Posts Tagged ‘Nursing Home Abuse’
Nursing Home Abuse: Overmedication QATGXRKN6R89
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Overmedicating patients is one of the most common forms of nursing home abuse today. Keeping patients in a drowsy and altered state allows the staff to be much less attentive and provides the patient with less care.
Overmedication in lawsuits is not always easy to prove, and many nursing home abuse lawyers recommend class action suits when it comes to overmedication abuse. This is because it is easier to prove a trend within a nursing home than it is to prove a single instance. However, if a class action lawsuit is not possible, a highly qualified lawyer can help create a much better scenario for the nursing home abuse victim.
Overmedication is not all that difficult to detect for family members who stay in close contact with the resident. Often the signs are clear, such as a sudden withdrawal from those around them, sleeping too much, the sense that they do not hear or respond when spoken to, and even the sudden onset of drooling, nose picking, or tongue smacking.
Medication that is used in overmedication abuse is often likely to cause dry mouth, nausea, drowsiness, fatigue, and clouded judgment. If overmedication is suspected, the best thing to do is to contact a lawyer and ask for advice.
In most cases, a lawsuit will be recommended to not only dispel the problem, but to compensate the victim for their suffering and attain ample funds to move them to a facility that doesn’t overmedicate or perform other forms of abuse.
Lawsuits are setting a higher standard incare, and nursing home abuse lawyers are working diligently on behalf of victims that can not or are too afraid to speak up for themselves. Abuse goes undetected because victims feel trapped, they have nowhere else to go and are fearful of repercussions if they should tell someone about the abuse.
Filing a lawsuit on behalf of a victim can lead to repercussions, and it is always best to move the resident to another facility if it is at all possible while litigation begins. A lawyer can often assist in how to legally break contracts based on abuse suspicions even while the allegations of abuse are under investigation.
While nursing home abuse lawsuits are not easy to prove when overmedication is the abuse that is being alleged, if the resident is evaluated in a different facility and their medication is significantly altered, this is evidence of nursing home abuse.
Numerous physicians can review the resident’s charts and meet with the victim to help determine if overmedication is present while the lawyer proceeds with a investigation and filing a lawsuit.
It is important that family members continue to act on behalf of their loved one in order to file a lawsuit, as it is unlikely that the victim will be able to handle the entire process, if any of it, on their own. Winning a lawsuit is a team effort, and your family member will be counting on you to help them throughout the entire process.
If the overmedication was severe, they may not even remember it very well if at all. If your loved one has other serious medical problems such as dementia or Alzheimer’s they may not be able to testify on their own behalf.
Nursing home abuse lawyers are the backbone of breaking through abuse, and their services are desperately needed throughout the country. Of course, there is no guarantee that another nursing home won’t be guilty of some form of abuse, but thankfully, lawyers are becoming educated not only of the standards of the law, but the standards of nursing homes in their area.
Lawyers become very familiar with the substandard nursing home, as more and more family members are stepping forward on behalf of their loved one to file lawsuits. This higher level of vigilance by family members is effectively raising the standard of care throughout the country.
If you suspect overmedication, or any other form of abuse, it is highly recommended that you contact a lawyer as soon as possible. Aside from filing a lawsuit, often simply contacting an attorney will entice the nursing home in question to raise their standard of care.
Nick Johnson is lead counsel with Johnson Law Group. Johnson represents plaintiffs in many states and focuses on injury cases involving Fen-Phen and PPH, Paxil, Mesothelioma and Nursing Home Abuse. Call 1-888-311-5522 today or visit http://www.johnsonlawgroup.com for a free case evaluation.
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Nursing Home Abuse: Physical Abuse
There is absolutely no excuse for nursing home abuse. Any type of physical abuse inside a nursing home is completely despicable and requires immediate action by any family member or family friend who can help the victim.
The fastest way to resolve an abuse suspicion is by hiring a high quality, competent lawyer. Lawsuits hold these places accountable for the damage they cause, and there’s no reason that anyone should allow abuse to happen.
Suspecting abuse is grounds for reporting and hiring a lawyer. A nursing home abuse lawyer can give solid and well founded advice for protecting the victim as well as pursuing a nursing home lawsuit.
Bruises, broken bones, unclean residents, and withdrawn, depressed residents are all signs of abuse. Even just the suspicion of abuse should result in a consultation with a nursing home abuse lawyer, as it can often be disguised as resident clumsiness, or other reasonable explanations.
Reasonable explanations are not always as reasonable as they seem, especially when the resident has a family who stays involved in their care. Residents without involved family members tend to be the victims of abuse before residents with active family visits.
Nursing home lawsuits can still be filed on behalf of those without active family members, although it typically means the victim needs to be willing to testify on at least some level. Any suspicion of abuse, whether it relates directly to a family member or not, should be reported.
Too often, people are afraid to get involved and interfere, even when they know deep down that they should. It’s just like child abuse, it’s everyone’s responsibility to call for help when someone is helpless. A lawyer can discreetly meet with a resident who is being abused but has no family on their behalf. A simple phone call to a lawyer is really all it takes.
Physical abuse in a nursing home is usually obvious after only a few visits. There are only so many excuses the staff and administration can come up with for bumps, bruises, marks, broken bones, and burns before someone realizes that there is abuse written all over every bruise.
It takes so little to help the victim of abuse, even from the inside. A concerned staff member or family friend can place a phone call as easily as anyone else, and in most cases the calls can be confidential.
However, lawsuits do go much easier when there are witness testimonies and people aren’t so afraid to get involved. There really isn’t anything to be lost by getting involved in a lawsuit that is any worse than what the victim of abuse has already lost. Abuse strips away a sense of safety, dignity, the feeling of being cared for and even a sense of humanization.
Lawsuits do not have to be the only answer for an abuse victim, a lawyer can certainly help determine other avenues, however a lawsuit will typically ascertain the funds needed to remove the victim from the premises and locate safer, alternative care.
Caring for a victim takes a very gentle hand, anyone can imagine the fear of the unknown an abuse victim must face. That is why lawyers work so tirelessly and so earnestly to fight for the victim’s rights and compensation. Compensation for abuse can almost always guarantee the victim more choices than they had previously.
A high quality lawyer can file a lawsuit without jeopardizing the health and safety of the abuse victim. However, someone has to be the first to step forward and report their suspicions of abuse, regardless of whether or not they are related to the victim.
It takes a village to raise a child. It takes a community to care for the elderly. It takes just a little bit of selflessness and courage to report abuse. Ignoring abuse is almost as bad as committing it, and turning a cold shoulder to a victim is simply wrong. There is no excuse for abuse, and there is no excuse for ignoring abuse.
Nick Johnson is lead counsel and founding partner of Johnson Law Group. Johnson represents plaintiffs injured in auto accidents, truck accidents and vehicle rollovers. Call 1-888-311-5522 immediately or visit http://www.topautoaccidentattorneys.com or http://www.toprolloveraccidentattorneys.com


