Nursing home abuse occurs when a dependent senior adult is mistreated within a unit or facility where he or she should have been treated for and the elderly expected a trust relationship with its caregiver. The result of such actions can lead to harm or distress to old individuals and California regulates the mistreatment of elderly individuals be enforcing the Elder Abuse and Dependent Adult Civil Protection Act.
Patients and family members of patients who have been the victims of physical abuse, neglect, abandonment or isolation within a nursing home can seek the help of a Los Angeles personal injury attorney and receive compensations for the emotional or physical suffering.
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Laws for nursing homes, presented by our Los Angeles personal injury attorneys
The state of California regulates the manner in which nursing homes operate and issues licenses for this type of establishments. Nursing homes must comply with specific regulations and ensure that their residents receive adequate care. The standards for personal care deal with:
- food and nutrition,
- accommodation facilities,
- daily care,
- hygiene for the residents,
- personal care and assistance,
- activities for the elderly,
- providing dental and medical care, when needed.
Although it may be hard for elderly individuals to seek help themselves, as a relative, you can, under certain circumstances, file a lawsuit for nursing home abuse. Our Los Angeles personal injury lawyers can help you identify physical and emotional elder abuse and even financial abuse that may occur in a long-term care facility within the state of California. Other individuals can also report any reasonably suspected crimes against an elder individual. California also has an Ombudsman’s Office that handles reports of abuses that occur in nursing homes.
The employees working in a nursing home can report acts of elder and dependent adult abuse and are under a legal duty to do so under the mandated reporter’s section of the California Welfare and Institutions Code. Employees can legally report any known or suspected elder abuse that may take place in a nursing home in California. Different institutions can have different internal reporting policies. The employer has no right to interfere with the employee’s legal obligations to report abuse.
The relatives of a victim that has been abused in a nursing home can also make a case against an employee who was aware of the incidents and failed to enforce his or her mandated reporter rights.
Nursing home abuse can sometimes be linked to medical negligence. When the local treating physician is not following the standard good medical practice, you can file a lawsuit for negligence with the help of our medical malpractice lawyer in Los Angeles. Reach out to us to find out more about the time limits and the compensation cap applicable to this type of injury.
Our lawyers invite you to watch the following video about nursing home abuse cases:
Compensations for victims of nursing home abuse
There are a number of types of abuse recognized when dealing with a nursing home abuse case: physical, emotional, financial, neglect, scams, abandonment or institutional abuse. Depending on the case, our personal injury attorneys in California can help you gather evidence and make a solid case.
The best way to prevent nursing home abuse is to recognize its early signs and other warning signs. Each type of abuse is different, but with the right help from a personal injury attorney, victims can obtain material compensations for the physical injuries and the emotional abuse.
Elements needed to prove personal injuries caused by nursing home abuse
In a nursing home abuse case the plaintiff is the one required to prove that the injury, neglect or abuse took place. For injuries caused by a caretaker’s negligence, the following are typically required from the plaintiff:
- prove that the nursing home and its employees had a duty of care (this is easily proven by showing the caretaking agreement);
- prove that the said agreed duty was breached;
- the patient suffered the injuries as a direct result of that breach.
In abuse cases, these steps may vary in that the plaintiff will need to be able to prove that the abuse was caused by a particular staff member. One of our Los Angeles personal injury attorneys can help you prove these elements in court.
Settlements for nursing home abuse
Neglect, abuse, and mistreatment can have a severe impact on elderly individuals, particularly those who are admitted for certain types of psychological diseases.
The types of damages that can be awarded in nursing home abuse cases include those for the coverage of the needed medical treatment and that for any subsequent treatment or therapy and compensation for emotional distress, pain, and suffering. The latter must be proven in court and this can be done with a complete medical assessment, including a psychological evaluation.
We also specialize in other types of accidents or incidents, and we can assist mothers who have been injured or had their newborn babies injured in childbirth. These types of injuries take place as a result of medical negligence and discussing your options with our birth injury lawyers in Los Angeles as soon as you discover the injury is an important first step for a successful compensation claim.
Please contact our Los Angeles personal injury attorneys to solve any nursing home abuse case as soon as possible. We can also help you in a variety of other cases, like medical malpractice.
We also have different teams of:
– truck accident attorneys in Los Angeles,
– brain injury attorneys in Los Angeles,
– slip and fall lawyers in Los Angeles,