Edwardsville Nursing Home Abuse Lawyer

What Is Considered Nursing Home Abuse or Nursing Home Negligence?

Every year, thousands of seniors suffer from abuse in nursing homes and senior care facilities.

Nursing home negligence cases include both individual instances and repeated patterns of abusive behavior by nursing home staff.

As defined by the United States Department of Health and Human Services, elder abuse is:

“Any knowing, intentional, or negligent act by a caregiver or any other person that causes harm or a serious risk of harm to a vulnerable adult.”

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention defines six categories of elder abuse:

• Physical abuse
• Emotional abuse
• Sexual Abuse
• Neglect
• Abandonment
• Financial abuse

Filing an Edwardsville Nursing Home Abuse Lawsuit

If you believe that you may qualify to file a nursing home abuse or nursing home negligence lawsuit, contact TorHoerman Law to discuss your legal options right away.

TorHoerman Law will offer a free consultation to all potential clients and provide advice on any legal issue you’re dealing with.

How Nursing Home Abuse Lawyers Can Help

Before moving forward with a nursing home abuse or nursing home negligence lawsuit, familiarize yourself with the steps in a civil lawsuit.

From there, you must complete a few important steps with the help and guidance of your attorney:

• Gather Evidence
• Mitigate Injuries
• Assess Damages

Mitigate Injuries

With any case of nursing home abuse, it’s important for the affected person to seek medical care and attempt to best recuperate from any injuries.

If you, a family member, or a loved one has suffered from injuries, seek medical treatment right away and follow the instructions of medical personnel. Failure to properly mitigate injuries, with medical issues left unchanged and able to worsen, can result in a dismissal of any legal action.

Gathering Evidence

Gather evidence for your case including any involved names, photos, videos, and receipts.

Evidence in a nursing home abuse lawsuit includes:

• Medical records and bills
• Photos or videos of injuries
• Photos or videos of abuse
• Witness statements
• Personal testimony of abuse
• Testimony from visitors
• Statements from responding authorities if available

Your nursing home abuse attorney will examine the facts and evidence to determine who is liable for injuries and damages.

Assessing Damages

Your attorney will begin assessing damages that you, your family member, or loved one incurred as a result of the alleged abuse.

In many instances, individuals who have suffered systematic abuse will choose to list both punitive damages and compensatory damages suffered from the incident.

Typical damages in a nursing home abuse lawsuit include:

• Nursing home and living expenses
• Medical bills and recovery costs
• Emotional damage
• Pain and suffering
• Relocation costs

Your nursing home abuse lawyer will work to settle your lawsuit out of court or take it to trial and win a verdict; in either case, the goal is to win compensation that covers the costs of damages.

Signs of Nursing Home Abuse

It’s not always easy to detect nursing home abuse or neglect. Staff can intimidate nursing home residents into not speaking out, and some signs are just not obvious. It’s important to step in when you have any suspicion of abuse. Nursing home abuse can easily turn into a wrongful death case if gone unnoticed. While each case is different, there are common signs of nursing home abuse and nursing home negligence to look for:

Physical abuse

Unexplained injuries, burns, or bruises; excessive use of healthcare services

Emotional abuse

Fearful behavior, anxiety, or unexplained mood or personality changes; fear of interacting with caretakers; withdrawal from friends and family

Sexual abuse

Sexually transmitted diseases or infections; genital or anal injuries; unexplained injuries or bleeding

Neglect

Substandard hygiene; signs of malnourishment; skin ulcers or bedsores; unattended medical needs

Abandonment

Inadequate medical and personal care; dirty clothing or bedding; unclean living conditions

Financial abuse

Unpaid bills; sudden changes in the living situation; missing property; unexplained asset depletion, or financial changes

Nursing Home Abuse Facts

Nursing home abuse and nursing home negligence are public health problems. Nursing home victims are often targeted because of their inability to resist or speak out.

Many victims of nursing home abuse and nursing home negligence suffer from Alzheimer’s or dementia and can be unaware of what is happening and unable to ask for help.

Nursing home abuse and nursing home negligence victims often suffer repeated cases of abuse and mistreatment. Seniors in nursing homes are often isolated and vulnerable, and many cases of nursing home abuse go unreported.

Major risk factors for elder abuse in nursing homes are isolation, depression, dementia, a history of mental illness, physical impairments, and substance abuse problems.

Examples of Nursing Home Abuse in Edwardsville Area

Rosewood Care Center Alton

According to The Telegraph, the family of a deceased former resident alleged that staff members failed to prevent him from falling and suffering a fatal brain injury. The suit alleged that the home failed to ensure proper installation, use, and/or maintenance of the resident’s bed rails. The suit accused Rosewood Care Center of several acts of negligence. Rosewood was also cited for violations in 2018 by the Illinois Department of Public Health.

Granite Nursing

Records show that the Granite City nursing home received a type “A” Nursing Home Care Act violation for failure to ensure that oxygen therapy and saturation monitoring were provided as prescribed. Granite Nursing also received two types “B” violations for failure to provide supervision, safe transfers, a fall prevention plan, and appropriate catheter care.

