While most nursing homes provide compassionate and high-quality care to their residents, there are more exceptions to this rule than anyone might want to think. Thousands of older adults in Michigan experience elder abuse every year, and many of them experience it from supposedly qualified professionals who were entrusted with their full-time care and compensated for the service they failed to provide.
Anyone who knowingly or inadvertently allows a nursing home resident to experience abuse or neglect should be held financially liable for the consequences their actions have, and a skilled attorney from Buckfire & Buckfire, P.C. could play a key role in ensuring that happens. From collecting evidence of specific abusive or neglectful acts to demanding comprehensive restitution for your loved one’s losses, a dedicated Livonia nursing home abuse lawyer could be an irreplaceable ally throughout your legal proceedings.
Unfortunately, mistreatment inside nursing homes can take numerous forms, many of which are difficult even for attentive family members to notice and take effective action against. Here are some common forms of mistreatment that Livonia nursing home abuse attorneys can help address proactively.
In some cases, nursing home abuse takes the form of a staff member, administrator, or unsupervised resident punching, kicking, striking, or excessively restraining a vulnerable resident. While thankfully rare, it is not unheard of for sexual abuse to occur inside nursing homes as well.
Even if they never make aggressive physical contact with residents, abusive nursing home employees can still cause tremendous harm by berating, taunting, and isolating those in their care, as well as refusing to give them personal autonomy.
From Medicare fraud to manipulation of residents to get them to change their estate plans or allow access to their bank accounts, financial exploitation in long-term care facilities can be devastating both to the resident themselves and to family members supporting them.
Even qualified and compassionate nursing home staff members may be unable to provide adequate care to all their residents if they are understaffed, negligently supervised, or not properly trained. This can lead to residents going without food or water, living in unsanitary conditions, and even developing life-threatening conditions like bedsores that lead to sepsis.
Anyone who suspects abuse or neglect inside a nursing home should take immediate action to ensure the physical and psychological safety of potentially impacted residents. A skilled nursing facility attorney in Livonia can assist with removing a resident from a neglectful or abusive environment and can report suspected mistreatment to the appropriate state authorities.
The City of Livonia is located in Wayne County, Michigan. The skilled nursing home facilities in Livonia include:
Once a nursing home resident is safe from further harm, they—or family members acting on their behalf—can seek civil restitution for any losses they have sustained from their abuse or neglect. Compensable damages could include economic losses like medical bills and damage to personal property as well as various non-economic forms of “pain and suffering.”
Nursing home mistreatment can have devastating effects not just on the residents directly impacted by it, but also on their loved ones. However, since nursing home residents are often cognitively unable to represent themselves in court, it may fall entirely on you as a close relative to take legal action on their behalf.
Support from a Livonia nursing home abuse lawyer can be key to achieving a case outcome that protects your family’s best interests and preserves a mistreated resident’s well-being. Call today for a consultation.
Please contact us today for answers to more complex questions or questions specific to your case. The initial consultation is FREE.