If your loved one suffered injuries in a San Diego nursing home, you could seek monetary compensation for your damages. Yet, the financial recovery process may involve communicating with the nursing home, proving your allegations, and calculating the cost of your damages. This may seem like a difficult endeavor without the help of a San Diego nursing home abuse lawyer.
The law allows victims of nursing home abuse to pursue compensation for the physical and emotional harm they endured. Pintas & Mullins Law Firm can evaluate your loved one’s circumstances and carry out a course of legal action accordingly.
To start exploring your legal options in a free, no-obligation case review, call (800) 842-6336.
How Your San Diego Nursing Home Abuse Lawyer Can Help
If your family member’s injuries resulted from nursing home abuse, you do not deserve to carry the financial burden. The negligent party should compensate you for the damages and losses resulting from your loved one’s maltreatment. A lawyer can offer legal representation to help you receive the compensation you deserve.
Pintas & Mullins Law Firm can help you and your family by:
Investigating Your Loved One’s Living Conditions
To support your side of the story, your lawyer will need to gather certain pieces of information. While you may have started the process of documenting your loved one’s living conditions by taking photographs and recording witness statements, your lawyer can also gather:
- Your loved one’s medical records
- Correspondence between yourself and the nursing home’s administration
- Surveillance footage from within the facility (if available)
- Statements from a third-party field consultant, like a psychologist
Other forms of evidence can support your case.
Negotiating a Settlement
Once your lawyer identifies the liable party, they can start the process of negotiating for an out-of-court settlement. If your legal team can resolve your case in this manner, you would not need to file a nursing home abuse lawsuit.
Your lawyer will fight for your right to compensation for the following damages:
- Your loved one’s pain and suffering
- Your loved one’s medical bills
- The cost of relocating to a new nursing home
- The cost of mental health counseling and physical therapy
There are other types of compensable damages not included here.
Litigating Your Nursing Home Case
Depending on your case’s circumstances, a lawsuit may help you reach your legal goals. In a lawsuit, your lawyer will need to argue your case and present evidence in a court of law. From there, a judge and jury will decide your settlement amount. Based on California’s statute of limitations, you have a certain amount of time to file a lawsuit. Your San Diego nursing home abuse lawyer can provide more insight into these details when you work with Pintas & Mullins Law Firm.
Possible Indicators of Nursing Home Abuse
While spending time with your loved one, take note of their living conditions. Do you notice anything out of the ordinary? Is your loved one showing changes in their physical or emotional well-being? If so, you should make a note of these observations and share them with your legal team.
Some indicators of nursing home abuse include:
Bedsores
These injuries are also known as pressure ulcers. They commonly appear on parts of the skin that endure intense pressure. Individuals who lie in the same position for long periods of time without moving may develop bedsores. Such injuries indicate a lack of proper care for nursing home residents.
Bone Breaks or Fractures
A bone fracture is a severe injury that occurs when trauma breaks a bone’s continuity.
Bone fractures occur in different categories, including:
- Open fractures
- Closed fractures
- Compressed fractures
If your loved one suffered a broken bone in their nursing home, they may have been handled roughly by their care staff. They could have also suffered a fall while unsupervised.
Bruises
A bruise is a soft tissue injury that results in skin discoloration. Bruises vary from mild to severe, depending on the cause. Although some individuals are vulnerable to bruising in general, others develop bruises after being pushed, hit, struck, or bitten.
Sepsis
Sepsis occurs when a resident suffers from an infection, resulting in severe health consequences. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), over 1.7 million people in the U.S. contract sepsis every year. Sepsis can lead to permanent conditions and even death if left untreated.
Because of the high rate of sepsis in nursing homes, caretakers must take certain sanitary precautions to keep residents safe. Otherwise, the development of sepsis may indicate negligence.
Death
Some deaths in nursing homes could be a result of abuse or neglect. If your loved one passed away in a nursing home, and you believe that their passing was due to negligence, you could have the foundation of a wrongful death claim. In this instance, you will need to prove that because the nursing home did not properly care for your loved one, they passed away.
California’s wrongful death statute of limitations, outlined under California Code of Civil Procedure (CCP) §335.1, gives claimants two years to file a lawsuit. Your San Diego nursing home abuse lawyer can provide more information regarding how this statute could apply to your case.
For a free legal consultation, call (800) 842-6336
Contact Pintas & Mullins Law Firm for Help
Are you looking for a San Diego nursing home abuse lawyer to help you file a claim against a nursing home that failed to protect your elderly loved one? We believe that you deserve justice for the injuries that your loved one suffered, and we can help you get a fair settlement through negotiations or litigation. Contact Pintas & Mullins Law Firm at (800) 842-6336 to discuss your legal options with a member of our team at no cost.
Call or text (800) 842-6336 or complete a Free Case Evaluation form