Choosing to place a loved one in a nursing home can be a difficult decision. If your loved one needs skilled care and assistance, a good nursing home is often the best place for them. Unfortunately, when nursing homes fail to meet their required standard of care, residents can suffer devastating harm.
Fortunately, experienced Philadelphia Nursing Home Abuse Lawyers could help determine if your family is entitled to compensation from that negligent facility. Our Philadelphia nursing home abuse lawyers can help develop a personalized claim to seek compensation for your family’s unique situation.
What are Signs of Nursing Home Resident Abuse?
Staff members of a nursing home may take advantage of their residents by abusing them either physically or emotionally. Unless someone directly witnesses the mistreatment occurring, it can be challenging to confirm that abuse or neglect is occurring. If a person suspects that their family member is a victim of nursing home abuse, they may need to look for subtle signs of mistreatment.
Emotional and Behavioral Indicators
After suffering abuse, some nursing home residents exhibit behavioral changes, such as becoming withdrawn or easily agitated. They may also exhibit personality changes, or demonstrate an extreme fear or unexplained anger toward the nursing home staff.
Physical Indicators of Abuse
Physical signs of nursing home resident mistreatment include:
- Bedsores
- Sudden or unexplained weight loss
- Bruises
- Open cuts, scratches, or pinch marks
- Burns
- Sign of sexual abuse
Other Possible Signs
In addition to physical and emotional abuse, nursing home staff may commit financial abuse. Family members of nursing home residents should seek help from a local attorney if they notice their loved one’s belongings going missing or unexplained changes in their banking account.
Establishing Nursing Home Negligence
Not all nursing home injuries come from intentional staff abuse. Many times elderly residents suffer harm because the staff makes careless errors. If the facility is understaffed, unattended residents may wander off and get hurt, or suffer a fall. Other times, the nursing home staff might neglect a resident’s needs, causing them to develop bedsores or other infections, or lose weight and suffer from malnutrition.
Nursing home residents tend to be more fragile due to their advancing age or underlying health conditions. If a nursing home staff takes reasonable preventative precautions, many accidents can be avoided. A hardworking lawyer in Philadelphia could investigate if the nursing home acted negligently in the care of an elderly resident.
Recoverable Compensation in Philadelphia
In Pennsylvania, the family of an injured nursing home resident could pursue economic damages to recover their financial losses, including medical costs and rehabilitation expenses. They could also seek non-economic damages to cover their intangible losses, such as their loved one’s mental anguish and pain and suffering. A skilled Philadelphia Nursing Home Abuse Lawyer could help a family calculate and quantify the losses that their loved one has sustained due to nursing home abuse or neglect.
Get in Touch with Philadelphia Nursing Home Abuse Lawyers Today
If you believe that your loved one has sustained harm in a nursing home, you should reach out to a qualified Philadelphia nursing home abuse lawyer today. The sooner you contact our Philadelphia Nursing Home Abuse Lawyers, the earlier we can get started on helping you on the road to financial compensation for the injustice suffered by your loved one. Call today and schedule your initial case consultation with one of our Philadelphia Nursing Home Abuse Lawyers.
