Elder abuse has become a major cause for concern. The World Health Organization reports that one in six people over the age of 60 has experienced some form of elder abuse during the past year and that two out of three staff members in nursing homes report that they have committed abuse in the past year.
There are many types of nursing home abuse, and it is not always the physical abuse that comes to mind when we hear about elder abuse. Often abuse comes in the form of abandonment, when the caregiver does not provide adequate care for the elderly patient. When this occurs, it is usually the result of understaffing. It can have serious and even life-threatening complications for patients, since simple tasks like shifting patient positions to avoid bedsores can be overlooked.
If your loved one suffered injuries or passed away because of abandonment in a nursing home, you may be entitled to compensation for your losses. The team at Pintas & Mullins Law Firm is here to help.
We want to make sure that you and your family do not suffer from further injury or losses. For a free evaluation of your case, contact us now. Our team works on a contingency-fee-basis, which means you pay nothing out of pocket or upfront. We take our fee from the settlement you receive. If you get nothing, we get nothing. Contact us today at (800) 201-3999.
Types of Nursing Home Abandonment
In 2015, there were nearly 1.3 million people receiving nursing home care in the U.S. When nursing homes are understaffed, essential medical tasks can be overlooked. Some common examples of this are:
- Failing to turn or shift patients to prevent bedsores.
- Failure to check on patients regularly to meet their needs.
- Failure to give medications on schedule or at all.
- Failure to provide help with everyday activities.
- Not responding to a patient’s call in a timely manner or ignoring it altogether.
- Not providing adequate nutrition or failing to help patients who require assistance with eating.
Even in instances where the staff cares about the patients, but do not have the time or training to provide proper care for your loved ones, it is still considered abandonment. In many of these cases, especially in situations where the abandonment is unintended, the liability falls on the administrators of the nursing home who allowed the understaffing to happen and continue.
If your loved one received injuries because of abandonment in a nursing home, you may be entitled to recover compensation for their injuries. Contact Pintas & Mullins Law Firm today at (800) 201-3999 for a free, no-risk review of your claim.
Failing To Turn Or Shift Patients to Prevent Bedsores
Patients in nursing homes often have limited mobility, and their conditions may confine them to their beds for extended periods of time. When they do not receive occasional assistance changing positions, bedsores can occur. Mayo Clinic defines bedsores as injuries to the skin and tissue caused by prolonged pressure. Also called pressure ulcers or decubitus ulcers, parts of the body most susceptible to the development of bedsores include bony areas, such as:
- Heels
- Shoulders
- Tailbone
- Elbows
- Back of the head
- Knees
- Ankles
As bedsores progress, they can cause severe pain, burning, or itching, as well as blisters and open sores that predispose the patient to infection.
Bedsores May Indicate Neglect or Abuse
Elderly and dependent adults can suffer many forms of nursing home abuse despite federal law prohibiting their inhumane treatment. The Nursing Home Reform Act of 1987 outlines the rights of nursing home patients, which include the right to freedom from abuse, neglect, and other forms of mistreatment. The National Center on Elder Abuse (NCEA) revealed that, in 2010, nursing home patients frequently reported instances of abuse, which commonly included physical abuse, psychological abuse, and gross neglect. The failure to turn or shift patients to prevent bedsores in a nursing home setting can indicate that they do not receive the appropriate level of care and attention for their needs and may signify negligence.
Defining Neglect and Abuse
Abuse refers to the intentional infliction of harm or pain, while neglect involves the abandonment of a patient or a failure to provide for their needs in a way that would prevent avoidable harm. Failing to turn patients to prevent bedsores constitutes a form of neglect, which federal law forbids in any setting, nursing home, or otherwise.
Federal and State Laws Offer Protections for Nursing Home Patients
Sometimes, nurses and aides in nursing homes unintentionally abandon their patients due to an unsafe caregiver-to-patient ratio. In these cases, nursing home administration may attempt to excuse instances of neglect by claiming that the understaffing of their home makes it difficult to attend to all of their patients immediately. The Nursing Home Reform Act of 1987 set forth mandatory staffing standards designed to ensure the proper care of each nursing home patient, and states have additional provisions in place, as well. Federal and state courts, as well as nursing home negligence victims and their families, can hold facilities accountable for their failure to abide by these regulations.
The Prevalence of Bedsores in Nursing Homes
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the prevalence of bedsores in nursing homes accounts as a primary factor in measuring the quality of care in a facility. In 2004, a national survey conducted by the CDC found that more than 1 in 10 nursing home patients, or approximately 159,000 individuals, had bedsores.
