How to Sue for Nursing Home Abuse, Career Near Me

How to Sue for Nursing Home Abuse, Career Near Me

All too often, elderly adults are abused or neglected in nursing homes their families rely on to provide them with the care and supervision they need. These adults often are physically or mentally frail, and may be unable to stand up to the abuse themselves. For this reason, if someone you love is the victim of nursing home abuse, you may have the ability to sue the nursing home on their behalf.

Part 1 Taking Initial Action.
1. Make sure your loved one is safe. If you have a loved one suffering abuse in a nursing home, your first priority should be to protect him or her from further injury before you pursue a lawsuit.
If you believe your loved one is in immediate danger, don't hesitate to call 911.
In situations where you believe the person is subject to continual danger, do what you can to get hi or her out of the nursing home and into a protected environment before you take legal action.
Keep in mind that complaints and lawsuits can take months to be resolved, so you need to do what you can to make sure that person is protected in the meantime. Your loved one's life is worth more than any monetary damages you might receive for a successful lawsuit.
2. Notify the facility of the abuse. Nursing homes that accept Medicare or Medicaid are required by federal regulations to create and implement a standard grievance procedure.
There should be information about the facility's grievance procedure in the information you or your loved one received when he or she was admitted to the facility.
If you can't find any written description of the official procedure, send a letter to the facility in writing. Stick to the facts, and be as detailed as possible, including as many names and dates as you know.
Make a copy of your letter before you send it to the nursing home, so you have it for your records.
Typically you will be contacted by a nursing home representative soon after your letter is received. You also may receive a written notification outlining the facility's official grievance procedure.
Cooperate with the nursing home investigation and do whatever you can to facilitate a successful resolution of the problem that will ensure your loved one is protected.
3. Consider filing a complaint with your state agency. Every state has an Adult Protective Services (APS) agency that investigates and responds to complaints of elder abuse.
APS agencies have different procedures in each state, and each agency has a different scope and level of power to investigate and correct problems. Call your state's agency ahead of time and ask about the grievance procedure and what the possible outcomes might be.
Since nursing homes must be licensed, your state's licensing board also may have a complaint or grievance procedure you can use.
Typically you can fill out a form to report the abuse. Include any relevant medical information about your loved one, especially if he or she is suffering from dementia.
Once you file your report, a caseworker will talk to you and begin an investigation of the facility. You may be contacted for further information as the investigation progresses.
Keep in mind the caseworker can't do much without permission from the patient, so keep in contact with your loved one throughout the process to make sure he or she understands what is happening and is on board with it.
4. Hire an attorney. Because liability can be difficult to prove in nursing home abuse cases, an attorney may best be able to protect your interests and the safety and well-being of your loved one.
Most elder law attorneys, particularly in personal injury or medical malpractice claims, will take your case on contingency. This means you won't have any out-of-pocket expenses as a result of hiring an attorney. Rather, his or her fees as well as any legal costs will be taken out of any settlement or award you receive.
Keep in mind that the statute of limitations for many nursing home abuse lawsuits is fairly short. You typically have only one or two years from the date of the last incident to file a lawsuit, so you must act fast to find and choose an attorney.
Try to interview at least three attorneys before you make your final selection. Look for someone who specializes in elder law and has extensive experience with nursing home abuse cases.
If your loved one has particular medical conditions or is suffering from dementia, you may want to look for an attorney who has particular experience dealing with other elderly adults who have similar issues.

