Not every fall in a nursing home is the fault of the staff. However, if your loved one has been hurt then it is important to know if your loved one’s injury was caused by nursing home negligence or abuse.
In order to know if the nursing home is responsible for a resident’s fall, you need to know why the resident fell. If the resident fell because of the intentional or negligent acts of nursing home staff then the nursing home may be responsible for the resident’s fall. More specifically:
- Intentional acts include: Pushing, hitting, the non-medical use of physical restraints, and other forms of physical and psychological abuse.
- Negligent acts include: The failure to provide reasonable care. This may mean that the nursing home does not have adequate safety and care procedures in place or that individual staff failed to provide reasonable case. Some examples of negligent acts include the failure to answer a call button or request for help, the failure to check on the resident regularly, or the failure to account for medication changes.
A resident may be able to recover damages in a civil personal injury case if he can prove that the intentional or negligent acts resulted in his physical injury; however, a resident has a limited time to file a nursing home negligence case.
If your loved one was the one who was hurt, then you may need to explain his rights to him and help him get the recovery that he deserves. Please fill out our online contact form today and we will contact you to discuss what happened and schedule a free consultation.