Most families enter their loved ones into nursing homes so they can receive the care and attention that they would not otherwise get at home or with family. It’s always a difficult decision to make, and you are trusting the nursing home to protect your family from harm.
When a nursing home violates that trust by causing your loved one’s death it is one of the most painful experiences that a family can suffer. These deaths may be sudden and unexpected, or they may result from lingering injuries that gradually worsened over time. Family members may regret their decision to enter their loved one into a nursing home or blame themselves for their loss. However, the fact of the matter is that the nursing home had a responsibility to your loved one who was in their care, as well as to you and your family.
Wrongful deaths are preventable deaths that occur due to another person’s or entity’s negligence, carelessness, or misconduct. In wrongful death cases involving nursing home patients, those responsible include the nursing home itself, and possibly others including individual caregivers/staff as well as the corporate organizations behind the nursing home such as management companies. If you suspect that a nursing home is responsible for your loved one’s death, you may be able to receive compensation through a wrongful death lawsuit.
It can be difficult to hold nursing homes accountable for wrongful deaths that result from their negligent care. That is why it’s important to arm yourself with experienced and skilled legal representation. I started Pleasant Law, PLLC to empower nursing home residents and their families. I have been practicing for over 20 years and have a strong record of successfully prosecuting nursing home corporations and recovering damages for my clients.
In general, to file a wrongful death case most states require you to show that the deceased person, also called the decedent, would have been able to file a personal injury lawsuit had they survived their injuries
Prevailing in a wrongful death lawsuit against a nursing home can be significantly more complicated than in an injury-only case. Nursing home residents typically have documented pre-existing medical conditions, and nursing homes may cite these as the cause of a resident’s death. Pleasant Law, PLLC compiles evidence and uses medical experts to prove that the nursing home caused the fatal injury.
Nursing homes are responsible for wrongful deaths when their negligent or abusive practices caused the injury that led to the resident’s death. For instance, the nursing home staff may leave residents who have limited mobility unattended for long periods and ignore their calls for assistance. Some residents might attempt to get up on their own, which can cause them to fall and become injured (a leading cause of death among nursing home patients). Other residents might remain in one position for too long, causing them to develop bedsores or pressure ulcers, which can then lead to deadly infections like sepsis.
Nursing homes may routinely fail to assist residents who need help eating or drinking, all the way to the point of becoming malnourished or dehydrated, severely weakening residents and compromising their ability to fight off infectious diseases and other problems like bedsores. Nursing homes are also responsible for the individual actions of staff members who might physically assault or abuse residents, especially if these staff members were not properly vetted or have had complaints filed against them in the past.
If your loved one suffered a fatal injury due to a nursing home’s negligence or abuse, you may be eligible to recover the following damages:
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