Adults often agonize for months or even years about how to best care for their aging parents. It can take a long time before they decide that the time is right to move their beloved parents to a nursing home where they can receive all the medical care and personal assistance they need. Then, a lot of research and planning goes into picking which nursing home is the right one to suit their parent’s specific needs.
How Will a Bridgeport Nursing Home Abuse Attorney Help Me?
Unfortunately, sometimes the nursing home you trusted to care for your parent can end up hurting them instead. If you think that your loved one has suffered harm at the hands of an assisted living center’s staff, you should speak with a Bridgeport nursing home abuse attorney to review your legal options and rights. Committed Bridgeport personal injury lawyer, Bert McDowell, can help you hold the negligent party accountable for their wrongdoing.
Intentional Elder Abuse
Although it appears unfathomable to most people, elderly and infirm nursing home residents encounter intentional abuse every day. Sometimes the abuse takes the form of willful physical abuse, such as:
- Sexual assaults
- Unreasonable restraints
- Punching
- Burning
- Pinching
- Scratching
Other times, nursing home staff members emotionally abuse residents by belittling them, insulting them, yelling at them, or making fun of them. Financial abuse also occurs in nursing homes when staff members steal residents’ credit cards, bank information, or identities for their own profit. Some caretakers take advantage of residents by pretending to befriend them in order to get residents to give them money or to gain access to their checkbooks.
In addition to filing a criminal complaint against an abusive staff member, a compassionate elderly abuse attorney in Bridgeport can also help a nursing home resident and their family pursue a private legal claim against the staff member and the facility. Nursing homes have a duty to hire the right kinds of employees. As part of their investigation, a proactive legal professional can investigate if the assisted living facility performed a background check on their employees and if they knew or should have known that an employee had a criminal record.
Neglect in an Assisted Living Facility
Many injuries in nursing homes occur due to neglect. These facilities are often understaffed, leaving too few employees to care for too many residents. Staffing shortages can deny residents access to the care that they need, leading to the following types of injuries:
- Blood clots and bedsores from remaining in one position for too long
- Malnutrition and dehydration from the failure of the staff to monitor a resident’s daily food and water intake
- Escalating infections from the failure of the employees to monitor a resident’s health
- Medication errors, such as giving the wrong dosage, the wrong medication, or forgetting to give a resident their medicines on time
Assisted living centers must hire enough employees, and they must train their employees thoroughly. A hardworking Bridgeport nursing home negligence lawyer can review the facility’s employee manual to learn more about their hiring and training practices to hold the appropriate parties accountable for your loved one’s mistreatment.
Let a Bridgeport Nursing Home Abuse Law Firm Assist You
Elderly and infirm people deserve respect and proper care, yet mistreatment occurs in nursing homes and assisted living centers every day. Sadly, many nursing home residents are afraid to speak up against their caretakers for fear of retaliation. It is vital to work with a legal professional who could skillfully examine and investigate the situation.
If you believe your loved one has suffered harm in a nursing home, you need to act immediately. You should also work to hold the negligent nursing home or staff accountable. All of the parties responsible for abusing or neglecting your loved one should pay for their actions or inactions.
Talk to a Bridgeport nursing home abuse attorney to learn more about pursuing a legal claim for financial damages. For help seeking justice, Bring on Bert!