Additionally, a study published in NursingOpen in 2016 found inconsistencies in the documentation of bedsores in nursing homes. The study found that prior to auditing, many of the patient records did not contain information about bedsores or preventive measures taken, which suggests that some nursing staff in nursing home settings may need improved education and training to prevent and monitor the occurrence of bedsores.
Stages of Bedsores and Potential Complications
The progression of bedsores involves four stages, from least concerning to most concerning.
Stage 1
At the earliest stage, the skin may appear red or dark and feel warm to the touch. The patient may complain of an itching, burning, or painful sensation.
Stage 2
The affected area typically becomes a blister or sore. Pain may increase and become more significant in this stage.
Stage 3
If a Stage 2 bedsore does not receive treatment, it can reach this stage, in which the open sore deepens and creates a crater in the skin due to its effect on the underlying tissue. Stage 3 bedsores require immediate medical treatment.
Stage 4
The patient has a large wound at this stage, and the infection may have begun to affect muscles, joints, ligaments, tendons, and bones. Medical professionals do not stage any bedsores that progress beyond this point.
If the nursing home staff fails to shift patients to prevent bedsores, they can occur in a matter of days or even hours. The longer a patient must wait to receive diagnosis and treatment, the more serious the condition becomes. As it develops into later stages, it presents an increased risk of dangerous complications, including:
- Cellulitis
- Wound infection
- Infection of the bone or joint
- Sepsis
- Death
Even with treatment, bedsores may take weeks or months to heal.
Failure to Check on Patients Regularly to Meet Their Needs
Choosing a nursing home for a spouse, parent, or other loved one can take financial, mental, and emotional tolls on the family. Families want the best possible care for their loved one, and ensuring they can trust a facility to provide all of the patient’s necessities and make them feel at home can present a challenge. Unfortunately, family members cannot always see what happens behind closed doors. When nursing home staff fail to check on patients regularly to meet their needs, patients often suffer the dangerous effects of abandonment.
According to the National Center on Elder Abuse (NCEA), over half of nursing home staff members who participated in a study admitted to abusing patients, and neglect accounted for two-thirds of those instances.
Rights of Nursing Home Patients
Federal law protects nursing home patients against abuse and neglect, as the Nursing Home Reform Act of 1987 established the current standards of care for nursing home patients. This legislation outlines their entitlements, which includes freedom from all forms of mistreatment and the right to receive treatment and care that respects their dignity, privacy, and needs.
When nursing homes do not meet these basic care requirements, their failure to prevent harm may constitute neglect. According to the National Consumer Voice for Quality Long-Term Care, neglect occurs when nursing home staff fails to conduct frequent checks on nursing home patients to ensure they meet their needs, which include assistance with:
- Bathroom and hygiene needs
- Eating and drinking
- Walking
- Activities and hobbies
- Urgent calls for help
Dangers of Failing to Check on Nursing Home Patients Regularly
Although it does not have the immediate impact of physical abuse, the gradual effects of neglect can have a serious influence on the health and well-being of patients. Nursing homes exist to provide care for those who cannot care for themselves, and when left on their own, patients often develop preventable medical conditions that may lead to serious complications or even death.
Medical Conditions Caused by Neglect
Many patients in nursing homes already suffer from chronic illnesses, and as they age, their immune strength continues to decrease. This makes it easy for them to acquire certain illnesses and more difficult for them to fight them off on their own. Nursing home abandonment, including failure of staff to provide the appropriate medications, may make patients more susceptible to prolonged illness and the development of related complications.
Patients who suffer neglect and abandonment in nursing homes often experience bedsores, which occur as a result of constant pressure on a concentrated area of the body. These sores, also known as pressure ulcers, continue to progress without treatment and can lead to severe pain, infection, and sepsis. Other medical conditions that may result from nursing home neglect include:
- Malnutrition
- Dehydration
- Sudden weight loss
- Mental health problems
Increased Risk of Patient Injuries
If a nursing home staff does not respond to a patient’s calls, the patient may attempt to change position, use the bathroom, or seek out help on their own. If the patient has limited mobility, this can lead to falls, which often cause serious injuries in the elderly.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 30 million older adults suffer falls each year. Of those, 3 million result in injuries, and 30,000 result in fatal injuries. Nursing home staff has an obligation to check on patients regularly to make sure they have what they need and respond to their calls for assistance in a timely manner.
