If your elder parent or relative is the victim of nursing home neglect, they and you have rights under the law. Elder neglect is a real problem, but without the right help, you may have a hard time getting the compensation you deserve to move forward and recover damages. Our nursing home neglect lawyers at Stewart Bell, PLLC may be able to help.
Has Your Loved One Suffered Nursing Home Neglect?
If your senior loved one has suffered due to neglectful nursing home staff, the attorneys at Stewart Bell, PLLC, are here to help. Reach out today for a free case review with a compassionate nursing home neglect lawyer in Charleston.
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Getting help for your case is as easy as picking up the phone. All it takes is one call, and we’ll handle the rest!
You Have the Right to Justice
You deserve to be compensated for the pain you’ve suffered at the hands of neglectful staff. Let our attorneys help you fight for your rights.
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Calling our offices is risk-free for you. There are no fees for our consultation or services unless we win your case.
Helping You Face the Pain and Betrayal
You rely on the nursing home or assisted living facility to protect your loved one, to give them their medication, and to provide companionship. When they fail at this, and your loved one suffers at their hands, you have every right to feel betrayed, angry, and even scared. We want you to know we understand what you’re going through, and we’re here to help you fight for the justice and compensation you deserve.
Our attorneys at Stewart Bell, PLLC have been helping nursing home neglect victims in Charleston and their families fight for justice and compensation for years. We understand the pain our clients face in these cases, and we want to help make things right. If your loved one has been neglected by their nursing home staff, our aggressive attorneys will review every detail in their case, and fight to make sure no further harm comes to them.
Where Can You Find Help for Nursing Home Neglect?
The attorneys at Stewart Bell, PLLC are here to help. Let’s seek justice together.
Elder Neglect vs. Elder Abuse
Elder neglect is different from elder abuse. Abuse implies direct action or exploitation that causes harm. Neglect is the harm caused by failure to perform duties.
Physical Neglect
Physical neglect occurs when staff fails to attend to the basic needs of a patient, including hygiene, nutrition, or medical care. It involves failure to provide medication, to change wound dressings and bandages, to attend to grooming, to aid in dressing, failure to provide food to maintain their health, and more.
Emotional Neglect
Nursing home staff are also supposed to provide emotional support and companionship. When they fail to pay attention to the basic emotional needs of seniors, this is a form of neglect. It can cause emotional turmoil, anguish, distress, isolation, and fear. It can occur when the staff belittles, shames, or ignores their needs as adults.
Financial Neglect
Financial neglect occurs when the staff is supposed to provide aid in maintaining the basic financial responsibilities of the patient. This can include paying rent, bills, covering healthcare insurance, and even property taxes. If the staff ignores these important responsibilities and the senior ends up in financial turmoil, this is a form of neglect.
Abandonment
Abandonment is another form of neglect that occurs when the caregiver deserts the senior and leaves them entirely alone. If a caregiver is unable to continue their duties, they have a responsibility to secure new care, or at least inform others so that new care can be secured. If they refuse or fail to do so, they have committed neglect.
Common Causes of Nursing Home Neglect
There are a number of reasons why neglect happens in a nursing home. Understanding the reasons can help to understand what happened.
Staffing Issues
Many nursing homes in this day and age are wildly understaffed. This leads to a staff that is not able to fulfill the jobs as well as they should. Tragically, this causes innocent elders to suffer when they cannot get the care and attention they need.
Poor Training
Providing eldercare is a very specialized form of care, and, unfortunately, too many facilities don’t provide proper training. Undertrained staff is ineffective, and this can lead to severe consequences for the people under their care.
Fatigued Staff
An overworked staff gets tired, clumsy, and makes bad decisions. This ties into the issues of understaffing. Overworked, fatigued staff can end up accidentally neglecting patients, or can even deliberately shirk their duties just from sheer exhaustion.
Underpaid, Unhappy Staff
When employees are unhappy, their work suffers. While this shouldn’t be the case, it is. When staff feels like they are undervalued or underpaid, they tend to fail to put forth the effort required to do their best work. Again, this ends up with tragic consequences for the victims.
If you’ve seen any signs of neglect in your loved one’s nursing home, you or your loved one may be entitled to compensation.
