Fighting Back Against Nursing Home Neglect

When relatives become aged, families may struggle to provide the necessary care that their loved ones require. In these difficult situations, many place their trust in a nursing home. They trust that qualified professionals will meet the medical and personal needs of their loved ones. When a nursing home breaks that trust, the results can be tragic. Our most vulnerable loved ones can become neglected or abused. They can end up injured or killed. At that point, you need a lawyer who is experienced, respected and tough. At Cook & Tolley, LLP, we know that the harm a nursing home has done may have its roots in some corner-cutting business decisions made miles away from your loved one’s room.

Common Causes For Negligence

No business, including a nursing home, can do its job properly unless it is willing to hire enough competent staff and train them well. Understaffing and undertraining at a nursing home puts our loved ones at risk in the following ways:

• Decreased time with a nursing professional
• Delayed or missed medications
• Inadequate food or water
• Injuries related to bed sores
• Overworked employees, which leads to a high turnover rate and an inexperienced work force

Understaffed nursing homes and unqualified nursing home workers put patients at risk, yet many owners knowingly fail to hire or adequately train enough competent employees. Why? Profits. Good hiring and training costs money. Some owners of nursing homes are more concerned with cutting corners than in respecting your loved one. When workers are incompetent, overworked or undertrained, the residents suffer. Some nursing home injuries happen quickly, such as physical abuse, a fall or leaving the facility without supervision. Quite often, though, the harm is a long time coming. In these situations – malnutrition, rough handling, bedsores – the nursing home had plenty of opportunity to keep from harming your loved one, if only they had listened.

We Will Help Your Loved Ones Get Justice

If you think you might have a nursing home case, please contact us, and please do not delay. There is a two-year deadline for filing a lawsuit, and it can be hard sometimes to determine when the nursing home first injured your loved one. Call our office at 706-549-6111 for more details. We look forward to speaking with you.

Practicing attorneys: J. Vincent Cook, R. Christopher Irwin, III