Nursing Home Neglect and Medical Malpractice

According to the National Center on Elder Abuse, a study found that 44% of nursing home residents report abuse and 95% report neglect of themselves or other residents within the past year. Of the abuse that is being reported in nursing homes - 29% is physical abuse; 21% is psychological abuse; 14% is gross neglect; 7% is sexual abuse; 7% is financial exploitation; and 22% is resident-to-resident abuse. Another study found that more than 50% of nursing home staff report mistreating residents within the past year.

One of the responsibilities that nursing homes take on willingly is their residents' medical needs. It is an obligation of a nursing home to care for their residents and make sure that they are provided with adequate medical attention.

Unfortunately, many nursing homes often shirk this responsibility, usually as a result of cost-cutting. Residents of nursing homes can suffer from significant injuries, and sometimes even death when this responsibility is shirked. Abuse in nursing homes is serious, but so is the neglect that results in medical malpractice. When your loved one has been hurt due to the negligence of a nursing home, you have a right to pursue compensation and justice.

Examples of Medical Malpractice

It is a basic reality of life that as we age, our medical needs increase. Many families press the button to keep their aging loved ones in a nursing home because they believe that those facilities are equipped to handle the unique medical needs their loved ones have. And these facilities should be. Nursing homes advertise themselves as places where the elderly can be cared for and relax, and where you can trust the staff to attend to your loved ones. One of the basic obligations of a nursing home is meeting residents' medical needs.

Nursing home liability is highly complicated, but the law makes it clear that medical malpractice in a nursing home is not acceptable. Examples of medical negligence that are often seen in nursing homes include:

· Prescription drug errors

· Failure to provide required medication at the appropriate times

· Failure to check for drug interactions that can lead to allergies and other complications

· Staff that is poorly trained and equipped

· Failure to make arrangements for medical professionals like doctors and registered nurses to attend to patients

· Abuse of medical restraints

· Ignoring the medical concerns of residents

Considering the fact that many nursing home residents are in a fragile state, this negligence can have the most severe consequences. Tragically, the medical malpractice that takes place in a nursing home often leads to death.

If your loved one has experienced neglect in the nursing home they live in, it is important to seek the help of one of the experienced malpractice lawyers at Rosenberg, Minc, Falkoff, & Wolff of RMFW Law at 212-344-1000.

The first meeting is free. We do not charge you anything up front. We know how to win cases. We want to win this case as badly as you do. You do not pay us until we settle and since we only take a percentage of the final settlement or the verdict, it is as if you do not pay RMFW Law anything. We know which legal buttons to press and when to press them. We know the legal system and what it takes to win a case.