Bronx Nursing Home Abuse Lawyer

We trust nursing homes and long-term care centers to take care of patients and residents in their most vulnerable moments. However, not every facility or worker completes their duties diligently. Our personal injury lawyers in the Bronx have seen many cases of abuse and neglect from these facilities, even fatal cases.

Nursing home abuse can be hard to prove, but you can do it with the help of Morelli Law. Our nursing home abuse lawyers in the Bronx will work to prove there is a problem and help you get the financial compensation you need to keep your loved one safe from future harm.

There Are Many Forms of Nursing Home Abuse

There are many types of nursing home abuse, and not all of them leave physical marks. It’s important to know the signs so you can protect your loved one. Many people in nursing homes cannot contact a lawyer on their own, so it’s up to families to look out for problems. Here are the major types of nursing home abuse.

Neglect

More than half of nursing home abuse cases are cases of neglect. Neglect happens when a caregiver doesn’t fulfill their obligations. This can be intentional or unintentional. Unintentional neglect can happen because nursing homes aren’t hiring enough staff to handle the workload. That is both harmful to residents and could be illegal, especially if the facility takes Medicare funds.

A more subtle form of neglect is elder self-neglect. Depression, dementia, grief, and other mental health illnesses can cause a resident to neglect their own care. Caretakers should notice this and take measures to help.

Signs of neglect include:

• Bed sores
• Unsanitary conditions
• Poor clothing
• Unsafe living conditions
• Abandonment by staff

Physical Abuse

Physical abuse causes pain and injury to residents, but it also includes things like unnecessary restraint, confinement, and using drugs to alter the behavior of a patient. Look for unexplained signs of injury, fractures and joint problems, broken glasses, odd bruises, and unusual medication reactions.

Be especially wary if a caregiver won’t let you see a patient alone. Your loved one may be too scared to admit abuse is happening to them if their abuser is in the room. If this has happened, speak with a Bronx nursing home abuse lawyer right away for advice.

Emotional Abuse

Emotional abuse causes psychological pain and distress in residents. Yelling, humiliation, ignoring, isolation, and scapegoating are all examples. These can be difficult to detect because there are no obvious signs.

Look for things like:

• Sudden behavioral changes
• Unusual behavior from staff or caregivers
• Strange weight loss, malnutrition, or dehydration

Sexual Abuse

Sexual abuse can happen from staff members or from other residents. Staff should protect their residents from nonconsensual sexual encounters. Look for unusual bruises, bleeding from the lower orifices of the body, or unusual stains on underclothing.

Financial Exploitation

Financial exploitation is a growing problem in nursing homes, whether from scammers calling residents or from the healthcare facility committing fraudulent activity. Any unauthorized use of an older person’s funds or property could be elder abuse.

Unethical healthcare providers may also do things like double-billing, overcharging, or not delivering on services. They could overmedicate or undermedicate, or recommend remedies that aren’t for the good of the patient.

Someone in the family should always have access to a loved one’s financial accounts if they’re in a nursing home, or at least receive copies of the statements. Watching for unusual activity can be the first step in uncovering financial exploitation.

Damages in Nursing Home Abuse Cases

Your loved one may recover both economic and non-economic damages related to their abuse, and occasionally may qualify for punitive damages. Our lawyers can determine which damages you qualify for, including:

• Past, present, and future medical bills
• Transfer to another facility
• Pain and suffering
• Mental anguish
• Loss of enjoyment

As part of this process, we will need to uncover who is responsible for the abuse. This can be extremely hard if the patient has dementia or memory problems. Often, the abuse is an employee or a contractor of the nursing home. However, it can also be an endemic problem with the nursing home itself.

How a Nursing Home Abuse Lawyer in the Bronx Can Help You

First, we can help you contact the appropriate regulatory authorities to investigate what’s happening to you or your loved one. Regulatory investigators have the authority to enter nursing homes to gather evidence and are very keen about protecting residents and patients from abusers. We will also perform our own fact-finding investigation.

Based on what we find, we can take steps to protect your loved one and sue the responsible parties for nursing home abuse. Most often, the employer of the abusers will pay for the damages. The increased scrutiny can also cause the abuser to get fired so they cannot harm your loved one anymore.

Where abuse or neglect is systemic, it may be possible to move your loved one into a better facility where they can get the care they need to recover from what happened. Our team has the resources and the legal knowledge to stand up to large nursing home companies and call out their flaws.

Call Morelli Law Now

Calling out nursing home abuse can do more than get your loved one financial compensation. It can save their life. Nursing home abuse can diminish the quality of your loved ones’ remaining time on Earth and shorten their lives.

If you suspect any kind of nursing home abuse, contact our offices immediately for a free consultation. Time is of the essence. We can explain the laws around nursing home abuse and whether your case may meet the standard to call in a complaint and start a lawsuit. Call now and get answers.