Federal Law Prohibits Nursing Home Understaffing
When the federal government passed the Nursing Home Reform Act of 1987, they included staffing guidelines for registered and licensed nurses. Additionally, each state and the District of Columbia have their own requirements in place for sufficient, licensed, and/ or direct care staff established to suit the needs of their nursing home populations.
When families of nursing home abandonment victims discover their loved one’s neglect, the nursing home may attempt to blame understaffing for the shortcomings in the provision of their care that lead to the illness or injury of the patient. While some cases of negligence do occur because the facility failed to hire enough staff, this excuse does not hold weight in court, as federal and state regulations strictly prohibit the practice.
Failure to Give Medications On Schedule Or At All
The Nursing Home Reform Act of 1987 outlines the rights of nursing home patients, including the accommodation of their medical needs. The legislation also makes clear the right of the patient to take an active role in their own care plan and to receive full disclosure about any changes in care or treatment.
This means that, as long as the patient retains the capacity to make their own decisions, they can discuss with their medical team all methods of preventive, diagnostic, and treatment intervention, including medications. Nursing home staff members have an obligation to provide all patients with their medications as their medical records and care plan indicate. If nursing home staff members fail to give medications on schedule or at all, their negligence can have a serious impact on the health and well-being of their patients.
Prevalence of Prescription Medication Among Nursing Home Patients
Efficient medication pass procedures are essential to the health of nursing home patients, as staff must accurately manage large volumes of medication and take precautions to ensure that each patient receives the appropriate drug and dosage. If nursing homes fail to give patients medications on schedule or at all, patients may experience a serious interruption in the management of their disease, treatment of symptoms, or relief of pain.
Medical Issues in Nursing Homes
Over time, the ability of the body to continue its frequent production of certain disease-fighting cells decreases, making elderly people more susceptible to illness and less able to recover quickly from illness, injury, and infection, according to Dermatologic Clinics.
Additionally, chronic medical conditions that result from years of development or long-term habits such as smoking, inactivity, and poor nutrition often appear in later years, and many require medications to treat them.
Chronic Conditions
Especially in advanced age, many chronic diseases require daily treatment to keep patients from experiencing uncomfortable and sometimes dangerous effects of their condition. Certain medications can also slow the progress of the diseases they treat to help patients maintain a higher quality of life. Chronic conditions that can occur in nursing homes include:
- Hypertension
- Arthritis
- Dementia
- Depression
- Cardiovascular Disease
- Diabetes
- Parkinson’s Disease
- Glaucoma
- Osteoporosis
Infections
According to an article in Aging Health, over 2 million infections occur in the 16,000 nursing homes across the United States each year. In the elderly, infections often require hospitalization and longer treatment times and often contribute to mortality.
Nursing home residents regularly experience urinary tract infections (UTIs) as a result of their suppressed immune systems, and failure to treat UTIs can lead to severe complications that sometimes mimic other conditions, such as dementia.
Other types of infections that frequently occur in nursing homes include respiratory infections, which can restrict airways and lead to difficulty breathing, and skin infections, including bedsores. Nursing home staff must give scheduled medications to patients suffering from these and other bacterial infections to relieve discomfort and prevent prolonged illness that can lead to more serious problems.
Pain Management
A Reuters article reports that approximately 40% of nursing home patients experience moderate to severe pain each day for several consecutive months, and some of those in pain do not receive medication to alleviate their symptoms. The article also notes that minorities and patients with cognitive development experience a lack of assistance with their pain management more often than other patients.
While treating pain in a nursing home setting can present a challenge due to specific patient needs, interactions with other medications, and medication refusal, staff must ensure they provide medications on schedule and communicate with all patients to accommodate their health and comfort.
Failure to Provide Medications on Schedule or At All Constitutes Neglect
According to the Nursing Home Reform Act of 1987, nursing home patients have a right to receive quality care and treatment with dignity, urgency, and respect and take an active role in their care plans. When nursing home staff members do not give patients medications, their failure to act constitutes abandonment, a form of neglect.
Unlike physical abuse, which typically has an immediate effect on the patient, negligence occurs when staff ignores patients and their needs for extended periods of time. If patients do not receive regular medications as directed by their doctors or at all, they may experience significant declines in their health.
