Recognizing the Signs of Nursing Home Abuse & Neglect
Nursing home abuse and neglect can take many forms, which are often insidious and difficult to recognize at first. To make matters worse, elders who have been abused and neglected are often predisposed to do nothing about it. They might be afraid to speak up, unable to communicate due to preexisting health conditions, or unable to remember the incidents of abuse and neglect due to memory problems.
As a family member who visits or speaks with a loved one in a nursing home, it might be up to you to recognize the signs of abuse and neglect. When you think something is wrong, you should reach out to our law firm or possibly the authorities if your loved one appears to be in immediate danger of intentional harm.
Signs of nursing home abuse and neglect vary, such as:
- Unexplained injuries like bedsores
- Dehydration, malnutrition, and weight loss
- Fear around a specific person
- Uncharacteristic mood changes
- Missing finances from their bank accounts
- Prescriptions that need to be refilled too soon or too late
Physical abuse is the most immediately damaging type of nursing home abuse. But mental, emotional, and financial abuse can also be devastating, so you have to keep aware of all the ways your loved one could be afflicted.
What Damages are Available in a Nursing Home Abuse Case?
Perhaps the best benefit of a successful nursing home abuse claim is that it can remove your elderly loved one from a dangerous situation. The potential financial benefits should not be overlooked, though. At the root of every civil claim is an attempt to secure deserved financial compensation, so we’ll work diligently to calculate your damages accurately and pursue every penny owed to you and your elderly family member.
You might be able to demand compensation related to:
- Costs paid to the nursing home that allowed the abuse or neglect
- Costs to move your family member to a new nursing home
- Costs of future care at the new location
- Additional medical care needed to treat your abused or neglected loved one
- Pain, suffering, and lingering emotional trauma
- Punitive damages to penalize the nursing home for egregious wrongdoing
Around-the-Clock Legal Assistance
Our Nashville nursing home abuse attorneys answer the phone 24 hours a day and 7 days a week. If you suspect your loved one is being abused, please call us at (877) 976-8411 at any time. There is no reason or benefit to delaying. The sooner we hear from you, the sooner we can investigate the situation and file a lawsuit to help protect your loved one from further abuse or neglect.
Initial consultations are free and confidential. Schedule onenow.