Elder abuse is immoral, egregious, and illegal. Moreover, your loved one deserves to feel safe and comfortable in their own home. If your relative suffers from abuse in their assisted living facility, do not waste any time and connect with a Houston assisted living abuse lawyer immediately. You could hold those responsible to account for any damages.
Pintas & Mullins Law Firm can be here for you during this upsetting time to discuss your loved one’s legal rights and options with you. Call us now for a free consultation and speak to one of our compassionate team members.
Houston TX Assisted Living Abuse Lawyer
The Types of Elder Abuse
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), elder abuse can be an intentional act or a failure to act that causes harm to an older adult. The CDC goes on to name the most common types of elder abuse as:
Physical Abuse
Physical abuse can include hitting, slapping, pushing, and other actions causing physical harm to a senior. Physical harm can lead to pain, illness, injury, and even death of a defenseless elderly assisted living resident.
Sexual Abuse
Sexual abuse can describe a variety of behaviors and acts involving unwanted sexual interaction. This can include sexual harassment of the senior, taking sexual photographs or videos, and unwanted physical sexual contact such as rape.
Emotional and Psychological Abuse
Emotional abuse can include verbal attacks, humiliation, social isolation, harassment, and similar acts. While emotional abuse does not cause any visible physical injuries, it can leave an elderly individual in great mental distress, fear, and anguish. This psychological stress can eventually have detrimental effects on a senior’s overall health.
Neglect
Neglect can cover a wide range of inactions by caregivers and other employees of the assisted living facility. General neglect involves ignoring or failing to provide a resident’s basic daily needs such as adequate nutrition and hydration, personal hygiene, medical care, and other requirements they might have.
Financial Abuse
While financial abuse does not necessarily have a major impact on the physical or mental health of a senior, it can cause frustration. Financial abuse can cover anything from outright theft and fraud to using the senior’s trust and affection for illegally obtaining benefits or assets from them.
The Assisted Living Facility Could Be Liable
Moving your loved one into an assisted living home can be a big decision. You will want to feel assured that your relative can retain some independence yet will receive assistance when they need it, for example, when it comes to cleaning, meal preparation, medications, and personal hygiene.
You or your loved one typically sign a contract with the facility before moving in. This contract most likely covers the extent of assistance the facility will offer your relative, specifically with their medical care needs, food, accommodation, and other aspects.
If the facility neglects your loved one, they could be in breach of contract, and you could have legal recourse. Generally, you could also have legal recourse against the facility if your loved one has come to any physical or mental harm due to abuse. The home has a duty of care towards all residents, which includes keeping them safe from any dangers and safeguarding their health and well-being.
You can potentially hold an assisted living facility to account for negligence for the following as well as potentially other reasons:
- Not enough staff on the premises to assist residents
- Training of staff is non-existent or insufficient
- The facility failed to check new hires’ backgrounds
- There are inadequate security measures at the facility
- The facility failed to provide the necessary medical care
- The facility failed to protect residents from abuse by staff or other persons
An assisted living facility can potentially be negligent in other ways. Connect with a Houston assisted living abuse lawyer to determine whether you have a claim and could potentially sue the facility.
For a free legal consultation with a Assisted Living Abuse Lawyer serving Houston, call (800) 794-0444
Compensation in Assisted Living Abuse Claims
While compensation cannot turn back the time and undo the damage to your loved one’s physical as well as mental health, receiving adequate compensation can help with bills and provide some comfort. Compensation that victims of assisted living abuse may be able to receive could include:
- Medical bills
- Transport costs
- Out-of-pocket costs
- Awards for pain and suffering
- Awards for mental distress
Victims could also receive other types of compensation, depending on the expenses and injuries they suffered due to abuse and neglect.
Houston Assisted Living Abuse Lawyer Near Me (800) 794-0444
Compensation in Assisted Living Abuse Claims
While compensation cannot turn back the time and undo the damage to your loved one’s physical as well as mental health, receiving adequate compensation can help with bills and provide some comfort. Compensation that victims of assisted living abuse may be able to receive could include:
- Medical bills
- Transport costs
- Out-of-pocket costs
- Awards for pain and suffering
- Awards for mental distress
Victims could also receive other types of compensation, depending on the expenses and injuries they suffered due to abuse and neglect.
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Holding an Assisted Living Facility Liable Can Be Difficult
Holding an assisted living facility to account for its failures and neglect can be tricky. First of all, evidence may be hard to come by and could entail engaging expert witnesses and scouring the records of the facility for any proof of negligence.
Secondly, assisted living facilities generally do not have to adhere to the same stringent laws as nursing home facilities, and there is the danger that they could get away scot-free. Going it alone against an assisted living facility and their legal counsel can potentially entail a tough and lengthy uphill battle with various pitfalls. However, you do not need to handle the process alone.
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We Are Here to Help Seniors and Their Families
Holding an assisted living facility to account for its failures and neglect can be tricky. First of all, evidence may be hard to come by and could entail engaging expert witnesses and scouring the records of the facility for any proof of negligence.
Secondly, assisted living facilities generally do not have to adhere to the same stringent laws as nursing home facilities, and there is the danger that they could get away scot-free. Going it alone against an assisted living facility and their legal counsel can potentially entail a tough and lengthy uphill battle with various pitfalls.
However, your Houston assisted living abuse lawyer knows the applicable laws and regulations covering assisted living facilities. We also know how to look for evidence that can prove abuse and neglect of your loved one. If you intend to hold an assisted living facility to account, you may have to act quickly to ensure important evidence does not simply disappear over time. Consider also that there are time limits for filing personal injury and wrongful death claims in Texas.
Pintas & Mullins Law Firm can work tirelessly in helping you and your loved one receive the compensation that you deserve. Call us now for a free, no-obligation review of your case.
Call or text (800) 794-0444 or complete a Free Case Evaluation form
