Peoria Nursing Home Abuse Attorney
The nursing home abuse lawyers at Strong Law Offices have more than 25 years of experience helping victims and their families recover compensation when nursing home abuse or negligence causes serious injuries or results in a loved one’s untimely death.
We are strong advocates for vulnerable nursing home residents, and we fight to ensure that wrongdoers are held accountable for their actions, similar behaviors are deterred to protect others from future harm, and victims are appropriately compensated for their pain.
If your loved one has been abused or neglected in an Illinois nursing home facility, contact the Peoria nursing home abuse lawyers at Strong Law Offices for a free, no-obligation consultation.
Is Your Loved One a Victim of Nursing Home Neglect or Abuse?
A nursing home abuse attorney at Strong Law Offices can help put a stop to the abuse and ensure your loved one receives compensation for his or her injuries. Unpredictable circumstances of physical or mental incapacitation, advancing age, or the inability to care for one’s self often means placement into a long-term nursing home care facility may be the only solution.
Placement into a nursing home is often a traumatic experience for the resident and his or her family members. For the resident to suffer physical or emotional injuries attributable to abuse and/or neglect is unimaginable.
Unfortunately, approximately 5 million people over the age of 60 suffer some form of abuse or neglect every year.
What Is Nursing Home Neglect?
When a facility fails to provide or willfully withholds appropriate medical care, psychiatric treatment or rehabilitation, nourishment, assistance with daily living activities, or personal care, and the resident suffers mental or physical harm as a result, a nursing home neglect case may arise.
Common Types of Nursing Home Abuse and Neglect Cases
Our nursing home abuse attorneys see a wide range of nursing home neglect and abuse cases, and several types of injuries are common in nursing home neglect claims.
Some injuries are unimaginable and so severe that they may constitute negligence per se. Negligence per se applies if the mere existence of such an injury could constitute negligence. Common types of nursing home abuse and neglect cases our injury law firm sees include, but are not limited to:
Bedsores
When bedsores appear, it is a red flag to family members and nursing home abuse lawyers that something isn’t right with your loved one’s nursing home care. Bedsores can develop while a resident is lying in bed, sitting in a wheelchair, or is otherwise immobile.
Bedsores are very painful and can take many months to heal. Some bedsores never heal. Without proper treatment, severe infections and other complications can develop. In the most serious cases, complications from inadequately treated bedsores can be fatal.
Falls
Falling can cause disability, functional decline, reduced quality of life, or other changes to activities of daily living. Nursing home staff have a responsibility to minimize the risk of falls by nursing home residents. While not every fall in a nursing home is preventable, our nursing home abuse attorneys see many falls occur when residents are neglected.
Our experienced nursing home negligence lawyers will investigate the facts and circumstances of your loved one’s fall to determine whether negligence contributed to his or her injuries.
Examples of negligent conduct regarding falls in a nursing home are:
- Failure to develop an adequate fall prevention plan
- Improper care techniques
- Failure to assess, re-assess or modify the resident’s care plan
- Understaffing
- Hiring unqualified employees
- Providing insufficient training
- Failure to address hazardous conditions
- Failure to provide nursing home care in accordance with a fall prevention plan
Check our blog post on why you need a fall injury lawyer.
Other Types of Nursing Home Negligence Cases
Other types of nursing home negligence cases can also arise because of nursing home errors or omissions in rendering nursing home care:
A nursing home negligence claim is an avenue for victims of nursing home care negligence and/or their loved ones to be compensated for the damages they have suffered as a result of the negligence or abuse.
Filing a Nursing Home Neglect or Abuse Lawsuit in Illinois
Nursing home negligence and wrongful death cases are notoriously difficult for nursing home abuse attorneys to litigate. Many regulatory statutes need critical analysis to determine whether the nursing home and/or its employees violated any statutory duties or conversely omitted to perform any necessary duties for its residents.
Our nursing home abuse attorneys can determine whether the proof that is necessary to establish a deviation from the standard of care based upon a victim’s physical and/or emotional injuries or death exists. To determine whether there is a meritorious claim, a nursing home abuse attorney at our law firm will:
- Conduct an investigation
- Obtain nursing home care records
- Interview witnesses
- Recruit nursing home medical experts
- Draft a specific complaint
- Conduct discovery
Expert testimony will normally be required to establish the standard of care applicable to the nursing home governing its care to the resident.
Who Can Recover Compensation in a Nursing Home Neglect or Abuse Case?
Nursing home abuse attorneys can help victims file claims to recover compensation for their injuries and losses. Unfortunately, many victims are unable to take legal action on their own behalf because of cognitive decline, serious mental or physical health conditions, or death.
When an abuse victim is still living but cannot pursue his or her own legal claim, a nursing home abuse lawyer can help the resident’s personal representative pursue recovery on behalf of the victim.
If the abuse or neglect caused the nursing home resident to pass away, close family members like a surviving spouse or children may be able to recover compensation by filing a wrongful death claim.
Proving Nursing Home Negligence
To be successful in a nursing home negligence case in Illinois, your nursing home abuse attorney will need to establish the following:
- The existence of a duty owed by a nursing home to a resident
- The standard of care governing the nursing home’s care and treatment of a resident was not met and the duty owed to the resident was breached by the facility or staff member(s)
- The resident suffered injury or death
- A proximate causal relationship between the nursing home’s breach of duty and the resident’s injury or death existed
What You Should Know about the Illinois Nursing Home Care Act
Nursing homes are regulated by the Nursing Home Care Act. The statute was enacted to provide protection for nursing home residents. It addresses residents’ rights and the responsibilities of nursing home facilities. The Act provides for the licensing of long-term care facilities, violations, and penalties applicable to nursing home facilities.
The statute also requires an administrator or employee of a nursing home to report suspected abuse or neglect of a nursing home resident.
To find a violation of the Nursing Home Care Act, the nursing home must have operated or maintained its facility in a manner that directly threatened the health, safety, and welfare of a resident. Under the Nursing Home Care Act, the owner and licensee are liable to nursing home residents for intentional or negligent acts or omissions by their agents or employees that cause injuries. It provides for the recovery of damages, including procedural costs and attorney fees.
Which Facilities Are Subject to Negligence Claims Under the Act?
Only certain types of facilities are subject to negligence claims after committing violations of the Nursing Home Care Act:
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Contact a Nursing Home Abuse Attorney
Contact a nursing home abuse lawyer at Strong Law Offices in Peoria for a free initial consultation. We pledge to provide a high level of service to you and to return all your phone calls and emails promptly.
We have convenient office locations in Peoria, Chicago, Bloomington, and Springfield and represent clients throughout Illinois.
Other Medical Malpractice Cases Strong Law Offices Handle
Our medical malpractice attorneys at Strong Law Offices handle a variety of injury cases including but not limited to:
In addition to nursing home abuse attorneys, our law firm features personal injury lawyers, workers’ compensation lawyers, and car accident lawyers who are here to help victims recover.