When you decide to place your loved one in a nursing home, you make great efforts to ensure that they are safe, receive proper medical treatment, and receive an adequate level of care to meet their daily needs.
You never expect to learn that your loved one has suffered physical harm while in the care of the nursing home staff that was supposed to protect them. If you are in this situation, a Louisiana unexplained bruises, cuts, or burns lawyer may be able to help.
Signs of abuse are not always readily apparent, and your loved one may be afraid, embarrassed, or unable to communicate with you about the abuse they are experiencing. If you notice unexplained bruises, cuts, or burns on your loved one who is a nursing home resident, then it is time for you to start asking questions and taking action to protect your loved one.
Pintas & Mullins Law Firm can help investigate the situation and determine how the injuries that your loved one has suffered occurred. We can help determine whether you have a legal claim for compensation arising from negligent nursing home care. Call (800) 842-6336 and learn more about your rights and alternatives in a case of nursing home abuse.
How Nursing Home Residents Suffer Unexplained Injuries
Repeated unexplained injuries, such as bruises, cuts, or burns, can be the first indicators that your loved one is suffering from abuse in a nursing home setting. Nursing home residents may be more prone to bumps and bruises as their bodies weaken, and mobility becomes more difficult.
Blood thinners, which older Americans sometimes take, can result in significant bruising from the smallest bump into a bed or nightstand. However, if repeated physical injuries are occurring, you might consider investigating further and determining if your loved one is suffering from abuse.
The National Institutes on Aging (NIA) defines physical abuse as any form of bodily injury to others from hitting, slapping, pushing, or grabbing. This type of abuse also could include forcibly restraining individuals against their will. According to the National Center on Elder Abuse (NCEA), physical abuse is the number one cause of complaints about abuse in nursing homes. Physical abuse covers various bodily injuries, including bruises, cuts, burns, broken bones, or more.
In some cases, these unexplained injuries result from unintentional nursing home staff shortages and neglect of residents. When nursing home residents cannot get the physical assistance they need, they often try to manage on their own, leading to bumps, bruises, and falls.
Chronic understaffing and high turnover rates in nursing homes can leave many patients unattended for long periods and unable to get help in a timely manner. In this way, the nursing home staff is responsible for failing to protect the residents from harm.
In other situations, physical abuse may be purposeful. Frustrated nursing home staff members, whether their frustration stems from understaffing, their jobs in general, or other reasons, may take out their feelings on the residents they are supposed to help.
Nursing home staff may grab residents too tightly, pinch them, yank, or jerk them by the arm, or even cause them to become off-balance and fall by pushing or tripping them. Intentionally inflicting harm on residents also can make nursing homes liable or financially responsible for the costs of injuries to the residents.
A Louisiana unexplained bruises, cuts, or burns lawyer can work with nursing home residents and their families to build civil claims against nursing homes for allowing incidents of nursing home abuse to occur.
Legal Liability of Nursing Homes for Nursing Home Abuse
Nursing home abuse claims can stem from negligence. Under this, nursing homes have a legal duty and responsibility to care for their residents and protect them from harm. When nursing homes are careless or reckless in allowing residents to suffer abuse, they can face liability for the injuries’ costs and related losses to the abuse. Call Pintas & Mullins Law Firm soon, so a Louisiana unexplained bruises, cuts, or burns lawyer can help you determine who exactly is liable in your case.
Nursing Home Staff Members
Generally, nursing homes are responsible for their employees’ negligent acts as a result of their employer-employee relationship. As a result, when nursing home members intentionally, recklessly, or carelessly cause bruises, cuts, burns, or other injuries to nursing home residents, the nursing home can face liability.
Nursing homes also can be responsible for negligence in screening, hiring, training, supervising, and monitoring their staff members. If staff members have a history of violence and abuse, for instance, and the nursing homes hire them anyway, the nursing home can face liability for their staff members’ harm.
Likewise, if nursing homes fail to properly train and monitor employees, which is likely with a high turnover rate in nursing home staff, then nursing homes can be liable if the employers are abusive to residents.
Other Residents
Other nursing home residents can become combative and violent at times as a result of their medical conditions. Nursing homes also have a duty to protect nursing home residents from physical attacks or other residents’ abuse.
If chronic understaffing or a lack of residents’ supervision leads to nursing home residents suffering injuries, they may have valid legal claims against the nursing homes. Likewise, staff members failing to respond promptly or ignoring an emergency in which a resident is suffering harm can result in liability for the nursing home.
Third Parties
In some cases, nursing home residents may suffer abuse from third parties who do not work for the nursing home. Delivery people, visitors, and others may have access to secure nursing home facilities that the public normally does not have access to.
Failing to properly screen and monitor these third parties while they are in the nursing home can result in abuse to nursing home residents. This situation also can result in liability for nursing homes.
Call for Legal Assistance with Your Claim Today
When you discover injuries to your loved one in a nursing home, you may need the help of a Louisiana unexplained bruises, cuts, or burns lawyer. Pintas & Mullins Law Firm can take your claim on a contingent-fee basis, which saves you from having to pay unexpected legal fees upfront. You make no payments until you receive your settlement award. Call (800) 842-6336 today and learn more about the services that we can offer you.