We entrust our elderly and sick family members to nursing homes, assisted care facilities and rehabilitation centers, and we expect them to treat our loved ones with the utmost care, respect and professionalism. Sometimes our family members are there permanently, and sometimes the stay is intended to be temporary. The reality is that most nursing home injuries are preventable and nursing home abuse does happen, whether by design or by negligence.
What is a nursing home lawsuit?
Nursing home lawsuits are a form of medical malpractice lawsuits. The same rules applies apply, including certificates of merit, expert witnesses , and Health Claims Alternative Dispute Resolution.
In any medical malpractice or nursing home lawsuit, the victim (plaintiff) claims that the facility, usually through its employees, did something wrong, and that the error caused injury. The plaintiff will usually have to prove all of these things with expert testimony—through doctors, nurses, nursing home directors or other health care professionals. Most nursing home lawsuits are decided in settlement, or are taken to a jury.
What do nursing homes do wrong?
There are a number of things that nursing homes typically do wrong that cause injury:
- Failure to monitor: when some patients are not supervised (particularly those with Alzheimer’s or dementia), they may be at risk for elopement. Elopement means the patient manages to wander off from the premises, where they may be hurt by cars or other unsafe conditions.
- Bedsores/Ulcers/Pressure sores: some patients are not very mobile. When the body is in the same position for an extended period of time, the skin can develop injuries that, if not monitored, can develop into massive wounds, infections and even cause death. Nursing homes have an obligation to prevent and treat these injuries.
- Nursing home falls: patients who have difficulty walking are at danger of falls which, particularly for the elderly, can cause serious or fatal medical complications. For this reason, patients must be properly evaluated and given rails or low beds, and may need to be walked to and from the bathroom at regular intervals.
- Abuse: most Maryland nursing homes employ competent people, but some health care providers abuse their positions and mistreat their patients.
What can happen from nursing home abuse?
There is a whole range of injuries that commonly arise from nursing home mistreatment. Patients may require medical care that was not otherwise needed, they may face permanent disabilities, or the nursing home’s negligence may cause their death. Our firm accepts cases where the patient has a permanent injury or is killed because of the actions of the nursing home.
How long do I have to file a claim?
The general rule in Maryland is that a medical malpractice lawsuit must be filed five years from the time the malpractice was committed or three years from the date the injury was reasonably discoverable, whichever is shorter. The calculation can be more complicated than it looks—there is an entire body of case law that interpret when an injury was discoverable, for example. Additionally, there may be shorter notice requirements, for example, where a governmental entity was involved.
The best rule of thumb is that if you think you have a nursing home malpractice claim, you should contact a lawyer immediately. Your lawyer will look at the facts, and will be able to determine how long you have to file a lawsuit.
Contact us
If you need to know whether your loved one was the victim of nursing home abuse, contact our nursing home abuse lawyers at 1.800.553.8082, or online . Our experienced attorneys will evaluate the conduct of the nursing home employees, and let you know if your loved one’s injury or death was preventable.
