You have a loved one in a nursing home who faced an injury by falling down the stairs because of poor lightening in the corridors. After a nursing home fall, your loved one has to go through immense pain and distress besides hefty medical expenses.
Can you sue the nursing home for liability?
Yes, you can. If your grandma has endured a flip, slip, or fall due to the nursing staff’s negligence or the provision of inappropriate facilities within the nursing home premises, you can sue the nursing home. According to an estimate, falls in nursing homes cause the death of about 1800 seniors each year.
U.S Law Of Standard Of Care
In Nashville, Tennessee, the nursing homes must follow the Standard of Care under U.S Law and implement the following Federal regulations in their medical facility.
- The facility must provide a safe and secure environment for living.
- The facility should deliver some assistive devices to keep the residents safe.
If the assistive living facilities fail to comply with these regulations resulting in harmful consequences for the resident, you hold the right to sue the medical care facility with the help of a personal injury attorney.
Risk Associated With A Slip Or Fall
Elderly people are physically fragile, due to which a slip or fall can cause serious health issues. Here are some risks involved with a slip or fall.
- Whether due to lack of supervision or due to medication errors, a slip or fall can cause physical harm to your elderly loved one, including broken bones, sprained ankles and wrists, and other serious physical injuries.
- Minor negligence on the part of the medical care facility can lead to hip fractures and other complicated problems followed by agony and pain. Besides the physical pain, the patient will have to incur additional expenses, which can be a financial burden.
- The resident can also become immobile for the rest of their lives in worst cases or may experience conditions such as traumatic brain injuries (TBIs), spinal cord injuries, and severe bleeding and bruising.
Nursing Homes Becoming Liable For A Lawsuit
What makes a nursing home eligible to be sued by the family members of the elderly resident with the help of a nursing home abuse lawyer?
A nursing home facility’s primary purpose and responsibility is to provide proper medical care and treatment to the residents. If they fail to fulfill this basic goal, they become liable to answer the jury and pay a handsome amount for compensation.
Some situations which allow you to file a strong liable case against any nursing home include the following:
- Insufficient lightening.
- Lack of supervision by medical staff and nurses.
- Untrained staff serving the elderly.
- The residents have not been given any electronic assistant devices.
- Due to unsecured medical premises, the patient went off wandering in the streets.
- The doctor misdiagnosed the illness and started giving a medicine not appropriate for the condition.
- Failure to assist people at risk of falling
- Lack of handrail and hand bars support.
- Insufficient staff to help the residents.
How Lawyers Pursue Lawsuits Against Nursing Homes?
A personal injury attorney will first investigate your case and then prepare a case to help you attain monetary compensation for the pain and suffering, medical bills, and impaired mobility of your loved one due to the staff’s negligence at a nursing facility.
To help you plead your case, the lawyer will go through the following procedure.
Prove Negligence
To put your claim on the trial table, your lawyer must be able to prove that the nursing home was negligent in following the standard of care requirements based on evidence. The personal injury attorney will collect evidence and seek help from a medical expert to ensure that the nursing home was responsible for your losses as for suing a nursing home, you need evidence.
Breach Of Duty
Next, your lawyer will persuade the jury that the nursing home breached its duty of taking care of the residents. The testimony of a medical expert will further strengthen the case in your favor. The expert will look through the resident’s medical record and measure the extent of the damages.
The medical facility will also hire an attorney to defend their case. Therefore, you should not just hire any lawyer but a competent personal injury lawyer who is an expert in the field so he can prove that negligence took place while taking care of the elderly person and win the case for you.
About the Author
Michael Feiner
Michael A. Feiner is a partner in the Fort Lauderdale office of Steinger, Greene & Feiner. Since being admitted to the Florida Bar in 2001, Michael has devoted his practice to representing plaintiffs throughout Florida in various tort and strict liability cases and has successfully litigated cases against national insurance companies, large public companies, and governmental agencies, resulting in tens of millions of dollars for his clients.
He has handled all types of personal injury and wrongful death cases on behalf of plaintiffs, including automobile negligence, premises liability, medical malpractice, product liability, dog bites, and sexual harassment. Michael’s product liability case against Microsoft, as well as his representation of victims of sexual harassment and abuse by physicians, has garnered him important media attention at both the local and national levels.
Michael is an experienced trial lawyer and successfully argued an appeal to the Fourth District Court of Appeal. In the reported decision Ortlieb v. Butts, 849 So.2d 1165 (Fla. 4th DCA 2003), Michael persuaded the Fourth District Court of Appeal that a directed verdict on liability was appropriate where the defendant did not rebut the presumption of negligence of a rear driver in a rear-end collision.
Michael Feiner
Michael A. Feiner is a partner in the Fort Lauderdale office of Steinger, Greene & Feiner. Since being admitted to the Florida Bar in 2001, Michael has devoted his practice to representing plaintiffs throughout Florida in various tort and strict liability cases and has successfully litigated cases against national insurance companies, large public companies, and governmental agencies, resulting in tens of millions of dollars for his clients. He has handled all types of personal injury and wrongful death cases on behalf of plaintiffs, including automobile negligence, premises liability, medical malpractice, product liability, dog bites, and sexual harassment. Michael’s product liability case against Microsoft, as well as his representation of victims of sexual harassment and abuse by physicians, has garnered him important media attention at both the local and national levels. Michael is an experienced trial lawyer and successfully argued an appeal to the Fourth District Court of Appeal. In the reported decision Ortlieb v. Butts, 849 So.2d 1165 (Fla. 4th DCA 2003), Michael persuaded the Fourth District Court of Appeal that a directed verdict on liability was appropriate where the defendant did not rebut the presumption of negligence of a rear driver in a rear-end collision.