Wrongful Death in Nursing Homes

Did Your Loved One Die Due to the Negligence of Someone Else?

When you move a loved one into a nursing home, it is a decision you hope is the right one. Knowing the person needs more care than you can provide, you carefully select a facility you believe will treat your family member with the love and respect they deserve. However, there are times when a nursing home and its staff fail to live up to these expectations. As a result, your loved one may die due to the staff’s negligence and carelessness. Should this occur, you and your family may choose to file a wrongful death lawsuit against the nursing home. Since the nursing home knows its reputation and also millions of dollars are likely at stake, administrators and staff will make numerous claims that they did nothing wrong. To combat this and make sure the truth is revealed about your loved one’s death, hire a Los Angeles personal injury attorney who regularly takes on nursing homes and wins.

Who is Eligible to Sue for Wrongful Death?

When you believe a wrongful death took place at a nursing home with your loved one, immediately consult with a wrongful death attorney Los Angeles families know has extensive experience involving nursing homes. In most instances, immediate family members such as spouses, children, and parents are allowed to file wrongful death lawsuits pertaining to nursing home deaths. In some cases, individuals such as life partners or those who were financially dependent on the deceased can also file wrongful death lawsuits. If questions arise as to whether you are legally eligible to file such a lawsuit, consult with an injury lawyer in Los Angeles who has handled these complex cases in the past.

How is Wrongful Death Defined?

In legal circles, wrongful death is defined as a person dying due to the actions, negligence, or carelessness of another person. When these lawsuits are filed against nursing homes and their staff, it is important to remember that even if your loved one died at a location other than the nursing home, such as in a hospital, you are still allowed to file your lawsuit, since the actions that resulted in the death took place at the nursing home. However, if your loved one does die at a hospital, expect the nursing home to do all it can to shift the blame to the other facility. To make sure the nursing home and its negligent staff are held accountable for the death of your loved one, work with wrongful death claim lawyers who won’t stop until they get justice for your family and your loved one who died.

Wrongful Death Examples

As to how wrongful death can occur in nursing homes, there are unfortunately many examples of how this happens every day. In some instances, staff members may fail to give residents proper doses of their medication or even give them their medication at all. In other situations, staff members may intentionally overlook various problems that develop with a resident, allowing their health to deteriorate to the point where they die. In other more abhorrent situations, staff members may intentionally abuse residents physically, emotionally, and even sexually, ultimately causing their death. Whatever the circumstances, if a loved one was passed under unusual circumstances while living at a nursing home, don’t let negligent and careless staff members and administrators off the hook. Instead, retain the services of an LA injury attorney to help you uncover exactly what happened.

Evidence is the Key to Winning

When you suspect your loved one died at a nursing home due to the negligence of staff members, you should always work very hard to gather as much evidence related to the death as possible. For example, if you had suspected prior abuse or neglect was taking place and had taken photos of bedsores, cuts and bruises, or other problems your loved one had while at the nursing home, turn these over immediately to your wrongful death lawyer who Los Angeles families trust to win these cases. Also, if you filed any complaints with the home’s administration, get copies of these reports as well and give them to your lawyer in Los Angeles. By having these and other pieces of evidence, your lawyers can often discover many other complaints and deaths have taken place at the facility, usually aimed at specific staff members. Once this evidence begins to be uncovered, it becomes much easier for your attorney to build a strong case on your behalf.

Out-of-Court Settlements

While there are many wrongful death lawsuits that go to trial involving nursing homes, the majority of these cases are settled out-of-court. Since nursing homes rarely want any type of negative publicity, they often do all they can to get these cases settled quickly and as quietly as possible. However, this does not mean they are eager to pay you and your family substantial compensation for your loved one’s death. Since most nursing homes fail to acknowledge they did anything wrong in these situations, they may still attempt to pay as little as possible to get the case settled. Thus, if your loved one was killed while in the care of staff members at a nursing home, do all you can to gain the maximum compensation you and your family members deserve by letting an experienced injury lawyer negotiate with the nursing home and its insurance company.

While placing a loved one in a nursing home is an excruciating decision for any family, it is far worse when your loved one dies due to the negligence of those in whom you trusted to care for your family member. When this happens, don’t let your emotions guide your thinking. To make sure those who were responsible for your loved one’s death at the nursing home are forced to accept responsibility for the death and be held accountable for their negligence, schedule a consultation as soon as possible with an attorney at Grey Law.