According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), nearly 300,000 senior citizens each year require a hospital stay because of a broken hip. While falls cause most hip fractures, why a senior citizen living in a nursing home might have fallen could signal neglect or abuse by the staff.
If you believe that a loved one suffered a bone fracture or break due to lack of care or abuse in a nursing home, reach out to Pintas & Mullins Law Firm. With help from a Dallas bone fractures and breaks lawyer, you can put together a civil case and fight for compensation on a family member’s behalf. Call (800) 842-6336 today for a free case review with a team member.
How to Respond to a Loved One’s Broken Bone
If a loved one breaks or fractures a bone while in the care of a nursing home, you will want to consider the scene carefully. The break or fracture may have occurred accidentally, but it might also be a sign of physical abuse or neglect.
With that in mind, consider taking the following steps upon discovering a loved one’s injury in a nursing home.
Seek Out Medical Assistance
Before everything else, you will want to make sure that your loved one receives the medical attention they need to get back on their feet. If it becomes clear that the nursing home staff cannot or will not provide them with necessary care, you can call for an ambulance or drive your family member to a local hospital.
However, if it turns out that the staff at the nursing home where you have placed your loved one refuses to treat them, do what you can to collect a statement affirming as such before you leave the facility. In doing so, you have begun to gather what evidence you may need to build a civil case for compensation later. This statement could make it easier to prove that the nursing home violated its duty of care to your loved one.
For a free legal consultation with a Dallas Bone Fractures and Breaks Lawyer serving Dallas, call (800) 794-0444
Discuss the Situation
Once your loved one receives the medical attention that they require to recover from their injury, you can look at the situation that brought about their injuries in the first place. In some cases, your loved one may have fallen while walking from one place to another. However, someone might have pushed your loved one, or an underlying medical condition may have worsened due to lack of care, leaving your family member with brittle bones prone to breaks.
You can pull together the story of what happened to your loved one with help from a Dallas bone fractures and breaks lawyer. Relevant evidence that you might later use to build a complaint, demand letter, or other legal documents could include:
- Video evidence of the fall
- Photos of your family member’s injuries
- Input from a medical professional
- Eyewitness accounts of the fall
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Document Your Losses
After gathering evidence, you might work with a Dallas bone fractures and breaks lawyer to identify the parties you wish to hold liable for your losses. You might hold an individual staff member responsible, or the liable party might be an institution—that all depends on the evidence you discover in your investigation.
With those details at hand, you can estimate what your potential compensation might look like. To do so, you will need to catalog the losses that you and your loved one endured because of a broken bone.
You can consider two categories of losses while building a broken bone or fracture case:
- Economic losses: This category includes medical bills related to the broken bone, the cost of walking aids and prescription medications, and expenses incurred moving your loved one from the facility.
- Non-economic losses: These consist of emotional damages done unto all parties involved that you cannot easily quantify.
Once you have calculated your estimate, you can bring it and the evidence you gathered previously together in the document of your choice: a demand letter or a complaint. Complaints start the process of filing a personal injury lawsuit in court, whereas demand letters allow you to speak with a potentially liable party without having to go to court.
Either way, the team at Pintas & Mullins Law Firm can elaborate on the calculations that led you to your compensation estimate. Call us today to get started.
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Contact Local Law Enforcement
You can reach out to local law enforcement to inform the appropriate bodies of the abuse and neglect that your loved one may have suffered. In turn, law enforcement representatives could launch an investigation into the behaviors of a nursing home facility, staff member, or other individuals who might have abused your family member.
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Reach Out to a Dallas Bone Fractures and Breaks Lawyer
You might benefit from the legal advice provided to you by a Dallas bone fractures and breaks lawyer. They can manage communications with the nursing home and its legal counsel, better allowing you to get your loved one the care they might need to recover from their incident. They can also make sure any legal action you take against the facility meets the two-year statute of limitations for personal injury suits established by Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code §16.003.
Work with a Dallas Bone Fractures and Breaks Lawyer
Some factors might limit your ability to fight on a loved one’s behalf after a bone fracture or break. For example, only immediate family members can press a claim in court on behalf of a loved one.
That said, you can seek out legal advice regardless of your relation to the abused or neglected resident. If you believe a loved one may have suffered at the hands of a negligent or abusive caretaker, a Dallas bone fractures and breaks lawyer can help you understand your legal rights and act on them accordingly.
For a free case evaluation, call the team at Pintas & Mullins Law Firm today at (800) 842-6336.
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