Carrollwood Nursing Home Abuse Attorney
The love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. Understaffing, an offshoot of the love of money, is the root of most nursing home abuse incidents. Frequently, to save money, nursing home owners force existing workers to wear two or three hats. In fact, about 90 percent of the long-term care facilities in Florida are severely understaffed. When owners push workers to the breaking point, they often snap, and people often get hurt.
In contrast, the Carrollwood nursing home abuse attorneys at Moore Law are dedicated to your legal rights. These rights include the right to compensation and justice in a nursing home abuse claim. Compensation usually includes money for economic losses, such as medical bills, and noneconomic losses, such as pain and suffering. Furthermore, the justice our Carrollwood nursing home abuse lawyers obtain helps these victims and survivors obtain closure and move on with their lives.
Examples of Nursing Home Abuse
Most tort claims, like falls and car crashes, are unintentional injury claims. Generally, drivers don’t intentionally cause crashes and owners don’t intentionally push people down staircases. Unintentional injuries, like falls, are also common at nursing homes. Other unintentional injuries include malnutrition and bedsore injuries.
Abuse, although it’s often not malicious, is an intentional tort. Some examples of nursing home abuse in Hillsborough County include:
- Physical: Most nursing home residents are in very frail condition. A tiny amount of physical force from a frustrated worker, like a push or shove, could cause a serious or even a fatal injury.
- Emotional: That old line “sticks and stones can break my bones but words can never hurt me” is largely untrue. Words hurt. In many cases, hurtful words alter brain chemistry. In other words, harsh language directed at another person could cause a physical injury.
- Sexual: This form of abuse usually alters brain chemistry as well. Specific examples include sexual assault, forcing a resident to watch pornography, and forcing a resident to witness live sex.
- Financial: Some unscrupulous staff members simply steal money or valuables from residents’ rooms. Other times, financial abuse involves a more elaborate scheme, such as tricking a resident into signing legal documents.
How do I spot nursing home neglect or abuse? Reliable nursing home abuse statistics are hard to obtain. Many of these incidents go unreported. But the problem is far too significant to ignore. As a rule of thumb, if you see any evidence of neglect, talk to the nursing home administrator. If things don’t change or the administrator seems evasive, speak to a Carrollwood nursing home abuse lawyer.
Nursing Home Responsibility
Individuals are responsible for abuse on most levels. But the nursing home administrator could be legally responsible for such injuries.
The negligent hiring theory often applies. Because of the aforementioned understaffing crisis, many nursing home owners don’t thoroughly screen prospective workers. Other owners hire under-qualified employees. For example, an owner might hire a licensed vocational nurse to do a job a registered nurse should handle. Special rules apply if the employee’s incompetence involves a prior criminal record.
Negligent supervision is another possibility. If misconduct allegations arise, owners must investigate such allegations diligently and transparently. Furthermore, nursing home owners have a legal duty to give their employees all the tools they need to do their jobs right.
Reach Out to a Savvy Hillsborough County Lawyer
Injury victims are usually entitled to significant compensation. For a free consultation with an experienced nursing home abuse lawyer in Carrollwood, contact Moore Law by going online or calling 813-510-5400. Attorneys can connect victims with doctors, even if they have no insurance or money.