Failure to Provide Help with Everyday Activities
Families often choose nursing homes for their loved ones when they do not have the time, resources, or training to provide the care that they need. While the needs of nursing home residents vary, many require help with everyday activities, such as:
- Getting out of bed
- Using the restroom
- Taking a shower
- Changing clothes
- Brushing teeth
- Eating and drinking
Residents deserve dignity and respect, and nursing home staff have an obligation to meet even their most basic needs. If staff members fail to provide help with their everyday activities, their negligence can have a profound impact on the residents’ health and safety.
Federal Law Requires That Nursing Homes Provide Residents with Assistance
In 1987, the United States government passed federal legislation mandating quality care for all nursing home residents. The Nursing Home Reform Act (NHRA) clarifies the duties of nursing home staff to provide consistent, thorough, and appropriate care to residents, as well as the rights of the residents to receive such care and participate actively in decisions regarding their needs and preferences.
Personal Care
According to the NHRA, residents have the right to receive accommodation for their physical needs in a manner that protects their privacy and allows them the autonomy to make their own decisions. Staff must provide these personal needs using a resident-centered approach that does not subject the resident to any type of mistreatment.
Medical Care
Some nursing home residents have medical conditions that require specialized care and treatment, and the facilities have a responsibility to provide care in accordance with each resident’s particular needs. Residents’ medical issues often require daily support, which may include:
- Taking medication
- Turning or shifting in bed to prevent bedsores
- Cleaning and dressing wounds
- Receiving appropriate care from medical providers, including mental health professionals
Nursing home staff must ensure that residents receive quality medical care in accordance with their needs and contact a resident’s doctor if they have concerns about the resident’s condition or do not feel that they can provide the level of care a patient requires. Failing to help residents with their everyday needs, including medical assistance, can lead to serious illness or injury.
Hobbies and Social Interaction
Social relationships have a positive impact on the overall health of older adults. However, while many nursing homes prioritize the relationship between residents and their primary care providers, these providers do not often emphasize the importance of social interaction to a resident’s overall well-being.
Nursing homes make it easy for residents to receive around-the-clock care, but they also become the residents’ primary communities. Nursing homes must take an active role in helping residents participate in the hobbies, relationships, and activities they enjoy in order to meet their social needs.
Defining Negligence
According to the National Institute on Aging (NIA), neglect involves the failure to provide care in a manner that would prevent harm or the failure to react to a situation that could cause harm.
Nursing home staff may engage in negligent behavior knowingly or unintentionally. Regardless of intent, victims and their families can still hold nursing homes legally accountable for instances of neglect, which may include lack of assistance with:
- Personal hygiene
- Medical needs
- Mobility
- Social participation
- Calls for help
Neglecting the daily needs of residents can lead to new or prolonged illnesses, injuries suffered as a result of residents attempting to care for themselves, and other medical emergencies.
Nursing Homes Must Meet Staffing Requirements
When patients suffer neglect at the hands of nursing home staff, the facility may attempt to use understaffing as an excuse. However, nursing homes must meet federal and state staffing requirements, and their failure to do so may lead to legal repercussions.
The NHRA holds that, at a minimum, nursing homes must 24-hour licensed nursing services sufficient to meet the needs of each resident, and that a registered nurse must provide services at least eight hours per day, seven days a week. Individual state laws vary based on the needs of their populations, but many include further requirements for sufficient staff, licensed staff, and direct care staff.
If a nursing home does not provide adequate staffing based on their resident volume and the needs of their residents and their residents suffer the effects of negligence as a result, victims and their families can hold them responsible.
Not Providing Adequate Nutrition or Failing to Help Patients Who Require Assistance with Eating
Staffing shortages have always been an issue in nursing homes. These staff shortages could exist for many reasons. It may be a matter of low pay leading to low morale, poor training, and management, or just difficult working conditions for the workers.
What happens in staffing shortages is that the current workers are overworked and overstressed. This overwork could lead to mistakes and errors related to the basic needs of nursing home residents. This failure in caring for the elderly residents could result in not providing adequate nutrition or failing to help patients who require assistance with eating, missing medication times, or skipping required times for sanitization and overall cleaning.
If you have an elderly spouse or parent in a nursing home, and you’ve seen clues of mistreatment or lack of treatment, then Pintas & Mullins Law Firm can discuss the details of your loved one’s nursing home experience. Our team can work with you to examine any recurring patterns of poor care in the home. Failing to assist with eating and drinking is a form of neglect, according to the National Consumer Voice for Quality Long-Term Care.
