Individuals often place their loved ones in nursing facilities to ensure they receive the medical care, treatment, and supervision that they need in their old age. In many cases, their placement in a nursing facility is because other family members have full-time employment and cannot monitor their loved one’s needs around the clock. They may also live far away from the nursing home and cannot visit their loved ones there regularly. It often surprises people to learn that some nursing homes, typically thought of as a safe and caring place, engage in abuse or neglect by over-medicating or under-medicating the patients who reside there.
If you suspect that this type of activity is taking place, there are certain steps that you can take to determine exactly what exactly is going on. If you believe or come to learn that a nursing home staff member is abusing or neglecting your loved one who resides at that nursing home, the first thing that you should do is report the activity to the nursing home administrator, nursing supervisor, nursing director, or another person of authority at the nursing home.
You could also report the nursing home to the health department in your state or file a legal action against the nursing home or the at-fault nursing home employee. An experienced nursing home abuse and neglect attorney in your area could assist you with handling all of the legal aspects of your loved one’s claim.
Drugging Nursing Home Patients
In days past, especially when governmental oversight did not regulate the nursing home industry as heavily as it does today, nursing homes could use certain medications, including sedatives and anti-psychotic medications, to calm their patients and make them sleep for a long time. These types of medications were especially effective when it came to pacifying residents who suffered from various forms of dementia, including Alzheimer‘s disease.
Nursing home employees took such actions because it was generally much easier to manage a patient under chemical sedation than an active patient who constantly roamed around the nursing home and required monitoring and supervision. Heavily sedated patients, on the other hand, did not require a great deal of attention or care by nursing home staff members.
Although nursing homes would administer low dosages of these sedatives to patients who resided there, the drugs could lead to adverse reactions for these patients that might result in injury, illness, or even death.
In more recent years, nursing homes have become increasingly regulated, most especially by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). Organizations like CMS have put in place numerous guidelines and regulations pertaining to nursing home practices, including the appropriate use of various restraints on nursing home patients and the administering of medication to patients.
Although the practice of chemically sedating nursing home patients has decreased greatly in nursing homes throughout the country, it does still take place. Patient sedation is more common in states where laws are not strictly regulated or enforced. However, it is always important for a nursing home resident’s family to become involved in the treatment process, as it ensures that nursing homes closely adhere to the laws and regulations that are in place in a specific jurisdiction, especially when it comes to changing patient medications.
When a family member becomes aware that a loved one is over or under-medicated while residing at a nursing home, speak with an experienced nursing home abuse and neglect attorney as soon as possible. A lawyer can begin investigating the circumstances, and if necessary, can take legal action against the offending nursing home or nursing home employee.
Finding Out Whether a Nursing Home Has Made Changes to a Patient’s Medications
When family members, especially those who do not visit frequently, notice changes in their loved one’s behavior, they may assume that the nursing home where their loved one resides changed their medication regimen. The loved one may appear confused or groggy or may not exhibit any energy. Whenever a family member notices these changes, they should get to the bottom of exactly what is going on.
The first step should be to contact the appropriate staff members at the nursing home, such as the nurse who is in charge of administering medication to patients or another nursing supervisor. It may also be helpful to contact a nursing home administrator at this stage. If nursing home staff members explain why the patient’s medication has changed, confirm that by checking the resident’s chart (the resident’s clinical medical records).
It is also a good idea for family members to discuss any medication changes they see with the loved one’s doctor. Finally, family members should keep a record of all of their discussions and communications with others at the nursing home, including doctors and nursing home staff members, for easy reference later on.
Family members of a loved one who resides at a nursing home should keep in mind that medication changes can also come about when a patient suffers new illnesses or ailments, including infections. They can also result when a chronic condition, such as Alzheimer’s disease, begins to progress to a more serious stage. Family members can rule out the underlying potential causes of a medication change by observing changes in their loved one’s mobility, digestive issues, bathroom habits, and distances walked.
In short, the best way to determine if your loved one is over-medicated or under-medicated while residing at a nursing facility is to keep tabs on your loved one’s condition, becoming active in their care plan, asking to review their clinical chart, and speaking with individuals at the nursing home, including doctors and nurses who are responsible for your loved one’s care, if you suspect a medication change.
In some instances, however, these medication changes can result from abuse or neglect on the part of nursing home staff members. In that case, an experienced nursing home abuse and neglect attorney in your jurisdiction could help you file a complaint against the nursing home with the state health department or pursue legal action in an attempt to recover monetary compensation and damages on your loved one’s behalf (in the event your loved one suffered an injury or illness as a direct and proximate result of the medication change that occurred).
