People enter nursing homes in part because it is no longer safe for them to be in their own homes. They may not need hospital care, but they do require assistance with activities of daily living and full-time supervision.
Inattentive staff in Orlando nursing homes is the cause of many patient injuries and deaths every year. If you or a family member suffered harm because a nursing home did not provide adequate assistance or supervision, contact the nursing home negligence attorneys at Colling Gilbert Wright. Our firm is well-known for our advocacy for nursing home patients, and most of our cases come to us as referrals from professionals familiar with the quality of our work.
Nursing Homes Have a Duty to Monitor Patients
Nursing homes must provide an environment and assistance that allows residents to live there safely. They must create an individualized care plan for every resident specifying their needs and supervision requirements, and update the plan as the patient’s condition changes.
Failing to provide appropriate supervision can have severe consequences for an Orlando nursing home patient. The nursing home neglect attorneys at The Florida Firm Injury and Accident Lawyers have handled cases involving patients who:
- Did not receive the correct medication as prescribed and scheduled
- Wandered away from the facility
- Fell because no staff was available to help them
- Became malnourished or dehydrated due to inadequate monitoring of their intake
- Developed bedsores
Any of these outcomes could have been prevented if the facility staff had properly monitored the patient.
When a nursing home does not provide the care a patient needs, and the patient suffers harm, the patient or their family member can file a civil lawsuit against the facility. The nursing home is liable for damages to compensate for all losses its neglect caused.
How Do You Prove Staff Inattention?
When you bring a lawsuit claiming staff inattention in a nursing home, you must prove that the facility was negligent. You also must make a connection between the facility’s negligence and the harm the patient suffered.
Sometimes proving negligence is straightforward, such as in bedsore cases— patients receiving proper care do not develop bedsore. In other cases, our Orlando nursing home staff negligence attorneys will investigate to determine whether the:
- Facility was fully staffed on the date of the incident
- Staff on duty had adequate training
- Supervision of staff was appropriate
- Patient’s care plan recognized the risks the patient’s condition presented
- Patient’s needs had recently changed and if so, was the plan updated
- Facility staff acted in compliance with the patient’s care plan
If the facility failed on any of these points, it may have been negligent.
To tie the negligence to the harm, you must show how the facility’s failure led to the incident. If a new medication has a side effect of dizziness and the patient’s increased fall risk was not noted, and the patient hurt themselves in a fall, you have made a connection.
Damages for Harm Done
When a nursing home patient suffers documentable harm due to staff inattention, the patient or their family members can sue the facility for compensation. According to Florida Statutes § 95-11, you must file a lawsuit within two years of the incident that caused harm. The same deadline applies if the incident was fatal to your loved one.
You can claim damages for medical care necessary because of the incident. Damages should cover the physical pain and emotional anguish the patient suffered due to staff inattention. If the patient died, the family members can seek damages for funeral costs and their own emotional suffering due to the incident.
Our Orlando attorneys have secured numerous high-value verdicts and settlements in cases arising out of nursing home staff inattention. In addition to winning compensation for many patients who developed bedsores, we obtained more than $1 million for the family of a resident who choked to death when left unattended while eating, and a similar settlement for the family of a resident who was allowed to wander away from the facility and died of exposure. We also obtained $750,000 for the family of a patient who suffered 17 falls while residing in a nursing home.
Consult Our Orlando Attorneys If Staff Inattention Caused Harm to a Nursing Home Patient
If you or your loved one was harmed because of inattentive staff in an Orlando nursing home, contact us at Colling Gilbert Wright. We are committed to getting justice for nursing home patients who do not receive proper care. We offer free consultations and do not charge legal fees unless we win money for you, so get in touch with us today.