Nursing homes are meant to keep your elderly loved ones secure, safe, and happy during their golden years. Tragically, some nursing homes fail to keep this promise, and even harm the elderly residents that are entrusted to them. In extreme cases, this neglect and lack of care can lead to a wrongful death lawsuit. When this happens, you need to know how to properly and successfully prove wrongful death in a nursing home:
Defining “Wrongful Death”
To establish a nursing home wrongful death, you often need to provide evidence of carelessness or malicious harm. In a wrongful death case, the plaintiff’s surviving family members, such as spouses or children, sue a nursing home or a member of its staff to receive compensation for their losses. With the assistance of a wrongful death nursing home lawyer, you can bring a wrongful death claim if you lost a loved one as a result of nursing home neglect or abuse. Nursing home wrongful death claims can assist you and your family in paying for expenditures like medical bills and funeral fees, even while they cannot take away the agony of losing a loved one.
Common Causes of Wrongful Deaths in Nursing Homes
Wrongful deaths can take many forms within a nursing home’s walls. That being said, some forms of death are more common, as are the causes of death. Several causes are especially associated with wrongful deaths in nursing homes, however, including, but not limited to:
-Sepsis
-Medication Management
-Improper Medical Care
-Ulcers
-Lack of Treatment
-Broken Bones
-Malnutrition
-Fall Accidents
-Dehydration
-Lack of Site Maintenance
-Neglect
-Staff Mismanagement
By knowing all about the common causes of wrongful and accidental nursing home deaths, you can educate your elderly loved one more effectively. They will benefit from knowing signs of abuse as well, so be sure to (frequently) keep up-to-date with your loved one about their quality of care. Doing so will not only help to keep your loved one safe but will also benefit the overall safety of every elderly resident living within the nursing home as well.
Must-Have Evidence for Proving Wrongful Death
State-by-state wrongful death laws differ, but each state has a burden of proof that must be satisfied to establish a claim of wrongful death. To meet this burden, the plaintiff must provide proof of each of the elements of wrongful death: Firstly, you must prove that the nursing home had a responsibility to keep your loved one safe. Secondly, you must prove that the nursing home failed to take necessary safety precautions during the care of your loved one. Lastly, you must prove that a failure to provide care, or neglectful action, led to the death of your loved one.
Plaintiffs use a variety of evidence to prove these aspects of nursing home wrongful death. Attorneys will advise you to preserve all relevant evidence if you believe that a nursing home committed wrongful death against your loved one. The following pieces of evidence are highly recommended to win a wrongful death lawsuit against a nursing home: documentation, witness statements, photos, timelines, police reports, health professional reports, and more.
Who Can be Held Responsible?
Knowing who can be held legally responsible for your loved one’s wrongful death is key. The nursing facility and any negligent caregivers, such as nursing home employees or nurses, may be named as defendants in a nursing home wrongful death case. Nursing home administrators could be held accountable in a wrongful death lawsuit if they knew that a person was being abused by another resident or staff member but did nothing to stop it. A qualified attorney can help you navigate this difficult time, and determine the proper party to bring your wrongful death lawsuit against.
Taking Legal Action
Care must be given to nursing home residents in a safe environment by long-term care facilities. When proper care isn’t delivered, nursing home employees, owners, and other parties may be held accountable. There is a deadline for submitting a nursing home wrongful death lawsuit, though. Statutes of limitations, which might differ from state to state, set time limits on how long you have to launch a case. The typical statute of limitations in a state is three years or fewer. If time expires, you won’t be able to launch a lawsuit. Fortunately, you can engage with lawyers who have experience handling nursing home wrongful death lawsuits to prevent any issues. They can assist you in bringing the nursing home wrongful death case within the allotted time frame.