Protect Your Loved Ones From Nursing Home Abuse – Find A Lawyer Now!

The decision to place a loved one in a nursing home is difficult and requires a great deal of trust. After all, the family is placing the care of a senior loved one in the hands of strangers. When negligent or abusive nursing home operators violate that trust, not only do they cause the guest to suffer, they burden family members with feelings of guilt and anger over what was meant to be a good faith decision.

Don't let them get away with it!

A competent, local nursing home attorney can help bring them to justice and give you peace of mind that comes from knowing that your loved one will be in good hands.

First, what is a "nursing home attorney"? 

There is no one answer to this because the term covers expertise in several areas of law:

• Depending on the situation, there may be an issue of medical malpractice, especially if the senior is in a residential care facility that is responsible for providing health care.
• If the facility is contractually bound to provide certain services -- fresh linens, recreation, meals, etc., -- and fails to do so, then it is in breach of that contract.
• The facility may be failing to live up to its duties imposed by the state's nursing home regulations.
• In some egregious cases, the facility may even have committed intentional harm against the guest.

Consequently, a nursing home abuse attorney is often a practitioner of the broader field of personal injury, medical malpractice or elder law (the branch of law dealing with the legal concerns of the elderly, such as trusts and estates, end of life care, etc.) who has gained experience taking on unscrupulous nursing home operators. Also, because the idea of pursuing legal remedies against senior living facilities, whether they be residential care, independent or assisted care facilities, is a relatively new area of legal specialization, one doesn't usually come across many billboards or yellow pages advertisements specifically for them.

The common factor, however, with all attorneys who end up focusing on nursing home negligence or abuse, is that they are plaintiffs' attorneys. The "plaintiffs" are the victims of someone else's wrongdoing. The plaintiffs, through their attorneys, are the ones who must go after the wrongdoers for money damages to help them get their lives back together. It takes a unique, aggressive kind of lawyer to go after the giant corporate wrongdoers who run lousy nursing homes. It takes a plaintiffs' attorney.

How to find one? 

There are two good ways. The first the referral route. If someone you know has had success with a nursing home abuse lawyer in a situation similar to yours, then that is an excellent lead. Just be careful to avoid "charity referrals" – that is, a referral to a friend or relative who happens to be an attorney. He or she may lack the necessary experience. Another good route – and probably the best in terms of finding an aggressive plaintiffs' attorney – is to look at firms who have been awarded prestigious accreditations for personal injury and medical malpractice cases. Those accreditations indicate that those attorneys know what they do. Use common sense, however. A firm can sometimes be so large and successful that you may feel lost in the shuffle. You will get a good understanding of how attentive your potential firm is early in your initial consultation. Listen to your instincts.

With either route, it is a good idea to check with the state bar association to make sure that your potential attorney doesn't have a history of legal and ethical troubles him or herself.

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Created on Feb 28th 2020 23:59. Viewed 330 times.

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