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Hartsville, SC Nursing Home Abuse Lawyer
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    Hartsville, SC Nursing Home Abuse Lawyer

    Facilities are often liable for the abuse residents suffer from nursing home staff members, and can be made to pay large amounts to victims to compensate them for economic and non-economic losses during lawsuits.

    Nursing homes can be held liable for residents’ abuse because of subpar hiring practices, ongoing understaffing issues, failure to investigate reports of abuse, and vicarious liability. In addition to compensatory damages, nursing homes might have to pay punitive damages as an extra consequence. Nursing home abuse comes in many forms and affects many seniors, giving them cause to sue negligent facilities.

    Call our nursing home abuse lawyers at (803) 451-4000 to get a free case evaluation from Burriss Ridgeway Injury Lawyers.

    What Makes Nursing Homes Liable for Residents’ Abuse?

    Nursing homes are often liable for the abuse seniors endure as residents, whether because of negligent hiring practices and inadequate background checks, ongoing and unaddressed staffing issues, or not investigating reports of abuse.

    Negligent Hiring Practices

    Nursing homes have a duty to protect their residents and patients, and part of that duty is having thorough background checks and stringent hiring practices for all facility staff. Negligent hiring practices could expose residents to an individual with a long history of abusive behavior, which could make the facility itself liable for any subsequent abuse by that individual.

    Our nursing home abuse lawyers can investigate a facility’s hiring practices to determine whether or not they were sufficiently thorough.

    Ongoing Staffing Issues

    Nursing homes need enough staff working at all times to accommodate the number of residents in the facility and uphold the level of care residents deserve and expect. Ongoing staffing issues can lead to neglect, which can have serious health implications for seniors, regardless of their medical histories. Understaffed nursing homes may also have less managerial oversight, making it easier for abuse by staff members to go on undetected longer.

    Not Investigating Reports

    When nursing homes are informed of a resident being abused by a staff member or another resident, they have a duty to investigate those reports and protect the victim. Not taking reports of abuse seriously is a major breach of a nursing home’s duty of care, and a victim may even get punitive damages if abuse continued due to a facility’s gross negligence or intentional ignorance.

    Vicarious Liability

    Like other employers, nursing homes are responsible for their employees’ conduct while working. That makes nursing homes liable for any injuries or damages from abuse while the staff member was on the clock, even if the facility was not directly liable for failure to investigate reports of abuse, not addressing ongoing staffing issues, or having poor hiring and background check practices.

    What Damages Can Come from Nursing Home Abuse in Hartsville, SC?

    Abuse in any form can be incredibly damaging to victims and lead to many different economic and non-economic losses, all of which may be compensated through a nursing home abuse lawsuit.

    Economic Damages

    Plenty of economic damages can come from nursing home abuse, especially if victims suffer any injuries. Abuse can cause long-term medical complications for seniors, resulting in expensive and ongoing treatments or medications.

    Economic damages include any tangible costs incurred because of abuse, including the total cost of victims moving to different nursing homes for their own comfort and safety.

    Non-Economic Damages

    All of the non-economic damages a victim incurs because of nursing home abuse are also compensable. Victims can recover compensation for physical pain, emotional distress, mental anguish, and other intangible damages. Non-economic damages are associated with most kinds of abuse, but victims still need to prove the extent of their pain and suffering to get compensation for it.

    Punitive Damages

    Victims of nursing home abuse may be awarded punitive damages when facilities or individual abusers act with willful, wanton, or reckless misconduct.

    How Can You Identify Different Kinds of Nursing Home Abuse in Hartsville, SC?

    Sadly, abuse in nursing homes is very common, affecting roughly 1 in 5 residents of senior living facilities. Most often, abuse is committed by staff members in positions of power over senior residents. Several forms of abuse are common in nursing homes, and knowing the signs for many of them is important.

    Sexual Abuse

    Signs that a senior is being sexually abused at a nursing home include behavioral changes, depression, fear of a particular staff member, and withdrawal from family and friends.

    Physical Abuse

    Signs that a senior is being physically abused at a nursing home include frequent, unexplained lacerations, contusions, fractures, and other injuries, and injuries at various stages of healing.

    Financial Abuse

    Personal property disappearing, assets and other property changing ownership, and financial accounts being drained are all signs of financial abuse in nursing homes. Though financial abuse might not leave physical injuries, it does result in other economic and non-economic damages, making it worthy of a lawsuit.

    Neglect

    Signs that a senior is being neglected by nursing home staff include poor personal hygiene, bed sores, decline in health, malnutrition, dehydration, and unexplained weight loss.

    What Can You Do if You See Signs of Abuse in a Nursing Home?

    If you see signs of any form of nursing home abuse, act quickly for your loved one’s physical safety and emotional well-being.

    Report Abuse

    Family members who see signs of abuse in their loved ones who live in nursing homes can raise their concerns to the victim directly, the facility, Adult Protective Services, and even local police.

    Offer Support

    Family members can also encourage victims to pursue compensation claims for justice and act as essential support systems for victims as they navigate lawsuits against liable senior living facilities. Family members may offer support by connecting victims with our attorneys, though they would not gain special access to a case by doing so, and the victim would still make all decisions.

    Get Help from Our Hartsville, SC Nursing Home Abuse Attorneys

    Call the nursing home abuse lawyers of Burriss Ridgeway Injury Lawyers at (803) 451-4000 for your free case review.

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