At some point, many of us may find ourselves putting a loved one in the care of a nursing home. We put our trust in these establishments to look after our loved ones. We love and care for our family, and when choosing to place them in the care of a nursing home facility, we hope that the staff will take good care of them and possibly even better care than what we could provide for them ourselves.

It’s an unpleasant surprise to find out that a loved one has been the victim of past, present, or ongoing nursing home abuse. You and your loved one may feel angry, stressed, and confused about the abuse, and uncertain about what comes next. If your loved one has been hurt due to nursing home abuse, or if you’re a nursing home resident and you’ve experienced abuse, you may be entitled to compensation.

A skilled and compassionate nursing home abuse lawyer can help you gather the evidence to file a personal injury claim on behalf of a loved one who was injured because of nursing home neglect or abuse. The San Diego personal injury lawyers of OnderLaw don’t take nursing home abuse cases lightly, and we will fight tirelessly until we can provide you and your family with the compensation and justice you deserve.

Call us today or contact us online to schedule a free consultation. You owe us nothing until we get compensation for you.

Why Do I Need A Lawyer?

Following the discovery that nursing home abuse is occurring, it is important that you get in contact with an experienced nursing home abuse lawyer immediately. They can walk you through the entire process of filing an injury claim, keeping you up-to-date with any legal or administrative deadlines, providing you with the resources you need, collecting medical records, and negotiating with insurance companies to secure the full amount of compensation owed to your loved one as a result of their injuries.

Though it’s possible for you to file a personal injury claim on your own, the process isn’t simple. There are elements of the filing process that you may not be aware of, or your loved one may be so severely injured or disabled that they are all you can think about. You may find that you’re unable to maintain focus on all that needs to be done to file a successful claim.

We at OnderLaw know that your top two priorities following an accident are getting the compensation you deserve and helping your loved one recover from their injuries. Allow us to help you achieve both while the partners at our firm work to secure the money owed to your loved one.

Why Choose OnderLaw?

The legal team at OnderLaw boasts an impressive track record when it comes to results in personal injury lawsuits. Our founder and senior member, James G. Onder, has been involved in many significant trials throughout the nation and earned the first, second, and third highest-dollar payouts in the state in 2016 and third-highest in 2017. Additionally, he has won more than $4 billion in compensation for personal injury victims in major cases.

Many of our partners have impressive legal backgrounds and distinctions, and several of them have been recognized by prestigious law organizations throughout the United States. Martindale-Hubbell Peer and Client Review Ratings, Million Dollar Advocates Forum, Super Lawyers, and Litigator Awards are just some of the names our attorneys are proud to feature on their résumés. The Million Dollar Advocates Forum awards exclusive membership to an impressive 1% of lawyers in the nation. If you choose to have OnderLaw represent your loved one in their personal injury case, you can be assured that you have some of the best legal representation in the United States.

Causes of Nursing Home Abuse

There are several reasons nursing home abuse may occur. Some of the most common causes of nursing home abuse include:

  • Understaffed workforce. Unfortunately, it’s often the case that a nursing home doesn’t have the number of staff required to accommodate the needs of all the residents in a facility. When this occurs, abuse is more likely due to neglect and other issues stemming from the lack of hands on deck.
  • Under-trained staff. Staff in nursing homes may not have the training they need to deal with situations that may arise in a nursing home facility. For example, nursing home staff may not be able to recognize the signs of an aggressive resident or have the tools to calm them down when their emotions become elevated. As a consequence of this, staff members may resort to extreme measures and physical force to restrain residents who are in a heightened state of emotion, leading to physical abuse or force.
  • Underpaid staff. Nursing homes aren’t federal organizations. Many of them operate as stand-alone businesses or franchises. As a result, there is no standard of pay across nursing homes, and many nursing home staff members aren’t compensated properly for the work they’re engaging in on a day-to-day basis. Unfortunately, this leads many of them to neglect their duties and the residents of the nursing home facility, which then leads to resident injuries.
  • Other caregiver issues. Some nursing home staff members may suffer from mental health issues or trauma of their own, which may impact how they treat nursing home residents. Other times, a caregiver may target one or more nursing home residents and harass or maltreat them for reasons personal to the caregiver.
  • Poor nursing home management. Often, nursing home abuse occurs because a particular facility has poor management, and much of the behavior of the caregivers and higher-ups goes unchecked or unnoticed, leading to higher rates of abuse and neglect in these spaces. Sometimes, nursing home administration may fail to check out references and perform due diligence on the qualifications of those they hire just because they’re short-handed and in immediate need of staff.
  • Lack of consequences. Nursing home abuse tends to continue if the facility and its caregivers don’t face consequences for their actions.