Did Your Loved One Suffer Nursing Home Neglect?
Our Charleston nursing home neglect lawyers at Stewart Bell, PLLC, can help you and your loved ones. We will fight for the compensation your loved one deserves.
Securing the Safety of Your Loved One
If you suspect that your loved one has suffered nursing home abuse or neglect, it’s vital to report the problem right away.
The National Center on Elder Abuse advises that you call 911 immediately and inform the authorities if you suspect someone is in immediate danger. The West Virginia Adult Protective Services office can also help. You can also contact West Virginia’s ombudsman office.
If the danger is not immediate, it’s still important to report the issue as soon as possible, because it can become dangerous at any time. If your loved one is being neglected, others may be as well. By reporting the issue, you may be saving lives.
Those taking your report are also prohibited from revealing your identity, or your loved one’s identity, to the facility. Your report will be anonymous. If you need help or advice, our team is here to help.
How Can a Lawyer Help?
Navigating the legal system can be tricky, especially when dealing with elder abuse, which is both criminal and civil. If you are unsure where to go or what to do to report the abuse and protect your loved one, your nursing home neglect lawyer can guide you through the process and handle any of the paperwork or legal complications on your behalf.
To protect you and your loved one, you must contact an attorney right away. Time is always of the essence, primarily to protect those who have suffered abuse, and also to make sure you are within the time frame to seek the compensation you need to recover.
An elder care attorney can help to make sure your loved one is protected. Your attorney can gather and compile the evidence needed to build a strong case and secure the best chance at the compensation your loved one deserves. An elder abuse lawyer is your best shot at protecting your loved one’s rights and fighting for compensation.
What Comes Next?
Get in touch with us for your free consultation. We’ll help you determine the next steps. We can even consult online or over the phone so you don’t even have to leave your house.
We will gather all of the necessary evidence for abuse to build a strong case. This may include witness testimonials, reports of inspections of the facility, photographs, doctors’ testimony, medical reports, and more.
We will negotiate a settlement, where your lawyer will stay busy advocating for you and your loved one’s rights. This can take some time, so patience is important.
We will represent you and your loved ones at any necessary court appearances and fight for your rights the entire time. We put in the time and work so you can focus on healing with your family.
As soon as a potential settlement is reached, we put in the work to make sure you receive it promptly so that you can continue healing.
Did Your Loved One Suffer Senior Abuse and Neglect?
If your parent or other loved one has suffered at the hands of careless nursing home staff, the attorneys at Stewart Bell, PLLC, are here to fight for you. We will seek the compensation you deserve.
Nursing Home Neglect FAQs
Neglect is a form of abuse and refers to the failure to provide an older person with the proper care that’s essential to their health and safety, such as food, water, medical care, shelter, supervision, and sanitary living quarters.
Seniors deserve to be cared for with respect and dignity. Neglect can cause serious and life-threatening injuries. If your loved one has experienced neglect in their care facility, please give our office a call to speak with a Charleston, WV, nursing home neglect lawyer. We can review your case and help you determine how to proceed.
The first order of business is to get the authorities involved. Immediately contact the West Virginia Adult Protective Services, or APS, offices if your loved one is not under immediate threat. If they are in imminent danger, call the police.
APS will review your allegations to determine if the caregiver has potentially violated West Virginia state laws. If they have, APS will perform a detailed investigation of the case.
If APS discovers that a crime has been committed, they will bring in the authorities. Anyone who is convicted of neglect against a senior may be subject to a court-ordered sentence, without probation or suspension.
If your loved one has been the victim of neglect at the hands of a nursing home caregiver, you may be eligible to collect compensation for the damages they’ve suffered. APS will not get you these damages, however. They handle the criminal side. To get compensated, contact our experienced nursing home neglect attorneys at Stewart Bell, PLLC today.
Nursing home neglect case settlements can vary. The facts of your case will largely dictate the outcome. For example, wrongful death cases typically see the highest compensation. Some states have caps on how much money can be awarded in damages. Even with all of these factors, the average claim recovers $406,000 in damages. And that’s not even considering the gained sense of closure and justice for you and your loved ones.