Nursing Home Abuse in Cases That Involve Over-Medicating or Under-Medicating a Resident
Sometimes, over-medicating or under-medicating a nursing home patient amounts to abusive behavior on the part of a nursing home or a nursing home staff member. If your loved one suffers from a cognitive disease or impairment, such as dementia, then they may not even be aware of the medication issue.
According to the United States Centers for Disease Control (CDC), certain behaviors constitute abuse if a nursing home staff member is committing the behavior knowingly and intentionally, and if the behavior results in harm (or the threat of harm) to a nursing home patient.
According to statistics provided by the National Council on Aging, elder abuse is not a new thing. In fact, some estimates believe almost five million elderly individuals throughout the United States suffer from elder abuse in some form, and many of these instances happen in nursing homes, convalescent centers, and assisted living facilities. Sadly, many abuse occurrences go unreported, sometimes because the elderly individual does not even know that the abuse occurs.
If you notice unusual notations in your loved one’s clinical chart or if you notice that your loved one is behaving differently than you remember, it may be a sign of medication abuse that is occurring at the nursing home. In addition to reporting your suspicions to the nursing supervisor or director of nursing at the facility where your loved one resides, you may want to contact an experienced nursing home abuse and neglect attorney in your jurisdiction. The lawyer could then investigate the incident and pursue legal action on your loved one’s behalf, if necessary.
Nursing Home Neglect in Cases That Involve Over-Medicating or Under-Medicating a Resident
Neglect in the nursing home context is slightly different from abuse. Nursing home abuse is typically defined as intentional, knowing, and willful acts on the part of nursing home staff members. Neglect, on the other hand, often involves a dereliction of duty on behalf of the nursing home employee.
Nursing homes and their employees owe their residents a duty to ensure that they care for the residents reasonably and safely at all times. Part of this duty of care includes making sure that patients receive the proper medication and that they receive their medications at the proper time of day.
Nursing home employees must also ensure that they provide their patients with the proper medication dosage. Failing to do so can result in the patient being over-medicated or under-medicated.
When a medication mistake by a doctor, nurse, or another healthcare provider at a nursing home results in the patient becoming injured or ill or causes the nursing home resident’s untimely death, then the injured patient could bring a negligence claim or lawsuit against the negligent staff member or the nursing home.
If the medication error results in the nursing home resident’s untimely death, then their surviving family members (or the personal representative of the resident’s estate) could file a wrongful death claim against the responsible parties. An experienced nursing home abuse and neglect lawyer in your jurisdiction can assist you with filing the appropriate claim or lawsuit in the state court system, depending upon the circumstances involved.
Other Types of Nursing Home Neglect
In addition to causing harmful medication errors, such as those that involve over-medicating or under-medicating a patient, nursing homes and their employees can make other serious mistakes that may cause a resident to suffer an injury, illness, or untimely death.
These additional types of nursing home neglect include:
- Failing to monitor and supervise nursing home residents adequately—When individuals place their loved ones in a nursing home, they anticipate that the facility will properly monitor their loved ones at all times. In addition to ensuring that patients receive the proper amounts of their medications (as well as the correct medications), nursing homes and their employees are responsible for ensuring that they prevent residents from leaving the facility and that they assist the residents with all of their daily living activities, including eating, dressing, going to bed (both in the morning and in the evening), and going to the restroom. When nursing home staff members, including nurses and nursing assistants, fail to monitor their patients, serious accidents and injuries can occur.
- Failing to properly clean, sanitize, and maintain the nursing facility—In addition to providing adequate supervision and monitoring for patients, nursing homes are responsible for ensuring that their facilities are properly cleaned, maintained, and sanitized at all times. This attentiveness includes cleaning and maintaining patient rooms, common areas, and, most importantly, patient bathrooms. Failing to sanitize and clean these areas results in the spread of germs and can lead to patients becoming ill. Nursing facilities are also responsible for remedying known defective conditions at the facility, including spills on the floor. Unsafe floor conditions could lead to a slip-and-fall accident by a nursing home resident or visitor, accompanied by severe and painful injuries and medical treatment.
If you believe that your loved one is the victim of nursing home abuse or neglect in any form (including being over-medicated or under-medicated), it is a good idea to seek prompt legal assistance in your geographical area. A skilled nursing home abuse and neglect attorney in your jurisdiction can file a complaint with the state health department on behalf of your loved one, and if necessary, take legal action directly against the nursing facility, seeking monetary compensation and damages for your loved one.
