Nursing Home Abuse Lawyer in Louisville Kentucky
Were You or a Loved One Injured Due to Nursing Home Abuse, Neglect, or Negligence in Kentucky? Call Our Nursing Home Abuse Lawyer in Louisville for Help
We trust nursing homes and long-term care facilities with our loved ones when we are unable to provide the level of care and assistance that they need. Although most facilities properly care for our loved one with the dignity and respect that we expect, unfortunately that does not always happen. Far too often are innocent nursing home residents subjected to unlawful and egregious abuse, neglect, and negligence. In fact, statistics indicate that roughly 5 million older adults will suffer from nursing home abuse each year in the United States. However, other statistics suggest this figure is actually much larger because only 1 out of about every 24 cases are reported. Indeed, our experienced nursing home abuse lawyer in Louisville knows that there are far too many instances of nursing home abuse, neglect, or malpractice occurring throughout Kentucky, most of which families do not even know is happening to their loved ones.
That’s why victims and their families should contact the Louisville Injury Law Firm anytime they suspect that nursing home abuse, neglect, or malpractice has caused a victim injury in Kentucky. Our compassionate and knowledgeable legal team can help investigate claims, evaluate damages, and provide a FREE case evaluation to determine what rights to compensation you and your family may have. We also pay the upfront expenses of litigation and agree to only have these expenses and our legal fees paid only after recovering compensation for you. That means there is no upfront cost or financial risk to begin working with our experienced nursing home abuse lawyer in Louisville.
What is Nursing Home Abuse, Neglect, and Negligence in Kentucky?
When it comes to personal injuries caused in a nursing home or long-term care facility, they may be caused by either nursing home abuse, neglect, or negligence. These three concepts are all different, which means they also require different things to be proven under the law. It is important for victims and their families to recognize these three general causes of nursing home injuries or wrongful death in Kentucky.
What is Nursing Home Abuse?
Nursing home abuse is conduct that is usually intentional or willfully aimed at harming a resident. Many times, it is also criminal conduct too such as assault or sex offenses. Generally, nursing home abuse results in direct physical or emotional harm to a resident. Most residents who become victims are usually the most vulnerable, such as those who are unable to defend themselves, those who are nonverbal, or those who have cognitive or memory issues.
Some of the most common examples of nursing home abuse in Kentucky include the following:
- Punching, kicking, hitting, or other striking
- Burns or cuts
- Bites or pinching
- Pushed down a set of stairs or steps
- Hit with an object like a belt or stick
- Emotional or psychological abuse
- Intentional neglect and leaving a resident in a bathtub, in bed, in a shower, or in another place for a long period of time
- Tripping or pushing down to the ground
- Name-calling or creating anxiety or fear in a resident
- Encouraging self-harm or worthlessness
- Sexual offenses including groping, forcible touching, or rape, and
- Other types of serious abuse and harm that a nursing home abuse lawyer in Louisville should review and handle for you and your family.
What is Nursing Home Neglect?
In contrast to nursing home abuse, nursing home neglect is when a resident’s needs are not adequately provided for. This is usually due to a neglectful purpose, meaning that a nursing home owner or staff member forgot to provide care or was late in providing timely care. Other times it could be intentional, such as willingly neglecting to get a resident out of a bathtub as punishment. In either situation, whether the neglect was unintentional or intentional, it could result in compensation for victims and their families under Kentucky law.
Some of the most common examples of nursing home neglect includes the following:
- Leaving a resident in a bathtub, shower, toilet, or in bed
- Refusing to change a resident’s clothing or delaying in changing a resident’s diaper or bedsheets after an accident
- Not responding to a resident’s call bell requests
- Leaving a resident in a wheelchair outside or in a common area
- Providing inadequate hydration to a resident
- Neglecting to brush a resident’s teeth or hair, or perform other basic hygiene
- Failing to provide the resident with food
- Not providing a resident medication or medical treatment such as wound care
- Untimely getting to a resident due to staffing shortages or under-staffing at a facility, and
- Many other common causes of nursing home neglect that victims and their families should call the Louisville Injury Law Firm for help with handling and recovering compensation.
What is Nursing Home Negligence or Malpractice?
Unlike nursing home abuse and nursing home neglect, nursing home negligence or malpractice has a different connotation. It involves conduct which falls below the standard of care. Where it is tricky in nursing homes is that the standard of care could be as a normal person, or that standard of care could be elevated as a medical provider. The first type is where there is general negligence such as trip and falls, slip and falls, or other similar negligence accidents. Whereas the second type is due to medical negligence, such as failing to properly treat a resident, provide medication, or otherwise render medical care and treatment.
The distinction between the two can be very difficult, but nonetheless important to understand because the burdens and what is required to be proven is different. Thus, this is why victims and their families should always rely on an experienced nursing home abuse lawyer like ours at the Louisville Injury Law Firm.
What are the Warning Signs of Nursing Home Abuse, Neglect, or Negligence?
There are many different warning signs that a loved one may be suffering from nursing home abuse, neglect, or negligence in Kentucky. Unfortunately, many people do not realize these signs until the conduct has caused serious personal injuries. Part of this is because most people do not expect their loved one to be a victim of abuse or negligence. Another part is because the wrongdoers often hide their misconduct, and they hide it well – sometimes because they have a lot of experience abusing many other residents over the years.
Therefore, it is important for residents of nursing homes or long-term care facilities and for their families to recognize the early warning signs of nursing home abuse, neglect, or negligence. Some of the most common warning signs include the following:
- Unexplained injuries
- Frequent injuries, many with poor reasons or excuses
- Injuries such as bruises or cuts, particularly in areas which are concealed
- Depression, anxiety, or emotional changes in a resident
- Poor hygiene
- Sudden weight loss
- Dehydration
- Bedsores
- Falls out of bed, off a toilet, out of a wheelchair, or out of a shower
- Self-harming behavior
- Withdrawal
- Fear or anger towards nursing home staff members
- Unexplained confusion or disorientation
- Sudden requests to come home or transfer
- Irritation to the genitals, including injuries, swelling, inflammation, and unexplained STDs
- Withdrawal by the resident from family, friends, or from group activities at a facility
- Torn clothing or stained clothing
- Disappearance or loss of a resident’s money, finances, personal objects, or other unexplained financial changes
- Transfer to a hospital for an unexpected medical condition
- Medication overdoses or errors routinely occurring, and
- Other accidents, occurrences, or other events which are suspicious, poorly explained, without explanation, or which give a resident or a family any cause for concern.
Whenever you see any of these warning signs coupled with any type of injury to a loved one – no matter how slight of an injury – always call an experienced nursing home abuse lawyer in Louisville to schedule an appointment for a FREE case evaluation.
Do You See the Warning Signs of Nursing Home Abuse, Neglect, or Negligence? Call Our Nursing Home Abuse Lawyer in Louisville for Help
If you or a loved one have suffered any type of serious personal injuries due to nursing home abuse, neglect, or negligence in Kentucky, call the Louisville Injury Law Firm to schedule a FREE consultation and case evaluation. These are very complicated types of personal injury cases to win, although the harm to a loved one is often very significant and sometimes truly devastating. These are also cases that can be very difficult to prove. To learn more about your rights and how our bodily injury law firm can protect them, contact our experienced nursing home abuse lawyer in Louisville today by calling (502) 242-9000 or by sending a message to our contact us page here.