There are few greater breaches of professional ethics than when a nursing home allows residents to suffer from abuse and neglect. You trusted the facility to provide quality care. Instead, the home puts your loved one in danger while compromising their health and dignity.
It is understandable if you are hurt, confused, and angry, but you have options. Our nursing home abuse lawyers in Palmdale can investigate the incidents and hold the facility or its staff liable for the suffering they have caused. Your loved one and your family deserve compensation.
Our team at Omega Law Group Accident & Injury Attorneys has recovered millions of dollars in awards and settlements for injured Californians and their families. Learn more about how our Palmdale personal injury lawyers can help when you call for your free consultation.
Types of Nursing Home Abuse
Sometimes, family members fail to take action when they suspect nursing home abuse because they are unsure if what they witnessed qualifies. Alternatively, they may worry that if they are wrong, someone will get in trouble. If you are worried about abuse, it’s worth it to speak up.
Nursing home abuse and neglect can take many forms, including:
- Physical Abuse: Deliberate use of force can result in pain or injury. This includes the improper use of restraints or the rough handling of residents during transfers.
- Emotional Abuse: Actions such as insults, threats, and isolation are obvious abuse, but so is neglecting a resident’s emotional needs.
- Sexual Abuse: Unwanted sexual contact or harassment, including assault or non-consensual touching, is a concern in nursing home settings.
- Neglect: Sometimes, staff members fail to provide a resident with basic care needs such as food, water, hygiene, and medical treatments.
- Financial Exploitation: This involves the illegal or improper use of residents’ money, property, or benefits through theft, coercion, or misuse of financial resources.
- Abandonment: Staff may desert residents or withdraw essential care, leaving them unsupervised, unsafe, and without support.
- Medical Abuse: This type of abuse happens when a facility provides improper or negligent medical care, such as overmedication, under-medication, or misuse of medical devices.
You can contact our nursing home abuse attorneys in Palmdale to discuss your concerns. We may offer advice, and we can make sure any actions you take are legally sound.
How Our Palmdale Nursing Home Abuse Lawyers Can Help With Your Case
If investigations reveal abuse has occurred in the nursing home, the staff members who participated could face criminal charges. The facility itself may have its license suspended or face other sanctions.
However, if you have the authority to make legal decisions for your loved one, you can also seek compensation from the facility through a civil lawsuit with our team’s help. Some of the ways our Palmdale nursing home abuse lawyers can assist you with your case include:
- Investigating the abuse by reviewing medical records, progress notes, and care plans so we understand what happened
- Determining who is liable for your loved one’s damages
- Assessing the potential damages we may seek, including compensation for medical bills, pain, emotional distress, and punitive damages
- Filing a civil lawsuit on behalf of your loved one and your family
- Negotiating for a fair settlement if the nursing home wishes to avoid a courtroom trial
- Representing you in court if the home does not respond to our attempts at good-faith negotiations
(310) 526-8383How to Report Nursing Home Abuse
Reporting suspected nursing abuse can protect your loved one from further harm and begin the process of holding the home accountable. It can also stop a culture of ongoing abuse that could harm present and future residents.
Contacting our firm is a good start, but additional steps are necessary. To report a grievance in a nursing home, contact:
The Facility Administrator
Nursing home administrators are considered mandatory reporters in California, meaning they have an obligation to report suspected abuse. The administrator may also launch an internal investigation to ensure compliance with regulations.
The California Department of Public Health
The California Department of Public Health’s Center for Healthcare Quality is responsible for regulating nursing homes. You can file a complaint, which will trigger an investigation of the nursing home by state inspectors.
The Ombudsman
Your Long-Term Care Ombudsman is a trained and certified resident rights advocate. They can investigate abuse allegations and report the findings to the proper authorities. Their services are free and confidential.
Get Assistance from Our Nursing Home Abuse Attorneys in Palmdale
Nursing home abuse happens for many reasons. Poor staff training, a toxic culture at the facility, or just plain negligence may all play a role. Of course, sometimes it happens because people with bad intentions or illicit agendas are allowed to get away with it.
No matter the reason, nursing home abuse and neglect are never acceptable, and their impact should never be understated. Our nursing home abuse attorneys in Palmdale will help you hold the responsible parties accountable and get the compensation your loved one deserves.
Our attorneys at Omega Law Group have decades of experience between us. When you are dealing with the heartbreak of nursing home abuse, let our family take care of your family. Call today to schedule your free, no-obligation consultation and tell us what happened.