Filing a Legal Claim or Lawsuit Against a Nursing Home Staff Member or Directly Against the At-Fault Nursing Home for an Act of Abuse or Neglect
When it comes to filing a claim or lawsuit against a nursing home staff member, or directly against the nursing home, for abuse or neglect, hire a knowledgeable lawyer in your jurisdiction who handles these cases. Your lawyer can help guide you through the claim and lawsuit-filing processes and can pursue monetary compensation on behalf of your loved one.
Healthcare providers who work at a nursing home, including physicians, nurses, and nursing assistants, owe their patients an extremely high duty of care. Specifically, they have a duty to ensure that they provide their patients with the proper medication and that they do not over-medicate or under-medicate them at any time.
When nursing home staff members do this intentionally or negligently, they could be responsible for the consequences, including any injuries or illnesses that the nursing home resident suffers as a result. Moreover, if the nursing home resident suffers an untimely death as a result of this intentional or negligent act, then the nursing home staff member could be held responsible.
If you believe that your loved one has been abused or neglected in some way by nursing home staff, a knowledgeable nursing home abuse and neglect lawyer in your jurisdiction can assist you by investigating the claim, and if necessary, taking legal action against the offending nursing home employee or the nursing home itself.
To legally prove that a nursing home or a nursing home employee behaved in an abusive or neglectful manner under the circumstances, you must demonstrate that the employee acted unreasonably. Nursing home staff members have a duty to act with reasonable care towards their patients at all times.
If a nursing home employee behaves unreasonably, then they may be deemed negligent and could be held responsible for the consequences of that negligence. For example, if a nursing home employee intentionally over-medicates or under-medicates a patient, or does so negligently, then the nursing home employee might have breached the applicable duty of care that they owed to the patient.
In addition to proving a breach or violation of the applicable duty of care that the nursing home employee owed to their patient, the patient must demonstrate that they suffered an illness, injury, or some other complication, as a result of the abuse or negligence. In addition, the nursing home patient must show that the abuse or negligence is what led to the injury, illness, or complication from which they suffered.
In cases where a nursing home resident proves all of the legal elements of their case, the resident could recover monetary compensation and damages for everything that they went through.
In cases that involve intentionally over-medicating or under-medicating a nursing home patient, and a serious complication arises, the nursing home resident can file a claim against the nursing home (or a nursing home employee) for punitive damages. Courts award punitive damages in cases where a defendant behaves in a particularly reckless, egregious, or abusive manner. The purpose of awarding punitive damages to a victim of nursing home abuse or neglect is to send a signal to other facilities that they should not engage in similar activities.
In cases where over-medicating or under-medicating a nursing home patient leads to their untimely death, the nursing home patient’s surviving loved ones could file a claim for wrongful death against both the negligent employee, as well as the nursing home itself.
Depending upon the jurisdiction where the incident of abuse or neglect occurs, any surviving family member can file a wrongful death claim on behalf of the deceased loved one.
Alternatively, the claim will need to be filed by the personal representative for the deceased individual’s estate. In any case, as part of a wrongful death claim, the claimant could pursue monetary compensation for loss of the deceased loved one’s care and companionship, the costs of funeral and burial expenses, and medical costs leading up to the deceased individual’s death.
If your loved one suffered injuries and damages as a result of being over-medicated or under-medicated while residing at a nursing home, an experienced nursing home abuse and neglect attorney in your jurisdiction could assist you with pursuing the monetary compensation and damages that your loved one requires under the circumstances.
Timeline for Filing a Lawsuit Against an Abusive or Negligent Nursing Home or Nursing Home Employee
State statutes of limitations set the timeline for filing a claim or lawsuit against an abusive nursing home or nursing home employee. The statute of limitations for a particular jurisdiction establishes a deadline by which an individual must file a lawsuit in a particular type of case. The primary purpose for these statutes of limitation is to ensure that cases do not drag on for a long time, ensure that witnesses remain available to testify in cases, and ensure that the case moves along efficiently.
The statutes of limitation for filing a lawsuit against an abusive or neglectful nursing home or nursing home employee varies across jurisdictions. In some jurisdictions, the deadline for filing may be as little as one or two years from the date the neglect or abusive behavior started, while in other jurisdictions, it could be much longer. In still other jurisdictions, the deadline may not begin to run until the nursing home resident or a family member discovers, or should have discovered, the abuse or neglect.
The consequences of failing to file a nursing home abuse or neglect lawsuit promptly can be very harsh. Specifically, if a nursing home resident does not file a lawsuit on time, the statute of limitations will most likely prevent them from seeking monetary compensation and damages at any point looking into the future.