Common Injuries Suffered in Nursing Home Abuse Cases

There are many injuries that may arise from nursing home abuse. Some of the most common injuries in these cases include:

  • Bed-rail injuries
  • Bedsores
  • Fractured or broken bones
  • Concussions
  • Falls
  • Infections
  • Neck and spine injuries
  • Bruises, lacerations, and abrasions
  • Cuts, scratches, and scrapes
  • Asphyxiation
  • Traumatic brain injury (TBI)
  • Burns
  • Depression
  • Anxiety
  • Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
  • Financial losses

Compensation for Nursing Home Abuse

The full amount of compensation you can expect to receive depends on many factors, with one of the most important ones being the severity of the injuries you or a loved one sustained as a result of nursing home abuse. The most common types of damages awarded to victims of nursing home abuse include:

  • Medical expenses. Compensation for the medical expenses incurred because of the injuries may be paid for, such as the cost of hospital visits, doctor’s visits, ambulances, x-rays, prescription medications, rehabilitation therapy, counseling, and more.
  • Pain and suffering. It is possible that you or your loved one might recover damages for the past, present, and future pain and suffering endured as a result of nursing home abuse.
  • Loss of quality of life. Compensation may be available for the loss of quality of life your loved one experienced due to nursing home abuse. They may sustain severe injuries, develop a disability, or struggle with debilitating mental health in the aftermath of nursing home abuse, and any of these conditions could diminish their quality of life.
  • Loss of consortium. If your loved one dies as a result of nursing home abuse, you may be eligible to obtain compensation for the loss of the deceased’s love and companionship.
  • Punitive damages. If there is evidence that a nursing home facility or staff member intentionally caused you or a loved one harm, you could request compensation for punitive damages.

Proving Negligence in California

In order to prove negligence in the state of California, you must provide evidence that the action or inaction of another party contributed to your or a loved one’s accident. For example, if you or a loved one are a resident of a nursing home facility, you’re owed a safe environment. When you or a loved one are put in the care of the staff at a nursing home, you expect to be taken care of and provided with all that you need to live comfortably in their care.

Say that you need medication for a specific disease or ailment, and you’re provided with the wrong medication by nursing home staff, either due to willful or accidental negligence. If you develop undesired side-effects as a result, you may be able to sue the nursing home facility for negligence because the staff failed to exercise proper care and judgment when providing you with the medication.

Statute of Limitations on Personal Injury Lawsuits

In California, the statute of limitations on personal injury lawsuits is two years from the date of injury. If you need to file a lawsuit against a city, county, or California state government agency, you have six months from the date of injury. If you miss the statutory deadline and file your lawsuit late, the court may dismiss your case. Should that occur, you will have lost the opportunity to pursue compensation through the court system.

California Accident Statistics

Elder abuse occurs in the United States each day. Here’s what the numbers look like in the state of California:

According to the National Council on Aging, one in ten Americans aged 60+ have endured some form of abuse.

Data from the California Department of Social Services (CDSS) shows that there were 21,685 calls made to the CDSS concerning elder abuse between April 20, 2020, and June 20, 2021.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) noted that more than 643,000 elders required a visit to the emergency room for nonfatal assaults from 2002-2016.

Contact a San Diego Nursing Home Abuse Attorney

If you or a loved one have been injured as a result of nursing home abuse in San Diego, call the legal team of OnderLaw or contact us online to schedule a free consultation.