Part 2 Filing Your Complaint.
1. Gather information about the abuse. To file a complaint in court, you and your attorney will need information about the nursing home and the injuries your loved one has suffered or is suffering.
The type of lawsuit you pursue will depend to a large extent on the evidence you have and the type of abuse your loved one is suffering. Typically you will file a personal injury lawsuit on your loved one's behalf, although you may also be eligible for damages to compensate you for your own pain and suffering.
Since patients or their guardians typically sign a contract upon admission to a nursing home, you may have a breach of contract claim. Gather the documents you signed or received when your loved one was admitted to see what promises or guarantees the nursing home made.
Some contracts include a binding arbitration or mediation clause, so read the contract carefully before you file a lawsuit to make sure you haven't signed away the right to do so.
In some cases your attorney also may advise you to file a medical malpractice claim, particularly if the type of abuse your loved one is suffering is depriving him or her of needed medication or medical treatment.
2. Work with your attorney to draft your complaint. Your complaint will include information about you, your loved one, and the nursing home, as well as your allegations of abuse against the nursing home.
Even if you have several different legal claims or theories – such as, for example, suing the nursing home based on breach of contract and based on negligence – you typically will only file one complaint. Your allegations must provide a sufficient basis for each legal claim you assert.
The first part of your complaint will be a list of factual allegations, presented in numbered paragraphs. Then it will list the legal theory or theories upon which you're basing your claim that you are entitled to monetary damages.
The last part of your complaint will provide a specific amount of damages to which you claim the nursing home owes you and your loved one as a result of the abuse.
3. Take your complaint to the clerk's office. To initiate your lawsuit, you must file your complaint with the clerk of the court where your case will be heard.
Typically you'll file a nursing home abuse lawsuit in state court – usually the court in the county where the nursing home is located.
You must pay a filing fee to file your complaint with the clerk, typically several hundred dollars. If you have an attorney working on contingency, he or she will pay this fee and add it to the legal costs that to be deducted from any settlement or award you receive.
The clerk will then stamp your documents "filed" with the date, assign your case to a particular judge (usually at random), and generate a case number. This number will be included on all subsequent documents filed with the court in your case.
4. Have the nursing home served. After you've filed your complaint, it must be delivered to the nursing home's registered agent along with a summons so the facility's managers know about your lawsuit and have a chance to respond.
Technically, a lawsuit can be served by any person over the age of 18 who isn't involved in the case. However, attorneys typically use a sheriff's deputy or a private process serving company to fulfill this duty.
Once service is complete, the process server must fill out a proof of service form and file it with the court.
You also may have the option of serving the complaint using certified mail with returned receipt requested, although most courts require hand delivery for an initial complaint.
5. Wait for a response from the nursing home. Within 20-30 days of the date the nursing home was served, it must file an answer or other motions in response to your complaint.
Typically, the nursing home will file an answer in which it denies most, if not all, of your allegations. This simply means you'll have to provide evidence at trial showing each of them more likely than not happened.
The nursing home also may file a motion to dismiss. If it does, you must file a response and attend a hearing to defeat the motion so your case can go forward.
If the deadline to respond lapses and the nursing home has not filed an answer or motion in response to your lawsuit, you may be eligible to win a default judgment. However, you can generally plan on the fact that the nursing home will respond to your suit.

Part 3 Litigating Your Case.
1. Consider any settlement offers. At any time after you've filed your complaint, the nursing home may offer an amount of money or the promise of other actions to make your lawsuit go away.
If the nursing home filed a motion to dismiss, you can expect a settlement offer soon after the hearing if the judge rules in your favor and allows your case to proceed.
Your attorney will let you know whenever the nursing home makes an offer, and give you advice on whether he or she believes it would be in your best interest to accept, reject, or make a counter-offer.
Especially as it gets closer to trial, the nursing home probably will become more anxious to settle. The prospect of a public nursing home abuse trial won't do anything for the nursing home's reputation or the opinions of the families who have loved ones in their care.
2. Conduct discovery. Through the discovery process, you and the nursing home will exchange information relevant to your claim. You can use this information to further develop and strengthen your case against the nursing home.
Because nursing home abuse allegations can be difficult to prove, discovery will be essential to your case. Through requests for production, you can get records from the nursing home, including staff personnel and disciplinary records, or any records of grievances filed by other patients.
Another key component of discovery for you will be depositions. In a deposition, your attorney interviews nursing home employees or witnesses under oath about your allegations. These interviews are recorded by a court reporter, who creates a transcript for later use.
Your attorney, or the nursing home, also may want to depose any doctors or other medical professionals who have seen signs of abuse, or who have talked to your loved one regarding his or her treatment at the nursing home.
3. Attend any pretrial hearings or conferences. Throughout litigation, the judge may hold hearings to decide various pretrial motions filed by either you or the nursing home.
As litigation progresses, either you or the nursing home may file various motions asking the court to rule on issues before trial or order the other party to do something. For example, if the nursing home isn't responding to your written discovery requests, you might file a motion to compel. If the judge rules in your favor, he or she will order the nursing home to respond to your requests.
The judge also may hold scheduling conferences, which typically only involve the judge and the parties' attorneys. In these conferences, deadlines are set for the completion of each phase of pre-trial litigation leading up to the trial itself.
Typically a few weeks before the trial date, the judge will hold a final scheduling conference in which the trial itself is mapped out so everyone has a good idea of how long the process will take.
4. Participate in mediation. Some courts require civil litigants to at least attempt mediation before a trial will be scheduled. However, even if mediation isn't mandated, it's something you should consider to efficiently resolve the dispute.
Through mediation, a neutral third party who is trained in dispute resolution sits down with you and the nursing home (and your attorneys) and facilitates a discussion designed to lead toward a mutually agreeable compromise and settlement.
If the court requires mediation, you typically will be assigned a mediator or provided a short list of court-approved mediators from which to choose.
The mediator will write up the terms of any agreement you and the nursing home reach through mediation. Once signed, it becomes a legally enforceable contract.
Your mediated settlement may need to be approved by the judge, particularly if the court mandates the parties participate in mediation.
If you are unable to reach an agreement through mediation, the court will schedule a trial and you will work with your attorney to develop a trial strategy and prepare for trial.