It can be difficult to see our loved ones suffer as they age. However, it can be even more difficult to deal with injuries or even death that may result from negligent care provided at professional care facilities.
If you or a loved one has suffered from a choking accident, you can seek legal counsel to protect your rights and pursue the damages you deserve.
Call the Pintas & Mullins Law Firm at (800) 842-6336.
Choking in the Elderly
Choking happens mostly when medicine or food gets into the windpipe rather than the esophagus and cuts off the air supply to the body. The nursing home’s medical staff has little time to administer care if this accident occurs, and it can lead to irreversible brain injury or possibly death.
For this to be avoided, and for staff to effectively diagnose and prescribe medication appropriately, workers need appropriate training. If this is not the case, the facility may be held liable if a staff member acts with negligence and your loved one chokes or asphyxiates on food or some other content.
Causes of Swallowing Disorders in the Elderly
Swallowing is a series of synchronized muscles that regulate the mouth, pharynx, and esophagus. It takes 50 muscle and nerve pairs to enable a person to swallow. Various factors may impair the capacity of a person to swallow. Some of your muscles weaken as you age, and that’s how most seniors and people with disabilities develop swallowing problems (dysphagia). Some of the common risk factors for swallowing difficulties include:
- Missing teeth: A missing tooth will change the way you chew food, and, as a result, issues with swallowing can occur.
- Head or neck injuries: A head or neck injury leaves the sensitive area exposed to inflammation, leading to discomfort in swallowing.
- Neurological impairment: The ability to swallow can be impaired by sudden neurological trauma, whether from a stroke or brain or spinal cord injury.
- Neurological conditions: Dysphagia can be caused by multiple sclerosis, muscular dystrophy, or Parkinson’s disease.
- Cancer: certain cancers and some cancer therapies, such as radiation, may cause swallowing problems.
- Alzheimer’s disease or dementia: Mental disorders can cause problems for people chewing food. It is possible they may forget to chew or hold food in their mouth.
- Aging: Natural aging and normal wear and tear on the esophagus places older adults at high risk for difficulty in swallowing.
For a free legal consultation with a Nashville Choking Lawyer serving Nashville, call (800) 842-6336
Establishing a Case of Liability for Choking
Choking cases are often brought on behalf of the elderly living in a nursing care home by family members. A nursing home should have a healthy atmosphere in which seniors are looked after and respected. That’s why you’re going to be saddened to hear that your loved one may experience harassment.
Depending on the injury’s gravity, sustaining violence can lead to psychological trauma or even lifelong consequences.
A nursing home can be held liable for any injuries suffered while someone is in their care. They failed to protect their residents or violated the duty of care by exhibiting negligence. Negligence happens when there is an obligation, and there is a violation of that obligation that causes harm.
Failure to adequately supervise or appropriately prescribe medications or respond on time are potential forms of negligence, which can be grounds for civil action. With the support of a Nashville choking lawyer, you can seek justice for your loved one.
Nashville Nashville Choking Lawyer Near Me (800) 842-6336
Recoverable Losses in a Nursing Home Choking Case
It is important to take legal action within the permitted time frame stipulated by the state’s statute of limitations. You may otherwise be disqualified from recovering an award. Under Tennessee law, the time limit for filing a civil case is one year from the accident date.
You may be entitled to pursue recovery of many potential damages you have suffered. These losses may include:
- Potential medical costs, including hospitalization fees, physical therapy, prescription drugs, surgery, or transportation costs to and from the doctor’s office.
- Non-economic harm that affects the victim’s quality of life.
- In exceptional cases, you could recover punitive damages.
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A Wrongful Death Settlement
The most difficult thing to deal with is the loss of a loved one or family member. With feelings of sorrow, disappointment, and rage, the heirs are left struggling, especially if your loved one died due to a preventable accident such as choking while in a professional care facility.
The unfortunate truth is that you cannot do anything to change the outcome. Filing a wrongful death lawsuit, however, will offer a sense of justice and closure, as well as the financial relief you need to help you move forward.
A spouse or any living children may put forward a wrongful death claim. In a wrongful death lawsuit, surviving loved ones will be compensated for funeral and burial costs, medical costs before death, and non-economic damages such as pain and suffering.
Nursing home wrongful death is especially difficult as the nursing home may contend that the resident’s death was inevitable and caused by natural causes. You need an attorney to manage such a case successfully.
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Consider a Nashville Choking Lawyer Today
In nursing home choking cases, the Pintas & Mullins Law Firm are prepared to investigate your case. If you suspect that a negligent nursing home is responsible for a choking injury or the death of a loved one, you have a right to pursue legal justice on their behalf. For a confidential and free consultation to see what a Nashville choking lawyer can do for your case, call Pintas & Mullins Law Firm at (800) 842-6336.
Call or text (800) 842-6336 or complete a Free Case Evaluation form
