A high degree of trust allows a person to place a relative in a nursing home. When that trust is broken, you must identify what happened and how to move forward to protect the resident’s rights. 

What Rights Does a Nursing Home Resident Have?

Considering state and federal laws, a nursing home resident has the right to privacy. This means that a nursing home or its employees cannot observe, record, or otherwise violate a person’s right to be alone. 

Privacy is at a premium in many nursing home communities, where employees and fellow residents seem to be around every corner. The already limited privacy of living in a nursing home can be further reduced when spying or unauthorized recording occurs.

There are also a series of protections available under state and federal law that help ensure nursing home residents have the right to protection against abuse, neglect, and other mistreatment by nursing home employees and even other residents. 

Tell-tale Signs of Nursing Home Abuse

Even if your loved one has the right to communicate to friends and family about their level of care at a nursing home, that does not guarantee the person’s ability to convey necessary information about abuse or neglect at their nursing home. 

Oftentimes, a nursing home victim will display mental symptoms associated with abuse or neglect. A sudden change in personality could be a major sign that something bad is happening within the four walls of the nursing home. A gregarious, outgoing senior citizen may be transformed into a meek and frightened person due to incidents of abuse. 

From there, a loved one can keep an eye on the nursing home resident’s personal belongings. Many times, the victim of nursing home abuse will suffer a loss of personal belongings from their room. Jewelry, clothing, shoes, and money are all examples of personal property that a victim of nursing home abuse may have had taken from them. 

What Happens to a Victim of Nursing Home Abuse or Neglect?

When many people think of nursing home “abuse,” their mind may immediately go to images of bruising, broken bones and injuries that are easily seen. However, many nursing home injuries are unseen or at least difficult to identify. By the same token, there are multiple ways for a family member to identify signs of abuse toward their family member. 

Nursing home neglect typically involves a resident who is not being cared for sufficiently. When a resident’s basic needs are not met, that is a straightforward example of nursing home neglect. When a resident’s hygiene, medication intake, food/water intake, or emotional well-being suffers, these are examples of neglect. 

A type of nursing home abuse that is on the upswing relates to financial abuse of the elderly. Because of their age, nursing home residents often have a limited ability to remember, recall, and process information quickly. A seemingly well-meaning employee of their nursing home could gain the trust of the resident- only to use that trust to steal money, jewelry, or other valuables. The elderly have been victimized through individuals gaining control of their checking or savings accounts, as well. 

Finally, physical abuse of nursing home residents involves harming or otherwise hurting a resident for any number of reasons. By now, many of us have seen terrible video evidence of acts of physical abuse happening in nursing homes across our country. Hitting, pushing, or using other physical force to harm residents occurs in situations where it is difficult to determine that the abuse has actually occurred. 

Available Damages in a Nursing Home Abuse Claim

There are a wide variety of damages available to a victim of nursing home abuse. In this context, damages are monetary compensation for harm suffered by a nursing home resident. These damages may be awarded as a result of a trial or negotiated through a settlement prior to trial. 

Economic damages are compensation used to pay for expenses related to medical treatment necessary as a result of the injuries. This includes treatment for injuries and trauma already sustained as well as any future treatment that is proven to be necessary. Evidence must be presented during settlement negotiations or during a trial sufficient to prove the type of treatment received was related to the injuries suffered during the act(s) of nursing home abuse. 

Additionally, non-economic damages may be won by an injury victim. The key difference between economic and non-economic damages is that non-economic damages cannot be precisely measured or calculated. There are methods to total non-economic damages, but they are not as exact as looking at a hospital bill to determine economic damages. Rather, injury victims must be prepared to present evidence showing their pain and suffering, emotional distress, and other losses are tied to a dollar value that can be argued to a jury. 

How Soon Must a Nursing Home Abuse Case be Filed?

A statute of limitations determines how soon a lawsuit must be filed after an event. For a nursing home abuse case, the law in West Virginia states that a lawsuit must be filed within two years from the date on which the abuse occurred or was first determined to have occurred. 

The law limits how long after an event occurs a lawsuit may be filed to ensure victims have their grievances addressed in a timely manner. Also, the longer a victim of nursing home abuse waits to file a lawsuit, the greater the likelihood that critical evidence will go missing. As people’s memories grow foggy and physical evidence goes missing, even the strongest of nursing home abuse cases can grow weak given enough time elapsing. 

Contact Crim Law, PLLC today for a Free Case Review

Do not allow nursing home abuse to go unchallenged. If you or a loved one have been victimized by a nursing home or its employee, contact a West Virginia nursing home abuse attorney, Crim Law, PLLC today. Our team of legal professionals offers free case reviews.