Recovering Compensation for Nursing Home Neglect in South Texas
When you move beloved family members into a nursing home or assisted living facility, you want the best quality of life possible for them. You want their needs attended to and you want them to be safe. Unfortunately, that’s often not what happens.
As nursing homes have shifted from being service and care based facilities to being profit centers, many of those who own or operate them have placed the bottom line above the needs and concerns of residents and patients. They’ve drastically cut staffing and often hired workers with little or no skills in caregiving. That, in turn, has led to widespread abuse and neglect, in nursing homes in Houston and across the country.
What Are the Common Types of Nursing Home Neglect or Abuse?
A nursing home and its staff can subject residents or patients to many different types of abuse:
- Physical abuse, including hitting, pushing, punching, slapping or unnecessarily restraining
- Neglect or abandonment, including failure to provide medication, failure to change bedding or take steps to minimize the risk of bedsores
- Emotional abuse, from name-calling, ridiculing, embarrassing, intimidating, threatening or chastising
- Sexual abuse
- Financial abuse, including theft of money, drugs or personal items
- Healthcare fraud, including failure to provide services billed for
What Are the Telltale Signs of Nursing Home Neglect or Abuse?
If your loved one resides at a nursing home or assisted living center, there are warning signs that you can recognize to indicate the likelihood of neglect or abuse:
- Physical abuse—look for sudden or repeated injuries, such as sprains, bruises, cuts, burns or broken bones
- Emotional abuse—keep an eye out for changes in behavior or withdrawal from social activities. You may also observe a caregiver act toward a resident in a disparaging way
- Sexual abuse—the presence of a sexually transmitted disease is an obvious sign. You may also observe bruising or swelling around genitals or an unexplained tenderness around the genitals
- Neglect or abandonment—signs include medication that is not being used, problems with a resident’s personal hygiene, unkempt living space or unmade beds, an unexplained loss of weight or the presence of bedsores
- Financial abuse—your loved one may receive late notices from creditors or have unexplained financial transactions, including deductions from a bank account
- Healthcare abuse—your loved one is subjected to excessive diagnostic testing or seemingly unnecessary medical procedures
How an Experienced Nursing Home Neglect and Abuse Attorney Can Help You
A lawyer who has successfully handled nursing home abuse and neglect claims will quickly recognize the warning signs of abuse, and can take immediate steps to prevent further abuse. Your attorney will conduct a thorough investigation and file the necessary legal documents to bring a lawsuit against those responsible for the abuse or neglect. A proven lawyer will know very quickly what you can expect to recover for your losses, and will be your advocate in all hearings, meetings and legal proceedings.
Contact the Proven Nursing Home Neglect and Abuse Lawyers at Bailey & Galyen
At the law offices of Bailey & Galyen, we understand how horrific it can be when your loved one is subjected to neglect or abuse in a nursing home in Houston or anywhere in Texas. We will help you pursue full and fair compensation for all your losses. Contact us by e-mail or 844-402-2992 call our offices at one of the convenient locations listed below. Our phones are answered 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