In some instances, depending upon the jurisdiction where the nursing home abuse or neglect occurred, there may be some extremely limited exceptions to the statute of limitations.
For example, if the nursing home patient was under a disability at the time when the incident occurred, the statute of limitations might toll (or get put on hold) for a specified time. Regardless of the jurisdiction in which you are filing, it would be best if you always assumed that the statute of limitations, as written, applies to your case.
An experienced nursing abuse and neglect attorney in your jurisdiction will ensure that your claim or lawsuit is filed promptly and well within the time prescribed by the state statute of limitations that applies to these types of cases. Your lawyer can then pursue the monetary compensation that you need and deserve by way of a settlement, lawsuit, or arbitration proceeding.
Recovering Monetary Compensation and Damages for an Injury or Illness That Results From Nursing Home Over- or Under-Medication
Caregivers and medical personnel at nursing homes have a duty to ensure that they provide patients with the proper medications at the proper times and in the proper amounts. When nursing homes and their employees engage in abuse and neglect towards their patients, serious injuries and illnesses can result. These injuries and illnesses may lead to a significant amount of medical treatment or could even result in the resident’s untimely death.
In cases that involve instances of nursing home abuse or neglect, the injured nursing home resident, through their legal counsel, has the burden of proving that monetary compensation and damages are necessary.
In addition to proving all of the other legal elements of the case, the nursing home resident, through counsel, will need to demonstrate that they suffered an injury or illness as a result of the abuse or neglect that took place at the nursing facility. Moreover, the nursing home resident must demonstrate that the injury or illness occurred because of the abuse or neglect. In other words, the abusive or neglectful activity must have been a cause (one of many possible causes) of the injuries and damages they sustained.
In some instances, nursing home residents will have to undergo a significant amount of medical treatment to correct the medication issue or error. For example, the nursing home resident may have to undergo a surgical procedure or some other painful medical procedure that could be life-threatening, depending upon the nursing home resident’s current age.
All of these medical costs are compensable in a nursing home abuse or negligence case. In addition, there may be anticipated costs associated with a nursing home resident’s future treatment. The anticipated costs of this future medical treatment, which could include a future surgery or physical therapy, may be compensable in a nursing home abuse or neglect case. Finally, injured or ill nursing home residents who are victims of abuse or neglect could bring a claim for any out-of-pocket costs or expenses that they had to take on as a result.
In many cases, the treatment that a nursing home resident undergoes can be painful and result in a significant amount of suffering. This experience is more likely if the nursing home resident is weak and vulnerable at the time the abuse or neglect occurs.
This physical pain and suffering are compensable under the laws of most jurisdictions. In addition, the nursing home resident could make a claim for any emotional distress and mental anguish that they had to endure as a result of the injuries sustained.
In cases where over-medicating or under-medicating a patient results in a permanent injury or disability, the nursing home resident could pursue monetary compensation for that. Specifically, if the nursing home patient can no longer use a body part, they could present a loss of use claim. In addition, if the nursing home resident cannot partake in certain activities that he or once enjoyed, the resident could file a claim for loss of enjoyment of life.
If someone you love has been the victim of abuse or neglect while residing at a nursing home, a knowledgeable nursing home abuse and neglect attorney in your jurisdiction could help.
Your lawyer can start by investigating the circumstances that form the basis of the abuse or neglect claim. Your lawyer could also file a complaint with the state health department or file a legal claim or lawsuit against the nursing home or nursing home employee who was responsible. As part of the claim or lawsuit, a lawyer can help your loved one pursue much-needed monetary compensation and damages.
Call a Nursing Home Abuse and Neglect Attorney in Your Area Today
If someone you love resides in a nursing home and has suffered the effects of abuse or neglect, especially through over-medication or under-medication, you can take legal action on your loved one’s behalf.
The first step is to contact a lawyer in your area who regularly handles nursing home abuse and neglect cases. To recover monetary compensation against the nursing home, your lawyer can file a claim or lawsuit on your loved one’s behalf promptly. Your lawyer can also assist you throughout the process and will litigate the case through the court system, if necessary.
Moreover, if the insurance company for the nursing home or nursing home employee presents a settlement offer, your lawyer can help you decide whether or not it may be beneficial to accept that offer under the circumstances. In the alternative, your lawyer can also outline the other legal options available, such as taking the case to a jury trial or arbitration proceeding.
Taking on nursing home leadership or insurance companies single-handedly to protect your loved one is a daunting task, but you don’t have to do it alone. Thankfully, your lawyer can assist you throughout every step of the process and will work to help your loved one pursue the monetary compensation and damages they deserve.
