Learn what to do when filing nursing home abuse claims for your loved one in this article. Then, contact our Atlanta attorneys to get started.
1) Choosing the Best Attorney
When looking for an attorney to handle this type of case, it’s extremely important to have someone who knows how these cases work and has experience handling them. These are not easy cases to work up, and they’re heavily reliant on expert testimony to get a successful result.
Another thing that you need to make sure is that you have an attorney who has knowledge of how the insurance system works. The insurance companies are on the wrong side and their skills do not go towards helping people that need to receive compensation for what they have had to endure. You need a lawyer with knowledge and experience to use for clients to help them achieve the best possible resolutions for their case.
Finally, as in any type of personal injury case, you must find an attorney who has demonstrated he or she will go to trial when called upon. There are many attorneys who will not go to trial and do not try cases, and insurance companies know this. Those attorneys never get the best possible offers on their cases because insurance companies know they will simply take the last offer.
2) Common Mistakes to Avoid
Unfortunately, it’s very often that clients have harmed their case without even knowing it. One thing that potential clients do is not report the negligent conduct to the nursing home itself. Nursing homes generally have an oversight staff and risk managers whose job it is to make sure that things are done properly. If you don’t report these things to the nursing home staff, then they never get documented. Then when we seek to bring a claim about them later on, it looks like you were simply raising them well after the fact. Reporting and pursuing these types of matters is something that often will curb this careless behavior, and by your actions, you may help people down the line not have to deal with the same problems as your loved one.
Additionally, people harm their cases when they delay too long and don’t hire the right attorney. If you hire an attorney who doesn’t know how to handle a nursing home negligence case, you run the risk of evidence being lost and your claim not being preserved in a manner that allows it to be presented later. Make sure you hire the right attorney to handle your case.
3) Signs To Look For
Look for bedsores; these happen when the person is not being moved or turned enough. If a person is bedridden and they are in the same position too often, they will generally develop sores on parts of their bodies that they are not being moved off of. Another involves hygiene. If you look at the person who is in the nursing home and don’t feel like they are getting appropriate hygiene, that can often be a sign that they are not being well taken care of and the nursing home is not undertaking its obligations appropriately.
Another matter is if you are seeing cuts, scrapes, bruises or swelling on the the person who is in the nursing home or if you’re getting information regarding regular falls. Falls are particularly dangerous for people of advanced age and frailty. These can be complicated issues because people who are in nursing homes often do fall without any negligence on the part of the nursing home. If you feel this is an issue, it’s certainly worth looking into and making sure that everything is being done to protect your loved one.
4) Reporting Nursing Home Abuse
Older people who have lost their senses or ability to take care of themselves are some of the most at-risk people that we have in our society, and it’s important that we’re diligent in looking out for their interests. If you believe that you have seen evidence of a situation where an elder is being abused in some fashion, whether or not in a nursing home, it’s imperative that you report that to proper authorities.
One way to do that in the state of Georgia is by going to aging.georgia.gov. This site provides you all the resources you need to report instances of elder abuse to the authorities assigned to investigate them. Another thing you can do is contact a personal injury attorney who has experience in working with elder abuse and nursing home issues so that they can help you both with the reporting process and in determining if you may have a personal injury claim arising from this matter of elder abuse, whether or not it involves a nursing home.
If your loved one was seriously injured due to nursing home negligence in Georgia, you may have questions about what to do when filing nursing home abuse.
Contact experienced Atlanta nursing home abuse attorney Christopher Gunnels at Gunnels Injury Law today to arrange a free consultation.
Let our experience work for you.
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