Washington Personal Injury Lawyer Concerned about Nursing Home Negligence
Elder abuse and nursing home abuse are increasingly becoming serious problems as more and more of our nation’s seniors head to these facilities. Unfortunately a number of these cases go unreported or undetected and end up resulting in serious personal injury or death to the residents.
Several recent studies including a 2003 report by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) states that at least one in five of all nursing homes in our country is affected by serious deficiencies that place “residents in immediate jeopardy or cause them actual harm.” The report also points out that the quality of care in these facilities drops considerably when a resident get less than three hours of nursing time each day. Unfortunately, this happens in more than half of American nursing homes.
The GAO report also states that a majority of nursing home staff are underpaid and overworked. For instance, nursing home aides in many of the nation’s facilities are paid $7 to $8 an hour for work that is physically strenuous and mentally stressful. In many nursing homes, we see that serious injuries and fatalities occur as a direct result of understaffing and lack of trained, qualified nursing home staff.
Recently, the nursing home negligence lawyers at the Bernard Law Group led by Kirk Bernard obtained a $40,000 settlement on behalf of the family of an elderly man who was neglected at a hospice care facility. Unfortunately, in this case, we saw evidence that the hospice care facility allowed him to develop bed sores, failed to administer medications and failed to regularly clean his tracheotomy site. The hospice care facility denied liability and claimed that the bed sores developed elsewhere, not when the man was under their care. The case was arbitrated and the arbitrator found in favor of the injured man’s estate.
In such cases, victims and their families need the support and the skill of an aggressive legal team that will fight for their rights and make sure their side of the story is heard. If your loved one has been neglected or abused at a nursing home or care facility, please contact one of the Seattle personal injury attorneys at the Bernard Law Group for a free consultation and case evaluation.
