There are two key issues to consider for facility negligence:

1. What is the harm that was caused?
2. Did the facility breach their standard of care?

A Typical Example

Let’s suppose your mother lives in an assisted living facility. She needs an aide attending to her every time she walks because she’s considered at risk for falling. You’ve had no issues with the facility so far.

One day your mother wants to take a walk and is assisted by an aide. Afterwards, she rests by watching television in the main hall. When she wants to go back to her room, however, the aide that assisted her is not around. The aide’s shift had ended, and instead of waiting for the tardy night shift aide, she simply left.

So your mother decides to walk back to her room on her own. In this attempt, she falls and breaks her leg. She’s admitted to the hospital, suffers complications, and passes.

Key Issues in Negligence Cases

In this case, the facility clearly breached their standard of care. There wasn’t an aide to assist her in moving when she needed it. There was also harm as a result of that breach (assuming the hospital was not at fault).

In other cases, the extent of the damages might not be clear. For example, your parent might still be going through rehabilitation or have an extended hospital stay.

Don’t Be Fooled by Assisted Living Negligence

Don’t let the assisted living facility convince you it’s not their fault. Falling is not to be accepted as just part of the risk of living in that kind of facility.

Take Prompt Action

Assisted living and nursing home negligence matters are complex and time-sensitive. While the example above seems relatively straightforward, there are a number of factors to consider. It’s important to document the possible negligence now, including the issues, events, and names of interested persons.

Give our office a call to discuss your situation. The first half hour of the consultation is free. Our firm can help you hold the facility accountable for their wrongdoing.

In many instances of nursing home or assisted living negligence, medication mismanagement is the direct cause of other issues, such as a resident falling down.

It All Starts Well

Consider this example. Your mother is a resident in an assisted living facility. She needs 9 different medications given to her on a daily basis. She can independently move from room to room and is not considered at high risk for falling.

Problematic Signs

However, you eventually notice that your mother’s pill supplies are being exhausted faster than anticipated. So you remind the assisted living facility of the physician’s prescriptions, including the proper dosages and reasons for medication management.

Signs of Nursing Home Negligence: The Fall

One day, a staff member from the assisted living facility calls to inform you that your mother “unexpectedly” fell. She sustained various injuries and is now at the local hospital suffering from a broken hip and a concussion.

The Untold Cause

What they didn’t tell you was that the nurse in charge of medication management over-medicated your mother. Normally your mother would have no difficulty walking, but due to the side effects, she became drowsy and weak. This led to her stumbling, falling, and injuring herself.

Proving the Assisted Living Negligence

It will be up to you to prove the negligence in this matter. The assisted living facility is being paid to take care of your parent. Don’t let them get away with their negligence.

Call our office, and let us fight for you.

The Facility’s Responsibility

When your parent transitions to a nursing home or assisted living facility, a significant agreement is made. The facility agrees to provide care as your parent needs, in exchange for a hefty monthly fee.

Nursing homes and assisted living facilities often categorize their care into 3 levels. Level 1 is a step up from independent living; the resident needs little supervision. Level 3, on the other hand, indicates a resident that needs regular supervision, similar to a nursing home level of care.

Whatever level of care your parent is in, it is the responsibility of the facility to ensure your parent’s safety. Perhaps that means having a rail on the side of the bed to prevent falls. Or maybe it’s putting an alarm under the bed to alert nurses when a resident moves off the bed. Or perhaps there is the need to have constant assistance moving from place to place.

Signs of Negligence

Here are signs that a nursing home or assisted living facility may be liable for negligence:

1. The facility is aware of a resident’s unique need.
2. The facility fails to address that unique need.
3. As a result, the resident is hurt.

Case in Point

Let’s suppose your mother was recently admitted to an assisted living facility under Level 3 care. Weighing about 160 pounds, she needs the assistance of two aides to move her from any location, such as from the bed to the bathroom.

One morning, one of the nurse aides is running late. Your mother pushes the alert button near her bed, signaling that she wishes to use the bathroom. However, only one aide comes to her assistance. He attempts to get her out of bed, and things are fine—until she puts more weight on the unassisted side and suddenly stumbles. They both fall down hard on the cold, unrelenting floor. Your mother’s thigh bone, already in brittle condition, snaps. She is immediately rushed to the hospital, where she undergoes surgery to set her broken hip.

You are told about this incident immediately by the facility director, who assures you they did everything possible and that accidents sometimes happen. Unfortunately for your mother, the broken hip leads to invasive surgery that leaves her in a weakened condition. She never fully recovers, and her health rapidly worsens. Her surgical wound constantly hurts, and moving her leg also causes her pain. She eventually passes in a nursing home three months later.

This is a case of actionable negligence against the assisted living facility. If they hadn’t violated the standard of care of two nurse aides, your mother would not have fallen to the floor. But because of their negligence, your mother had to endure constant pain over the last remaining months of her life, which was dramatically shortened as a direct result of the injury.

Getting Compensation

If you think your family member has been the victim of negligence in a nursing home or assisted living facility, our law office can help. Sometimes it takes assistance from a lawyer to get the assisted living facility to pay for their negligence. Your family deserves to be compensated for the pain and suffering the negligence caused.

Call our office, and let us fight for you.