If there is evidence that shows negligent care in the home, we will work with you to develop a lawsuit against the nursing home. Proving negligence in a court case could help to bring about financial restitution to your family for the treatment of your loved one.
Feeding Nursing Home Residents
A common problem among nursing homes lies in the area of feeding assistance to seniors and overall inadequate food service. Understaffed nursing homes can create conditions where food preparation is minimal, food service management is lacking, and the residents’ nutritional needs are woefully lacking. When you put all of those together, it can turn into a recipe for negligence in the nursing home.
Nursing home residents are often paying for meal plans that include two or three meals a day. This schedule should be carefully attended to by the staff.
Too many workers at nursing homes simply bring a tray of food to the resident’s room, without attending to feeding the resident. Some of the residents may be okay with this minimal service, but others may need to help with cutting the food, scooping the food into a spoon, and carefully feeding the elderly person with the food from the plate. When this does not happen, residents cannot eat properly, the food gets cold, and the dinner is often wasted. This leads to possible malnourishment, which is certainly under the umbrella of negligence.
The extra work involved in spoon-feeding the resident may become too much for the already overworked nursing home staff. One staffer may ask another to help out and feed a resident. If the other staffer neglects or forgets to feed a resident or give them medication, that can cause nutritional imbalances, leading to headaches, pain, or more.
Nursing homes should effectively control these lapses in basic needs for the residents. Some may be more serious than others. For example, residents who are not eating on time or being fed improperly may get dizzy and pass out. The resident may suffer injuries from a fall or possibly even worse.
Other residents may not receive their medication in a timely manner, or not at all. When this happens, the elderly person can become confused or disoriented. It may even lead to seizures or death. These acts of negligence are often the base of personal injury claims against the staff of a nursing home.
Nursing Homes That Abandon Patients
Unfortunately, these lapses in food service to residents often have roots in larger issues around the idea of patient abandonment. Nursing homes are negligent when they abandon their patients. It goes against a professional code of conduct. If a nurse neglects a patient’s needs, or simply abandons the patient, without making any prior arrangements for another to cover, the nurse can be charged with patient abandonment.
If a nurse leaves the building to get a coffee nearby without mentioning that to anyone on staff, that could be viewed as patient abandonment. If a nurse jumps onto a conference call with a doctor, without turning a patient over to other staffers, that too could be viewed as patient abandonment. If the patient gets injured as a result of the absence, the nursing home could have to defend itself against charges of negligence, malpractice, or more.
Not Responding to a Patient’ Call in a Timely Manner or Ignoring It Altogether
Choosing a nursing home for loved ones does not come easy to many families, as they may find it challenging to find a facility they can trust to provide quality care.
The National Center on Elder Abuse (NCEA) highlights data from the National Ombudsman Reporting System (NORS) that may explain why families are concerned. According to NORS, in 2014, 7.6 percent of roughly 188,599 complaints (14,258) to Ombudsman programs involved different types of abuse in facilities for seniors.
Many spouses, adult children, and other family members place their loved ones in nursing homes because they do not have the ability to provide around-the-clock care for them. Nursing homes have a legal obligation to care for each patient as their specific needs require. Not responding to a patient’s call in a timely manner or ignoring it altogether can lead to serious injury or illness and may constitute neglect.
The Rights of Nursing Home Patients
The Nursing Home Reform Act of 1987 (NHRA) laid out precise guidelines regarding the quality of care in nursing homes and federal compliance regulations. In doing so, it also detailed the services nursing homes must provide for their residents, as well as residents’ rights, which include the right to:
- Freedom from all forms of mistreatment, including physical restraints
- Communicate with staff and have autonomy in making decisions for themselves
- Receive treatment with dignity and respect
- Accommodation of all medical, physical, and social needs
- Participate in their own care plan and voice concerns without the threat of retribution
How the Law Defines Nursing Home Negligence
The NHRA explains negligence as it applies to a nursing home setting, where it can occur either directly or indirectly. Neglect involves the failure to provide care for a patient in a way that would prevent the patient from experiencing pain of any kind or failing to respond to a potentially harmful situation.
Intentional neglect occurs when staff members purposely ignore patient needs, while accidental neglect often results when nursing homes fail to hire or schedule an adequate number of employees or do not train staff to properly care for patients. Examples of neglect in a nursing home include:
- Incorrect positioning of the patient in bed, which can lead to bedsores and other medical issues
- Failure to help the patient with basic needs, such as hygiene, eating, drinking, and walking
- Failure to help the patient participate in social activities
- Failing to respond to a patient’s call for help
In addition to federal regulations, states have laws that regulate nursing homes and outlines the duties and responsibilities of caretakers in a nursing home or other long-term care facility.
