In nursing homes, senior citizens with weakened immune systems and underlying health conditions, such as diabetes and high blood pressure, live in close quarters. Those circumstances make nursing home residents particularly susceptible to infections and diseases. That is why personal hygiene and sanitation are so important in facilities that care for elderly patients.
Unfortunately, sometimes staff at nursing homes fail to take steps to adequately protect residents from infections and from the spread of diseases. Neglect may occur because of inadequate training, understaffing, or indifference, according to the National Center on Elder Abuse. If improper care leads to the spread of infections and disease in a nursing home, the home may be held liable, and victims or their families may be entitled to financial compensation.
If you or a loved one developed an infection or contracted a communicable disease in a nursing home, call Pintas & Mullins Law Firm to talk to a member of our team about how our Oklahoma City infections outbreak and disease lawyers may be able to assist you.
How Infections and Diseases Can Spread in Nursing Homes
Senior citizens who live in nursing homes often need assistance with basic tasks, such as using the toilet or having their diapers changed, bathing, and dressing. Due to understaffing and inadequate training, employees may not provide an adequate standard of care, according to the National Center for Biotechnology Information. That can cause residents to suffer from poor hygiene that can make them more vulnerable to infections and contagious illnesses.
The Risk of Sepsis
If a nursing home resident has a wound from an accident or a recent medical procedure and it has become infected, caregivers must keep the wound clean and the dressing fresh to prevent the infection from becoming worse. An infected wound that is not kept clean can become septic. Sepsis is a serious and potentially life-threatening reaction to an infection.
The condition can be treated with antibiotics if it is detected early, but in some cases, nursing home staff fail to recognize signs of sepsis and do not provide timely care. Nursing home residents may later die as a result of neglect.
Investigating a Nursing Home
If you hire our firm to represent your family, we can focus on how nursing home employees cared for residents and whether they took appropriate steps to maintain good hygiene and sanitation to prevent the spread of infections and diseases.
Members of our staff can interview you, your relative, other residents of the nursing home, and staff members. We may find out what happened that led to an infection or the spread of a disease in the home.
We can also review your loved one’s medical records to learn about any underlying health conditions. This may help us find out if your family member routinely received appropriate care, or if staff members’ negligence made your relative more vulnerable to an infectious disease or infection.
Nursing Home Regulations
If we find that staff neglected to provide appropriate care and to take adequate steps to prevent the spread of illness and infection, the nursing home may be found liable for injuries or deaths that resulted.
The nursing home may be negligent if it failed to meet minimum staffing requirements, according to the United States Department of Justice. It may also classify as negligent if they did not provide adequate training for its employees or did not give workers the tools and resources necessary to maintain residents’ hygiene and to keep the nursing home clean and sanitized.
An Oklahoma City infections outbreak and disease lawyer may seek financial compensation to hold the facility accountable for its negligence. In some cases, involving nursing home neglect, we file a claim against the facility’s insurance policy.
In other instances, we believe that it would be more appropriate to file a personal injury lawsuit against the nursing home. In those circumstances, we might settle the case out of court, or we might have to go to trial to pursue a financial award that we consider fair and reasonable.
Call Pintas & Mullins Law Firm today for a free consultation.
For a free legal consultation with a Oklahoma City Infections Outbreak and Disease Lawyer serving Oklahoma City, call (800) 794-0444
Seek Help from an Oklahoma City Infections Outbreak and Disease Lawyer
Senior citizens living in nursing homes are at risk because of their physical health. In addition, they often suffer from Alzheimer’s disease or dementia and have trouble communicating. Due to their vulnerability and social isolation, seniors may fear that they could face repercussions if they were to speak out about unsafe conditions.
Pintas & Mullins Law Firm wants to advocate for residents of nursing homes who have suffered because of neglect or abuse. We work to ensure the rights of vulnerable people and to seek justice for their personal injuries. If a member of your family who lived in a nursing home contracted an infection or disease in the home, an Oklahoma City infections outbreak and disease lawyer may be able to help your family seek justice.
We understand that your family may be unable to afford to hire an attorney to represent you in a case involving nursing home neglect. Our firm operates on a contingency fee basis. That means that if you ask us to represent your family, you will not have to pay anything unless we recover financial compensation on behalf of your loved one.
The sooner you contact us, the sooner our team may be able to begin gathering evidence and pursuing financial compensation. Call our office.
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