Tens of thousands of people depend on round-the-clock care from qualified healthcare professionals in the many nursing homes and assisted living facilities across Pennsylvania. For-profit nursing homes are one of the most profitable industries in America. Unfortunately, too often this is a result of these homes putting your money directly into their pockets, rather than putting your money into the quality of care your loved one receives.
This has never been more obvious than during the coronavirus crisis — our front pages were flooded with news of clear nursing home violations from coast to coast. These facilities were exposed! Sadly, some of the worst actors in the country include local nursing homes in our home state. Please visit our dedicated Nursing Homes & COVID-19 page to learn more about our response to this crisis.
When nursing homes prioritize profit over resident safety, dependent patients fall victim to abuse and neglect. If you suspect a family member has been subject to mistreatment, you have legal options at your disposal. With support from a dedicated injury attorney, you could proactively address these unsafe conditions and enforce your family’s right to financial compensation.
Our Pennsylvania nursing home abuse lawyers are already building cases for clients who were harmed by some of the worst facilities in the country. Reach out to us to find out how we can help you.
What Does Mistreatment Look Like in Nursing Homes?
Although the blanket term “nursing home abuse” suggests that mistreatment inside nursing homes is always aggressive and intentional in nature, there are various ways in which residents will suffer harm. Beyond physical violence, abuse in a nursing home could also involve staff members verbally berating a resident, subjecting a resident to emotional torment, or even taking advantage of them sexually.
Alternatively, nursing home residents may suffer harm due to neglect or incompetence. If a facility is understaffed or the employees are poorly-trained, residents may experience the following forms of neglect:
- Failing to follow protocol for prevention of bedsores and infections
- Failure to change residents’ bedding
- Failure to assist residents in the bathroom
- Forgetting to give residents their medication
- Unintentionally switching patients’ medication
- Failure to provide regular and nutritious meals
- Failure to clean residents’ rooms or common areas
No matter what type of nursing home abuse or neglect led to your loved one’s injuries or death, one of our Pennsylvania lawyers can help you pursue legal action against the people responsible.
Possible Grounds for Litigation Against a Long-Term Care Facility in PA
Civil liability for abuse or neglect in a nursing home generally lies with facility administrators and owners rather than individual staff members, even if an individual staff member is directly responsible for abusing or neglecting a particular resident. This is because the people who run facilities like this have a legal duty to comply with federal and state laws regarding the rights of nursing home residents. That duty obligates them to establish and maintain consistent hiring/screening procedures, as well as supervision and training protocols to be sure all residents are properly cared for.
Accordingly, if a staff member is able to abuse or neglect a resident, their employer may be at fault for negligent supervision or negligent hiring practices. Likewise, if a facility fails to train staff members appropriately or retain enough staff members to make sure all residents receive quality care, they could be liable for any harm resulting from their inadequate management practices. A nursing home neglect lawyer from our firm can help you identify who is liable in your particular case.
Seek Help from a Pennsylvania Nursing Home Abuse Attorney
If you suspect your loved one is at risk of elder abuse or neglect, we urge you to take action by calling us. Not only is this unacceptable, but there are laws that can help us hold the abusers and the facility accountable. You’d be protecting your family member and other nursing home residents from falling victim again in the future.
You do not need to prove that something is going wrong before calling our firm. Our Pennsylvania nursing home abuse lawyers can help you get to the bottom of what’s happening. Contact Ostroff Godshall Injury and Accident Lawyers for a free, no-obligation consultation today. If you decide to retain our firm, we will not collect a fee unless we take legal action and win.