America’s Most Recognizable Nursing Home & Elder Abuse Attorneys — Nursing Home Lawyers
Shock waves spread through the nursing home industry last year when a California jury returned a verdict of $677 million against a nursing home company, which was believed to be the largest verdict in the country during 2010. This heartbreaking story of nursing home abuse was like many others that occur every day across the United States. The jury listened to testimony that included a woman who described how during her almost daily visits to the facility her father was covered in urine soaked clothes. When she would request help, it routinely took approximately 20 minutes to get a staff member to provide her father with assistance. “A lot of times I walked out of there crying because of the things I saw,” said the woman.
Watching those we love grow older and become victims of ailments related to aging can cause enormous amounts of stress and anxiety. Despite the best of precautions, the nursing home abuse attorneys at Jacoby & Meyers recognize that incidents of abuse and neglect in nursing homes adversely impacts as many as 30 percent of all nursing home facilities. If you or someone you love has been the victim of nursing home abuse or neglect, Jacoby & Meyers has a long history of helping the families of those whose loved ones have suffered nursing home abuse as well as those who have suffered abuse in their home by a caregiver.
Nursing home abuse and elder abuse cases can take one of many forms, including but not limited to neglect, physical abuse, financial abuse or emotional abuse. Nursing home cases can be difficult to litigate because patients in nursing home facilities are often reluctant to report what is happening. As in the recent landmark case, the neglect can be so obvious that it is impossible not to notice, but in many cases, the neglect or abuse is much more difficult to detect or prove. When there are obvious physical signs such as bed sores, bruises and broken bones, it can be much easier to establish that a loved one is the victim of elder abuse than when there are few outward physical signs of abuse.
The complexity of proving nursing home abuse is compounded by the fact that nursing home personnel will often claim that the deterioration of a loved one is simply a product of aging or pre-existing health conditions. Recent studies indicate that between one and two million elderly Americans have been the victims of abuse and neglect but only 1 in 14 of these cases ever become known to public authorities. A closer look at the statistics regarding nursing home abuse reveals a troubling picture:
- One study found that close to half of all nursing home residents suffer some type of abuse
- More than eighty percent of nursing home staff report witnessing some form of abuse during the prior year.
- Forty percent of nursing home staffers admit to having committed an act of abuse
- Almost seventy percent of those in nursing homes suffer from Alzheimer’s disease or some other form of cognitive disorder making it hard to understand or report abuse.
Most cases of nursing home neglect or abuse are the product of inadequate training, insufficient staffing or other cost containment measures. Sometimes elder care facilities that look clean and well managed to outsiders hide widespread abuse and neglect that the facility management knows is occurring. The staff in such facilities are often underpaid and undertrained but overworked. Such a work environment can promote fatigue and indifference to the care and needs of residents.
Nursing home abuse and neglect as well as elder abuse in a non-residential setting can take many forms, but some common examples include:
- Physical Abuse: This can include non-accidental physical force or unnecessary use of physical restraints that may result in serious injuries and even fatalities.
- Inappropriate Use of Drugs: This can either involve giving inappropriate drugs to sedate the abuse victim or failing to give necessary prescribed medication.
- Neglect: Neglect may include failure to provide sufficient nutrition or hydration as well as the failure to provide opportunities or assistance with hygiene and clean clothes. Basically, neglect amounts to failure of nursing home staff or caregivers to assist with necessary care and needs.
- Sexual Abuse: This can be non-consensual sexual contract or even forcing an elder victim to watch pornography or sex acts.
- Financial Abuse: This type of abuse can range from misuse of one’s banking or credit card information to charging for health care services or medications that are not provided.
- Abandonment: This form of elder abuse amounts to deserting a vulnerable senior by anyone who has assumed the obligation to provide care, such as in-home caregiver or staff of a nursing home.
The experienced elder abuse lawyers and nursing home abuse attorneys of Jacoby & Meyers recognize the importance of carefully investigating a nursing home’s compliance with strict state and federal standards for the care of its residents. We will use the litigation process to obtain the records of the facilities compliance with all applicable regulations as well as evidence of past violations from mandated inspections of the facility. We also routinely use a medical expert to evaluate your loved ones care and identify medical care that does not meet the minimum acceptable standard of care.
Jacoby & Meyers – Protecting Vulnerable Senior Citizens
Our experienced elder abuse attorneys and nursing home abuse lawyers have the knowledge and experience to effectively seek the protection and compensation of elder abuse victims whether in a nursing home or by in-home caregiver, family member or anyone else who exploits a senior citizen.
If you or someone you love has suffered serious injury or someone close to you has died because of elder abuse or neglect, Jacoby & Meyers offers tenacious advocacy designed to obtain the best possible results for our clients who suffer abuse or neglect in a nursing home or in a non-residential setting. Our dedicated and experienced elder abuse lawyers carefully investigate nursing home facilities or caregiver’s backgrounds and their history of providing care for seniors. Many nursing homes where abuse or neglect occurs have a past pattern of such abuse. This is also true of caregivers who may have mistreated, abused or neglected those for whom they provide care in the past. Jacoby & Meyers is committed to providing innovative litigation strategies and persuasive courtroom presentations on behalf of nursing home and elder abuse victims.
We invite you to contact us today to find out how Jacoby & Meyers can help you with all of your legal needs. We have offices nationwide, including Southern California, New York, Alabama, Florida, and Arizona so call us at 1-800-411-4LAW to see how we can help.
