Often when an elderly relative in a care facility gets injured, we are left wondering if the staff or facility could have taken action to prevent or minimize an illness or injury, such as falls or bedsores. When an adult child makes the tough decision to send a parent to a nursing home, the child should be able to trust that those managing the facility will take proper care of their loved one. Unfortunately, many nursing home residents suffer from abuse and neglect. For those individuals in the Chicagoland area who have experienced the trauma of nursing home abuse or neglect, The Law Offices of Konrad Sherinian will gladly assist you with properly handling a legal claim against those responsible for the poor treatment of your loved one.
Most commonly, legal claims against nursing homes fall into one of three categories: abuse, neglect, or medical malpractice. The federal government has provided a precise definition of nursing home abuse. According to 42 CFR § 488.301, abuse is defined as “the willful infliction of injury, unreasonable confinement, intimidation, or punishment with resulting physical harm, pain or mental anguish.” This definition of abuse can include physical abuse, mental abuse, and sexual abuse.
Neglect differs from abuse. Abuse implies that someone took direct action and intended to cause harm to a patient. Neglect, on the other hand, is the result of inaction or indifference. It is the result of negligence on the part of an individual or an organization. The appropriate legal standard for determining nursing home neglect is the reasonable caregiver standard, which asks whether the person in question acted in the same way that a reasonable caregiver under the circumstances would have acted.
Perhaps, the most common form of neglect in a nursing home is a failure to periodically turn a nursing home resident in bed who is unable to turn on his or her own. When that happens, the person may develop bedsores, which are also known as pressure sores or decubitus ulcer. Bedsores are lesions caused by unrelieved pressure on soft tissues overlying a bony feature. The pressure partially or completely obstructs the blood flow to the soft tissue, resulting in the death of the tissue. There are four stages of bedsores, depending on their severity. The most severe stage of such sores, Stage IV, is where the sore extends all the way into the muscle, tendon or even bone.
Medical malpractice cases arise in the nursing home context because health care providers and physicians play such an important role in the nursing home environment. Sometimes, substandard medical care is delivered because there are too few doctors and nurses in a particular nursing home to provide proper care. At other times, the doctors and nurses that are required to watch over nursing home residents simply do not provide the quality care expected of them and their actions can then become the basis for a medical malpractice or medical error claim.
Contact a Nursing Home Abuse Lawyer Naperville IL Trusts
If you believe that a loved one at a nursing facility is being neglected or abused, it is likely that other residents are also being abused or neglected. Let our experienced team guide you through the maze to determine if abuse, neglect, or medical malpractice occurred. There are time limits on these claims, so do not delay. Contact The Law Offices of Konrad Sherinian today for a free consultation at (630) 318-2606. You can trust our firm to guide you through this difficult time and to fight for the justice you deserve.