Canton Nursing Home Abuse Lawyer

Canton Nursing Home Abuse Attorney

When we entrust our senior relatives and other loved ones to the care of a nursing home, they should be treated with full respect. Unfortunately, nursing home neglect and abuse are sadly commonplace occurrences. If your elderly relative may be suffering due to the acts or inaction of a nursing home employee, you can work with a Canton nursing home abuse lawyer to hold the facility accountable and seek compensation.

Trust Rumizen Weisman Attorneys in Canton Nursing Home Abuse Cases

The team at Rumizen Weisman Attorneys has taken on countless nursing home abuse cases over the years. From neglect to active malfeasance, we’ve held senior care facilities and their employees responsible for their poor treatment of Canton’s most vulnerable residents. We can help you, too.

Why Hire a Nursing Home Abuse Lawyer?

It’s estimated that more than 200,000 Ohio residents aged 60 and older have experienced some form of elder abuse, often by nursing home employees. There are close to three million people over the age of 60 living in Ohio, and 66,902 of them live in nursing homes like House of Loreto and Brookdale Canton. That’s a lot of opportunities for abuse.

Just one case of elder abuse is too many. That’s why it’s so important that you hire a nursing home abuse lawyer, as they can seek compensation for your loved one if they are being neglected or otherwise mistreated. A Canton nursing home abuse attorney can collect evidence and file a claim against the nursing home and/or the employees responsible for your senior loved one’s abuse.

Liability in Nursing Home Abuse Cases

When older adults suffer emotional or physical abuse at nursing homes, the staff and facility operators typically share the blame, and nursing home abuse penalties often fall to the senior care facilities themselves. That’s because the law requires nursing homes to take reasonable steps to keep residents safe, including monitoring the actions of their employees.

Common examples of contributing factors include:

• Hiring inadequately trained staff members
• Isolating nursing home residents in solitary environments
• Failing to provide sufficient staff to meet residents’ basic needs

Carelessness, malicious employees, and understaffing can all play a role in creating a situation that allows for physical, emotional, or financial abuse.

Types of Nursing Home Abuse

The signs of nursing home abuse can be subtle, and the victims are often afraid to report it out of fear of retaliation. Family members should always keep an eye out for signs of abuse, no matter their loved ones’ physical and mental status. The types of nursing home abuse can include:

• Physical abuse. This leaves the most obvious signs. Examples of physical abuse in nursing homes range from overt hitting to minor pinching or squeezing. Look for unusual bruises, missing hair, and serious injuries, like broken bones.
• Emotional abuse. Emotional or psychological abuse can involve shouting, intimidating, lying, or manipulating the residents. Common signs of emotional abuse include weight loss, withdrawal, depression, and fear of certain staff members.
• Financial abuse. Financial exploitation at nursing homes usually occurs in the front office, not on the floor. Check for unusual invoices or documents and unexplained changes in rent or billing.
• Sexual abuse. Sexual misconduct occurs in nursing homes with alarming frequency. It can be defined as any non-consensual intimate contact between a resident and a staff member. Be alert for signs like STDs and behavioral changes.
• Neglect. Active neglect is one of the most common forms of nursing home abuse. It involves inactions, such as failing to dress bedsores and not assisting residents who use their call buttons. Malnutrition, foul odors, and pressure sores can all indicate neglect.

Ohio Nursing Home Abuse Laws and Nursing Home Abuse Penalties

If a nursing home worker is found to be abusing the people under their care, there are serious penalties involved. The victim of the abuse can file a civil case against the wrongdoer to pursue compensation for their pain.

The two main types of damages include:

1. Economic damages. Victims receive compensation for their financial losses, such as the full extent of their medical bills, including medical supplies and devices, hospital and doctor visits, physical therapy, mental health counseling, surgeries, and medications. It may also include damage to their personal belongings, such as their clothing or the items in their room.
2. Non-economic damages. Victims receive compensation for their emotional and non-financial losses, including their pain and suffering, loss of enjoyment of life, and any disability or disfigurement the abuse caused.

A specific third type of damage may be pursued in extreme cases, where the wrongdoer acted with malice, fraud, or severe negligence. For example, if a nursing home worker intentionally hurts your loved one, they may have to pay punitive damages on top of economic and non-economic damages.

Punitive damages are used to further punish wrongdoers and deter them from committing similar acts in the future.

Depending on what happened to your loved one, the responsible person may also face criminal charges. Nursing home patient abuse is a fourth-degree felony in Ohio. The penalties they may face depend on the type of abuse and the severity of the crime.

Evidence to Prove Abuse in a Nursing Home Abuse Case

No matter the type of abuse your loved one faced, you’ll need to provide as much evidence as possible to prove what happened. If you wait too long to collect it, it may be destroyed by the nursing home staff or altered and fade over time.

Evidence can include:

• Witness testimony from anyone who saw the abuse, including other nursing home employees, those visiting the nursing home, physical therapists or nurses, and residents of the nursing home
• Photos and videos of your loved one’s visible injuries and/or poor hygiene
• Photos and videos of the state of the nursing home and your loved one’s room
• Photos and videos of any damage to your loved one’s physical belongings
• Surveillance footage that caught the abuse on tape
• Copies of your loved one’s medical records and medical charts
• Copies of your loved one’s nursing home records
• Copies of any incident reports or 911 call transcripts
• Copies of your loved one’s medical bills and other financial losses
• Testimony from professionals who can offer their opinion about what caused your loved one’s injuries
• Documentation of your loved one’s mental status since experiencing the abuse, such as being withdrawn, scared of a specific staff member, or easily agitated
• A detailed, chronological timeline of events

Your attorney can help explain what specific evidence will need to be collected in your loved one’s case. The type of abuse can make the evidence vary. A knowledgeable lawyer can help gather and preserve the proof.

FAQs

What Kind of Lawyer Do I Need to File a Claim Against a Nursing Home?

The kind of lawyer you need to file a claim against a nursing home could be referred to simply as a nursing home abuse lawyer. These attorneys have experience with taking on nursing homes, holding them accountable for their employees’ malicious actions and negligence. In some cases, a Canton nursing home abuse attorney could also be referred to as an elder law attorney.

What Are the Odds of Winning a Case Against a Nursing Home?

The odds of winning a case against a nursing home are relatively high if you have a skilled lawyer on your side. Most cases are settled out of court via negotiations with the nursing homes’ insurance companies. Even if you must go to trial, your chances of success are higher than they are with some other types of abuse claims.

Who Do You Call to Complain About a Nursing Home?

You can call the Ohio Department of Health to complain about a nursing home in Ohio. You can file your claim by mail, online, or by phone. Adult Protective Services and the Ohio Long-Term Care Ombudsman provide additional resources for reporting nursing homes that are found abusing and neglecting their residents.

How Much Can You Get by Filing a Claim Against a Nursing Home for Neglect?

How much you can get by filing a claim against a nursing home for neglect varies on a case-by-case basis. If your elderly loved one suffered extreme harm due to an employee’s neglect, you stand to be compensated more significantly than you would if only a minor injury or emotional trauma resulted from the act.

Your Canton Nursing Home Abuse Attorney

Nursing home abuse is all too common in Ohio. If you suspect that your loved one is being abused, it’s time to hire a Canton nursing home abuse lawyer who can obtain justice and compensation for their suffering.

Rumizen Weisman Attorneys can advocate for their rights. We’ve handled thousands of cases over the years, including many nursing home abuse cases. We can assemble evidence of the abuse, calculate your loved one’s damages, and file your claim. Our firm can work to hold the facility accountable for its workers’ negligence or abuse.

Contact us to schedule an initial consultation today.