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As our dads and moms get older and develop conditions that make it impossible for us to care for them at home, we sometimes need to move them to nursing homes Unfortunately, the rate of medical malpractice and nursing home neglect/abuse is high in many nursing homes around the country. This means you must not only choose the nursing home carefully, but also, pay close attention to your mom and dad’s well-being . When you put your parents in a nursing home, you have the right to expect that they will receive proper medical care. If your dad or mom got sicker in a nursing home, it might be medical malpractice or nursing home neglect.
One of the reasons we move our parents into nursing homes is so they will receive appropriate medical care. When that medical care is not given, when our dads or moms get sicker in a nursing home due to a failure to receive proper medical care, it is important that you act quickly to fix the situation.
Before we describe nursing home malpractice, I would like to say, it is important to keep a close eye on your parent in the nursing home. This way if he or she is not receiving the correct medical treatment, you might be able to stop the problem before it causes serious harm. We would your parent receives the proper care and that no malpractice occur. We would you never have to pick up the phone and call us, because your parent never suffered an injury. You can help decrease chances of nursing home malpractice by asking questions and simply being around so the staff knows you are paying attention. Knowing your parent’s medical issues is also very important. That way you can check up on any health issues about which you are aware. We offer some suggestions on how to decrease the chances of nursing home malpractice in our videos.
There are a number of common types of medical malpractice in nursing homes. They include:
Nursing home medical malpractice is a form of abuse. There are many types of abuse in nursing homes, but we are focusing specifically on medical malpractice in this post. Learn about the various types of abuse on our nursing home abuse page.
Whether in or out of a long-term care facility, doctors and staff are required to follow the proper medical standard of care. The medical standard of care is what doctors and other medical professionals are expected to do in a given situation. In other words, if most doctors would (or would not) have ordered certain tests or offered a specific kind of treatment, that is the standard of care other doctors are expected to follow. How do we know what the standard of care is for your mom and dad? We know because we speak with medical experts about what the standard of care should have been in your parent’s case.
If your mom got sicker in a nursing home because the medical staff didn’t follow the medical standard of care, you might have a medical malpractice case. Your lawyers need to be able to connect the violation of the standard of care directly to the damages your mom suffered. For example, if your mom has diabetes and the staff fails to give her the medication, and as a result she falls into a diabetic coma, you might have both a standard of care error and related damages. How do our nursing home medical malpractice lawyers know if your mom’s damages relate to the mistake made by the doctor? We review the medical records with practicing doctors. These are the same doctors who help us determine if the standard of care was violated.
If your dad or mom got sicker in a nursing home due to medical malpractice, please contact our nursing home medical malpractice lawyers at Lowenthal & Abrams. The head of our nursing home department is Anita Pitock. Anita was a practicing nurse for many years. She is able to listen to what happened to your parent, review the medical records and determine if it might be appropriate to go forward with a suit. At that point, Anita sends the records to a practicing doctor to determine if he will give us a certificate of merit to go forward with a lawsuit. A certificate of merit is a statement by a doctor that malpractice occurred in your parent’s case. Once a doctor provides us with a certificate of merit, we go forward with the additional steps as is appropriate in your specific circumstances. This might include filing a lawsuit and going through the discovery process. The discovery process involves obtaining all medical records and interviewing, under oath, the appropriate people in your parent’s case. This might include any doctors or nurses who care for your parent both in and out of the nursing home. These interviews are called depositions.
If your parent suffered medical malpractice in a nursing home, your parent or your family might have the grounds to receive financial compensation for the harm suffered. Contact us. We will listen to what happened to your mom or dad and tell you if we believe you have a case. There is no charge for the conversation and no fee unless your parent or you receive compensation.
LOWENTHAL AND ABRAMS, P.C.
Contact us for a FREE consultation. No fee unless compensated.
