Many seniors that live in nursing homes spend their final days in these facilities. If your loved one passed away while in the care of a nursing home, there is a chance their passing was a result of wrongful death. We anticipate our loved ones receiving personalized care in a nursing home, but unfortunately these facilities can break our trust.
When nursing homes are overstaffed or hire unqualified staff members, our loved ones can suffer the most. In some cases, this negligence can take a senior’s life. Deaths can quickly become legal matters, and family members may be able to file a wrongful death lawsuit against the nursing home with the help of an attorney.
Pintas & Mullins Law Firm believes in holding negligent nursing homes responsible for their failures to keep your loved one safe. Contact us online today to begin your free case evaluation or call us now to find out how a Lyons death lawyer can help.
How Wrongful Death Can Occur in Nursing Homes
Whenever there is abuse or neglect in a nursing home, it could directly lead to the death of a resident. While an attorney can help your family prove the nursing home liable for your loved one’s death, they will need to build your case with supporting evidence.
Negligence and elder abuse are some causes of nursing home wrongful deaths. A Lyons death attorney can hold nursing homes accountable for negligence and abuse because they are avoidable. Your attorney will also have to prove that the nursing home was directly responsible for the death of your loved one.
Nurses and staff members may try to tell your family that your loved one passed away due to natural causes or from other medical complications rather than exploring exactly why they died. While the nursing home might not always investigate a patient’s death, you and your attorney can do so.
Here are several preventable situations in which your nursing home abuse attorney can investigate to prove fault in a wrongful death lawsuit:
Staff Could Fail to Feed Residents
Malnutrition in nursing homes is a direct sign that the residents are being neglected. Along with dehydration, malnutrition can take a toll on a senior’s health and could worsen their immune systems. Malnutrition can also further a senior’s poor health condition and will limit them from consuming beneficial vitamins and minerals. Nursing homes have a duty to ensure patients are eating. They also must have the resources to provide meals to seniors.
Residents May Fall Due to Lack of Supervision
Slip and fall injuries can be prevented in nursing homes when the facility utilizes precautionary measures. Seniors live in nursing homes in order to be safe from falls, but, in reality, many seniors around the country suffer from slip and falls while in the care of these facilities. A nursing home abuse attorney will investigate the fall and determine if the nursing home properly evaluated the patient for their risk of falling. Your attorney can also look into the nursing home’s slip and fall prevention plan and see if they even have one in place.
Understaffing Could Lead to Neglect or Abuse From Overworked Staff
Understaffing can contribute to many of the causes of wrongful death in nursing homes. When there are not enough qualified nurses, seniors can suffer from malnutrition, untreated wounds, medication complications, abuse, and more. If you are unsure whether understaffing had a direct link to your loved one’s passing in a nursing home, you may want to contact a Lyons death lawyer to investigate the facility. The nursing home may have their own legal representation to defend them from any understaffing claims.
Negligent Staff Could Make Medication Errors
Medication errors occur when nursing home staff members fail to provide the correct medication to their patients, which, according to AARP, is an all too common occurrence. Nursing homes can also cause a wrongful death through overmedication. Medication errors indicate negligence because staff need to take the proper time to prepare medication for each patient in which they are responsible to treat. When staff do not act in a cautious manner in this situation, they do not value the lives and safety of their residents.
Negligent Staff and Administration Should Be Held Accountable
There are many ways in which nursing homes can cause a wrongful death. When you lose a loved one in the care of a nursing home, it is important that you refrain from simply assuming your loved one passed away on their own. Wrongful deaths in nursing homes always have the potential to be due to negligence or abuse.
Staff members in nursing homes can directly cause a senior’s death, such as when they make medication errors or fail to address dangerous hazards in the building. Nurses must pay close attention to each of the patient’s needs and ensure they are providing them with the correct medication and the correct dosage. If you suspect your loved one died due to the negligence of a nursing home, contact Pintas & Mullins Law Firm.
Our team of lawyers has represented family members of victims of many different forms of nursing home abuse.1 Pintas & Mullins Law Firm is passionate about fighting for the rights of seniors in nursing homes, especially when a senior’s life is taken prematurely due to negligence.
For a free legal consultation with a Wrongful Death Lawyer serving Lyons, call (800) 794-0444
What You Need to Know About Filing a Wrongful Death Lawsuit
When you or your lawyer have evidence of intentional abuse or negligence by a nursing home, you may file a wrongful death lawsuit. Wrongful death lawsuits can be filed for a variety of reasons, such as when nursing homes provide inadequate care, a wrong diagnosis, overmedication, among other reasons.
Your attorney will help build your case and prove how the nursing home did not provide reasonable care for your loved one. They will also help you prove and establish negligence, such as how if a senior’s bedsores are never addressed by nurses, this could be an indication that they are aware of abuse and failed to stop it. Once negligence is determined, the next step is proving liability, which is the nursing home’s legal responsibility to protect and care for their patients.
Lyons Wrongful Death Lawyer Near Me (800) 794-0444
Contact our Wrongful Death Lawyers Today for Justice
If you suspect negligence or abuse after your loved one died in the care of a nursing home, call Pintas & Mullins Law Firm today. We will begin by providing you with a free case evaluation before investigating your case and pursuing a wrongful death lawsuit.
Our team of nursing home abuse lawyers will fight for justice and ensure the nursing home is held liable for your loved one’s passing if the facility’s staff or administration acted negligently or abused your loved one.
Call or text (800) 794-0444 or complete a Free Case Evaluation form