Potential Consequences of Not Responding to a Patient’s Call Urgently or at All
Many nursing home patients have special needs that limit their ability to care for themselves. Whether age or disability requires them to seek assistance for certain needs, a nursing home’s staff has an obligation to provide them with the help they need, and when they need it. If they leave the patient to manage their care alone, especially after the patient calls for help, medical emergencies may occur.
Development or Prolonging of an Illness
According to research published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, nursing home residents experience pain regularly. When nursing home staff does not reply to the calls of patients, they may continue to suffer preventable or treatable pain.
Many nursing home patients suffer from illness, as well, and certain chronic conditions require urgent care to prevent instances of acute distress from worsening. The decreased immune response of elderly patients may also leave them susceptible to infection, especially those that spread rapidly in residential care settings, without appropriate staff response times.
Unassisted Mobility Can Cause Injuries
If patients who need to use the restroom, change their garments, or take care of other personal needs do not receive a timely response to their calls, they may attempt to take care of the issue without help. These cases can result in slips and falls, which the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports often lead to hip fractures and brain injuries in older people.
Nursing Homes Must Meet Staffing Requirements
Despite federal and state nursing home staffing regulations, a Reuters article highlights how the COVID-19 pandemic uncovered staffing issues in nursing homes throughout the United States.
Many patients and their families think nursing home patients did not receive an adequate level of care throughout the crisis. Reuters reported that a 2020 federal survey found that more than a quarter of nursing homes reported “shortages of direct-care staff during at least one of the two last weeks in May.”
Facilities have an obligation to adhere to staffing regulations, especially during times that require increased protective measures for nursing home patients. They can face legal accountability if they fail to meet them.
Recoverable Losses After Abandonment in a Nursing Home
While every case is different, there are some common types of losses that victims are able to recover in these cases include:
- Medical costs, including ambulance rides, hospitalization, surgical procedures, medication, doctor’s examinations, and treatments.
- Pain and suffering.
- Emotional distress.
- And others if you qualify.
If your loved one died as a result of the seriousness of his or her injuries, your family may be entitled to:
- Lost wages from time away from work caring for your loved one.
- Medical costs left to your family.
- Out-of-pocket expenses.
- Pain and suffering.
- Funeral and burial costs.
- Loss of consortium.
If the behavior of the nursing home staff or administrators is serious enough, the court may decide to award punitive damages. The purpose of punitive damages is to discourage the nursing home from behaving in this manner ever again.
For a free legal consultation, call (800) 842-6336
Laws That Can Impact Your Claim
Every state has a statute of limitations that imposes a deadline on the amount of time you have to pursue compensation through a personal injury or wrongful death lawsuit. Missing this deadline could impact your ability to recover awards. The statute of limitations begins on the date the injury was discovered in personal injury cases and on the date your loved one passed away in wrongful death lawsuits.
While establishing the discovery date of an injury may be easy in some cases, such as if your loved one fell on a specific date, in other cases, it can be more difficult to determine. A lawyer can help explain how the statute of limitations will affect your claim in these situations.
How the Team at Pintas & Mullins Law Firm Can Help
We understand how painful it can be if you find out that your loved one suffered injuries because of abandonment in their nursing care facility, regardless of whether it was intentional. We understand that you likely want justice for their injuries, and we are here to help.
If you are eligible, we can help in a number of ways:
- Investigating the details of your case to determine who was liable for your loved one’s injuries.
- Gathering evidence to build a strong case, including medical records, video surveillance, eyewitness statements, and other types of evidence.
- Obtaining copies of bills, receipts, and other documents that show the extent of your financial losses.
- Calculating the total value of your claim so we know what a fair settlement would be for your family.
- Negotiating with the insurance company to pursue compensation to the fullest extent of your injuries.
- Taking your case to trial if we cannot reach an agreeable settlement outside of court.
Our team is here to help from start to finish, providing you with the support you need, answering your questions, and offering legal guidance. We will help you avoid potentially costly mistakes and communicate with the insurance company and the at-fault party’s lawyer on your behalf.
We are here for you. For a free, no-risk consultation to find out what options you have for recovering compensation for your losses, contact Pintas & Mullins Law Firm today at (800) 842-6336.
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