Nursing home facilities are tasked with always keeping your family and loved ones safe. But there are specific signs that your loved ones are not being monitored as they should be. Cases of high staff turnover, understaffing, and multiple instances of unexplained accidents or injuries are just a few ways a patient’s family may be able to tell they are not receiving the care and attention they are entitled to receive.
If your family members suffer a serious injury or illness due to a lack of adequate monitoring, you may have a strong case against those responsible. Contact the Law Offices of Anidjar & Levine to learn how you can hold the liable party accountable for the injuries your loved one sustained.
Warning Signs to Beware of
If you suspect a nursing home is not monitoring your family member, you can look for specific warning signs. Some of the more common signs of failing supervision include:
- An understaffed nursing home
- Nursing home staff avoiding your questions
- Nursing home phones going unanswered
- Poor response time when you try to contact the nursing home facility
- Unexplained accidents or injuries involving staff or patients
- High nursing home staff turnover
- Complaints about specific nursing home staff
- Your loved one being left unattended for long periods
These are only a few of the warning signs you should take note of if your loved one lives in a nursing home. Remember, trust your instincts. If you suspect your family member is not being properly monitored or cared for, be sure to take steps to protect their well-being. You can contact our nursing home abuse lawyers for help.
Risks of Poor Monitoring in Nursing Homes
One of the biggest issues with a lack of supervision in nursing homes is the likelihood that patients will hurt themselves or fall ill. Nursing home residents are often unable to care for themselves. Many cannot maintain their personal hygiene, feed themselves, access food, use the bathroom on their own, and otherwise go about their lives.
If they are not being correctly monitored, they may suffer from neglect. Neglect is a type of nursing home abuse that consists of:
- Ignoring a patient’s complaints
- Failing to maintain a patient’s personal hygiene
- Failure to provide medications on time or as prescribed
- Failure to provide proper nutrition, resulting in a patient’s weight loss and dehydration
- Allowing patients to soil themselves
- And other types of neglect
Neglect is a serious accusation. If nursing home staff is neglecting your loved one, you can take legal action against them and get your family member the help they need.
Compensation for Victims of Nursing Home Abuse
If your loved one suffered neglect through a lack of proper monitoring, they may have serious physical, emotional, and financial losses. Fortunately, your family can recover compensation for every way the abuse affected your loved one’s life.
In order to ensure you seek maximum compensation in your case, your attorney will likely classify your loved one’s damages as either economic or non-economic. Economic damages have a fixed monetary value, while non-economic damages do not.
Economic damages your loved one may be entitled to include:
- Money paid to the nursing home
- Mental health counseling expenses
- Medical bills or expenses related to the neglect or abuse
- Lost finances (through financial abuse)
- Loss of household services
- Relocation costs to a new nursing home or another extended care facility
Non-economic damages are challenging to quantify. However, they may significantly impact your loved one’s life more than you may think. Some of the non-economic damages in nursing home abuse claims include:
- Emotional distress
- Mental anguish
- Diminished quality of life
- Loss of companionship and love
- Loss of society and support
- Disfigurement and scarring
- Physical pain and suffering
Many nursing home facilities can be ordered to pay punitive damages to victims of nursing home abuse. Under Florida Statutes § 400.0237, these are awarded in instances of gross negligence or egregious conduct.
Your attorney can give you a better idea of the value of your nursing home abuse claim after examining the losses your loved one has suffered.
Get Help From a Nursing Home Abuse Lawyer in Florida
If you notice signs that the nursing home where your loved one lives isn’t monitoring its patients correctly, it may be up to you to take legal action against them to protect your family member. Your legal action against the facility can protect other nursing home residents and their families, too.
You can meet with a Florida nursing home abuse lawyer at the Law Offices of Anidjar & Levine to find out how you can get justice for your loved one. Call us at 1-800-747-3733 for free, no-obligation consultation.
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