable if its employees neglected to clean up a spill that led to a slip-and-fall accident and broken bones.
- Other residents. Unfortunately, physical violence among Kentucky nursing home residents of nursing homes is a growing problem. If the nursing home staff failed to keep a resident known to be violent from harming your loved one, not only could the violent individual be held liable, but the nursing home’s management and owners may also be held liable for failing to provide proper security.
Our attorneys would investigate the circumstances in which your loved one was harmed and gather evidence to demonstrate four elements of liability:
- Duty of care. Nursing home staff and managers have a legal responsibility to provide reasonable care to residents who pay for the home’s medical services and daily care.
- Breach of duty. The failure on the part of the nursing home staff or management to tend to a nursing home resident’s needs amounts to a breach of the facility’s legal duty.
- Causation. The nursing home’s neglect was the most directly related cause of the resident’s injury. In cases that involve elderly nursing home residents, causation is the issue the defense is most likely to attack, asserting that age and illness were the true cause of the neglected resident’s injury or medical decline.
- Damages. Finally, we must show that compensation will make the nursing home resident’s injury better, which includes the “injury” of medical expenses and other losses, as well as their pain and suffering.
Evidence to Support a Nursing Home Negligence Case
All care and services provided to a nursing home resident should be fully documented in a timely manner. As part of our investigation of the nursing home neglect that harmed your loved one, we would subpoena a variety of records, including medical records, insurance claim documents, and other files and charts that should show the care and assistance provided to your loved one.
The nursing home facility will likely have security cameras, which may yield footage that shows the neglect your loved one has suffered.
We would also interview staff and visitors who may have seen the neglect. When staff actions or inaction are part of the problem, our personal injury attorneys look into the nursing home’s hiring and training practices, which may be negligent.
We work to craft a strong case to recover maximum compensation for your loved one and press the nursing home’s owners to make things right. Cases of nursing home neglect or abuse are often settled in negotiations, but if necessary, we can present a strong and persuasive case in court on your behalf.
Damages That Can Be Recovered in a Nursing Home Negligence Case
Our first objective in a nursing home neglect case is to make sure your loved one is safe and receiving appropriate medical treatment. The types of compensation we would seek include the following:
- Costs of medical care required because of the nursing home neglect and abuse
- Custodial care, including the cost of relocating to a new long-term care facility
- Pain, suffering, and emotional distress
- Punitive damages, money awarded as punishment for egregious conduct.
Morgan Collins, Yeast & Salyer took legal action to help the widow and estate of a man who suffered serious fall injuries due to nursing home neglect in Corbin, Kentucky, obtain a $1.16 million verdict. Those results are not predictive of the outcome of future nursing home neglect cases. But they do show our experience handling nursing home neglect cases and our commitment to standing up for families of nursing home residents harmed by abuse and neglect.
Contact a Kentucky Nursing Home Neglect Attorney
If you think your loved one’s medical decline or injuries are due to nursing home neglect or abuse at a nursing home facility in Kentucky, contact our nursing home abuse lawyers today. We will investigate the complaint, ensure the safety of your loved one, and pursue compensation for the injuries they have suffered.
The nursing home abuse attorneys of Morgan, Collins, Yeast & Salyer stand up for Kentuckians and their families when they have been harmed due to nursing home negligence. Call our Kentucky Courage law office now at (877) 809-5352 or reach out for your free and confidential consultation about your legal options.
