Elder abuse used to be more prevalent in nursing homes before the federal government and state governments began passing regulations on how these organizations should treat their residents. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), elder abuse is any abuse or neglect of a person age 60 and older by a caregiver or other person in a relationship involving an expectation of trust. Individuals who entrust their loved ones to nursing homes do so in the hopes their loved one will be cared for as if they were living with family.
However, elder abuse still does take place. There are no nationwide statistics that show how prevalent this problem still is, but in 2000, studies conducted on more than 2,000 nursing home residents by the National Center on Elder Abuse found around 44% of them had been abused. Another 94% of those surveyed reported they had been neglected or had seen other residents neglected.
When people find out their elderly loved one has been abused—whether he or she is a parent, grandparent, or another close relative—families want justice to be served. However, as with any personal injury lawsuit, they are on a timer.
A statute of limitations is a law that limits the amount of time someone has to file a lawsuit. For nursing home abuse or neglect, the statute of limitations is 2 years from the date of injury. If the nursing home is run by a local government entity, the statute of limitations is 1 year.
The statute of limitations can also be complicated to determine in such cases. The clock begins as soon as the injured person knows, or reasonably should know, that they have been injured through wrongful means. For example, in a slip-and-fall case, the occurrence of the fall starts the clock. In other cases, such as bed sores, the statute can be harder to compute.
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If you need to discuss your loved one’s case with a skilled Chicago nursing home injuries attorney, call us as soon as possible. Pintas & Mullins Law Firm has more than 50 years of combined legal experience to offer your case. We can provide quality legal representation to clients across the country, and our lawyers are dedicated to seeking justice for victims of personal injury caused by negligence or carelessness. Let us see what we can do for you.
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