Meridian Village Nursing Home

The estate of a former resident of the Glen Carbon nursing home filed suit, citing 36 allegations of failures by facility operators. The suit claimed the facility failed to monitor the resident’s food intake, hydration, temperature, fever, vital signs, blood sugar levels, and falls.

Edwardsville IL Nursing Home Regulations and Inspections

All Edwardsville and Glen Carbon nursing homes must meet mandatory state standards. These regulations are set to ensure that nursing homes provide safe, high-quality care for residents. State survey teams inspect nursing homes to evaluate the facilities and their care providers, procedures, equipment, policies, and finances.

Which Agencies are Responsible for Regulating Edwardsville Nursing Homes?

Edwardsville nursing homes are regulated, licensed, inspected, and certified by numerous public and private agencies including the Illinois Department of Health and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Centers for Medicare Services. Many Edwardsville facilities are also members of national accreditation organizations, such as the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations, that assess facility standards of care independently. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services require further state inspection for any senior care facilities that receive government funding. Facilities that do not pass inspection cannot be state-certified. When looking for an Edwardsville IL senior care facility, ask for up-to-date inspection reports and certifications. For additional information about finding an Edwardsville Medicare-certified nursing home or an Edwardsville Medicaid-certified nursing home, visit the official Medicare website.

How Often Are Edwardsville and Glen Carbon Nursing Homes Inspected?

Illinois nursing homes are inspected at least once every 15 months. The state average for inspections is once every 12 months. Care facility inspections are conducted at random, and regulation schedules shift year to year to make it difficult for facility staff to anticipate them. Nursing homes with frequent complaints and poor evaluation results are inspected more frequently.

How Do I File a Complaint Against an Edwardsville Nursing Home?

To report a case of elderly abuse in Madison County, call Illinois’ Elder Abuse Hotline at 866-800-1409 or the Southwestern Illinois Visiting Nurses Association at 800-252-4343. The Madison County Sheriff’s Office takes complaints at 618-692-4433 or at the Anonymous Tip-Line at 618-692-4433. For more information, visit Madison County Elder Abuse Reporting.

Hiring an Edwardsville Nursing Home Abuse Lawyer

Navigating legal issues after a traumatic incident such as nursing home abuse or nursing home negligence can be difficult. Choosing an experienced personal injury attorney to represent you, a family member, or a loved one can be an extra, unneeded stress.

Hiring a personal injury lawyer is a major decision, so you should go into it fully informed. Making an informed decision on legal representation is paramount. When hiring a personal injury lawyer, you should be able to focus on you and your loved one’s well-being while legal representation works hard on your case. A nursing home abuse lawyer will be able to act on your behalf, doing the following:

• Files a legal claim
• Deliberates with any insurance company involved
• Assesses your medical expenses and damages
• Ensures that you receive compensation for any injuries or damages from the negligent party.

Your nursing home abuse lawyers will fight for you and your rights. At TorHoerman Law, that is our primary objective – fighting for you.

TorHoerman Law, the Top Edwardsville IL Nursing Home Abuse Law Firm

We’re not like other attorneys: TorHoerman Law has achieved more than $4 billion in verdicts and negotiated settlements for a variety of personal injury cases. Our past results afford us recognition as some of the best personal injury lawyers in Southern Illinois.

We have some of the best personal injury attorneys in the state staffed on our team. A number of our attorneys own merits of success, being named Top Lawyers in Illinois including Top 100 Lawyers in the state of Illinois; prestigious awards given through nominations by their peers in the industry. Our focus is based solely on providing competent legal services, building an attorney client relationship, and achieving full financial recovery for your serious injuries. TorHoerman Law operates on a contingency fee basis. With working on a contingency fee basis, our clients do not pay legal service fees until they have been fully compensated for their losses. If you do not receive compensation, our law firm will foot the bill for all legal costs. Consider contacting TorHoerman Law in your search for a nursing home abuse lawyer in Edwardsville IL.

THL: Serving and Supporting Illinois Residents

Our Main Street Edwardsville IL law office is comprised of staff and attorneys that live in the community. We pride ourselves on serving the Edwardsville and Southern Illinois communities and giving back to its residents through events and donation drives. Our law firm accepts personal injury claims in Edwardsville, Glen Carbon, Collinsville, Granite City, Alton, East Alton, Wood River, and more across the St. Louis Area, Southern Illinois, and Central Illinois. Reach out to us for a free consultation today – Your friends. Your neighbors. Your Nursing Home Abuse and Nursing Home Negligence Lawyer in Edwardsville IL.

TorHoerman Law Practice Areas

THL attorneys practice law in dozens of complex personal injury areas, helping injured people across the country. We provide clients with formal legal advice and will fight for fair compensation while they make a full recovery. Reach out to us for a free consultation if you or a loved one have been involved in any of the following:

• Car accidents or truck accidents
• Premises liability
• Workers compensation
• Medical malpractice
• Wrongful death cases
• Catastrophic injuries
• Mass torts
• Product liability
• Dangerous drugs and medical devices
• Abuse and Assault
• Other personal injury cases

If you do not see your potential case listed above, explore our practice areas pages or contact us for more information, free initial consultation, free case review, and further legal help. We also have law offices in St. Louis (Clayton) and Chicago. THL’s goal: compensated and satisfied clients.