Nursing home negligence in New York is a widespread issue, resulting in residents often experiencing abuse and neglect in various forms, from physical, financial, and medical exploitation to medication errors due to being understaffed. Choose the best nursing home negligence.
Focus group interviews conducted with directors of nurse aide registry agencies typically revealed understaffing and inadequate training as significant issues for them. Furthermore, cultural factors were frequently mentioned as contributing to nursing home neglect or abuse.
Reporting
If you suspect nursing home neglect in one or more elderly loved ones, there are steps you can take to report this abuse. First and foremost is reaching out to authorities such as local police departments and long-term care ombudsman programs; when calling, all relevant details about the situation must be provided, such as who the victim is, who the abusive or negligent staff member is, any evidence such as photographs of injuries sustained in an incident and any additional relevant details such as facility location and situational details.
Neglect can take many forms in a nursing home setting, from simply failing to provide supervision and assistance when they are required, resulting in falls and injuries, to more severe forms like physical, emotional, and sexual abuse as well as financial exploitation.
Under different circumstances, families of nursing home neglect victims may have various legal recourses available to them. For instance, in a wrongful death claim, they must show how the nursing home breached its duty of care, which caused their loved one’s death. One effective way of showing this breach would be for your loved one to visit a physician regularly for medical records to show this breach occurred.
Documentation
Although most nursing home clinical documentation is recorded electronically, some use handwritten systems of record keeping as well. If this method of documentation is utilized, a legible writing style must be maintained; nurses or CNAs should never delete information from a medical record, as this indicates evidence of poor care quality.
Research has yet to produce accurate estimates of abuse and neglect in nursing homes and residential care facilities (RCFs). Most existing studies use diverse sample and analysis units, often including residents, facilities, staff members, or both as samples.
Ombudsmen often report physical abuse as one of the top five complaints they receive about nursing homes and RCFs, often attributable to understaffing leading to insufficient attention being paid to residents’ needs and frequent turnover among long-term care aides, creating confusion or miscommunication over individual resident care needs.
Understaffing may also lead to inadequate training of new employees, as reflected in a study of state agencies administering nursing aide registries. According to this research, agencies surveyed thought inadequate training was a significant cause of abuse and neglect incidents, alongside poor hiring practices, cultural differences (such as the perception that slapping is acceptable within certain families), and drug or alcohol abuse by staff members as possible contributing factors.
Litigation
While neglect in nursing homes may not be as easily identifiable, it still poses significant threats to residents’ health and well-being. Malnutrition could result in weight loss and diminished mental alertness, or lack of care could result in bedsores or physical injuries.
As soon as you suspect your loved one may be the subject of nursing home negligence, it’s essential to file a complaint as soon as possible. Your local ombudsman office or lawyer can be of great assistance here; otherwise, you can file with the local district court directly. The legal process begins with the plaintiff filing their initial complaint outlining what harm or violation has occurred along with their request for justice from the defendant; then, the defendant responds with either affirmative defenses or counterclaims in their answer to you as the next step.
One common reason for nursing home negligence lawsuits is when staff violates a law or regulation concerning how residents should be treated. This could involve anything from improperly administering medication to inappropriately restraining residents without reasonable justification.
At the root of many lawsuits is inadequate training provided to nursing home staff members on how to respond in specific situations. Studies by nursing home aide registry agencies have revealed that some CNAs don’t fully grasp what constitutes abuse and neglect if they come from families where hitting was acceptable in the past.
Representation
An effective lawyer is essential in taking effective legal action against nursing home abuse or negligence cases. From violations of specific laws or seeking general damages for your loved one’s suffering, having an experienced nursing home abuse and negligence attorney at your side will help ensure all required channels and deadlines are followed to protect their rights and provide justice to their family member.
As the first step of nursing home negligence litigation, you will first need to collect evidence of physical and emotional harm caused by nursing home negligence. This evidence can include medical records, photographs of injuries or unsanitary conditions, written notes from you or their family member about nursing home care provided, correspondence between nursing homes and residents, and correspondence from residents to nursing homes themselves. Incident reports issued by nursing homes themselves could also provide invaluable pieces of evidence, along with expert witness testimony.
Once your attorney drafts a lawsuit alleging nursing home negligence and your request for compensation, it will be served on them and any other parties named in it. Following this step, discovery can start; during which both sides gather evidence supporting their arguments before potentially reaching settlement negotiations or going straight to trial if no agreement can be made.
