Signs of Nursing Home Abuse
Families place an immeasurable amount of trust in nursing home staff when they admit a loved one to that facility. This trust is often misguided when nursing home abuse occurs to loved ones instead of the promised care. What can families do to help stop this? First, family members must not wait for nursing home staff to report the abuse. In many cases, staff will either turn a blind eye [...]
Responding to Defendant’s Delay Tactics in Nursing Home Litigation
Nursing home cases are a lengthy process even when both parties cooperate. This is because nursing home cases usually consists of thousands of pages of documents and medical records that each party must review, and then conduct numerous depositions. Too often the nursing home’s litigation strategy is simply one of delay. When this happens, it is important that plaintiff’s lawyer take the necessary steps to move the case towards a [...]
Request for Production of Records
Access to the proper records and documentation is key to any claim of nursing negligence. State and federal court rules of civil procedure allow plaintiffs to issue a Request for Production of Records after they file their Petition for Damages. Doing so allows the plaintiff to access documents he or she may not already possess. Some of the most common document requests include color copies of medical records, incident reports, [...]
Pre-Suit Discovery in Nursing Home Litigation
In nursing home litigation, it is essential to gather as much information as possible from the facility. This means demanding every document and record that the home is willing to provide before filing a lawsuit. Nursing homes are required by law to maintain many records that can provide insight into the case. While they may be slow to produce these documents, in the end this can speed up the litigation [...]
Physical Restraints
Loved ones sometimes need physical restraints to prevent falls or recover from a medical procedure. It is also true that there are sometimes medical reasons to prescribe restraints. But too often nursing homes use restraints as punishment or a way to restrict movement of residents. This is against federal law. In fact, except for emergency situations, residents may only be restrained with their consent (or the consent of their legal [...]
Payment Sources for Nursing Home Care
Nursing homes receive payments from a variety of sources. They then use the payments to provide the staff, medical equipment and facilities necessary to fulfill the needs of their residents. In fact, nursing homes are paid from both government and private sources. But in order for facilities to receive funds from the government they must be either Medicare or Medicaid certified. Unfortunately, no uniform standard exists for facilities accepting private [...]
Ownership of Nursing Home Facilities and Who to Sue
It is important to know who owns a nursing home before filing a lawsuit against the facility. This information has many practical applications. First, it may provide insight into which parties should be named in the lawsuit. Second, it may also establish how much a plaintiff can recover in litigation. In either case, it is important to ascertain the ownership of nursing homes before bringing a claim. Ownership of nursing [...]
Overview of a Nursing Home
The number of individuals in nursing homes is projected to greatly increase as people live longer. Currently, there are approximately 1.5 million people currently in nursing homes and this number is projected to triple in the next twenty-five years. Moreover, advances in medicine continue to extend life expectancy meaning that nursing home residents stay longer in the facility. It is essential to understand a nursing home’s structure to know the [...]
Opening the Estate
One of the saddest aspects of nursing home litigation is that it often involves the death of a loved one. In these cases, it is important that families know how to file a lawsuit. On the other hand, nursing home residents sometime pass away during the litigation process. Under these circumstances, families must know how to continue the existing lawsuit. In either case, a personal representative should be appointed for [...]
Motions to Expect from Defense Counsel in a Nursing Home Negligence Case
It is essential that plaintiff’s attorneys are aware of the motions defense counsel will bring to delay and distract the case from moving forward. The two most common motions are a motion to dismiss and a motion for protective order. Plaintiff’s counsel must remember that just because the defendants file these motions does not mean they will succeed. Often times, it is simply a strategic move to delay the case. [...]