How Good Milwaukee Lawyers Can Help
Skilled Nursing Home Abuse Lawyers Can Help Victims of Abuse
On behalf of Milwaukee personal injury attorney Ric Domnitz of Domnitz & Domnitz, S.C. posted in Nursing Home Abuse on Wednesday, May 14, 2008.
Nursing Homes have become a more prominent presence in the lives of many Americans. Advances in health care have made it possible for the elderly and the infirm to be cared for long term and for quality of life to remain an attainable goal. Unfortunately, along with this seemingly positive social development has come the specter of negligent care and outright abuse.
We recently resolved a claim for a woman who sadly now lives in a persistent vegetative state; i.e., she is totally dependent upon others for her every care need. She lies in bed day after day cared for by a combination of professionals and her loving family. During the course of this litigation we discovered much about how the basic rights of people in nursing homes are often trampled upon by the professionals charged with the responsibility of caring for them.
While this blog entry is not the place to detail the potential abuses by nursing home staffers, we want to alert the public to existence of the problem so that people understand that there is recourse in the event a nursing home resident is treated in an improper manner. There are state departments that can be accessed and private causes of action that can be brought against negligent nursing homes. The facility is responsible for the negligent or abusive conduct of their staff.
Some of the more common components of negligent care include, but are certainly not limited to failure to turn a resident resulting in pressure sores, failure to adhere to a prescribed dietary plan resulting in malnutrition, over/under medication, delayed diagnosis following falls, failure to properly staff and/or equip a nursing home unit, and on and on.
While it is true that many nursing home facilities deliver quality care and are dedicated to the welfare of their residents, negligent care and abuse do exist. Given the often defenseless condition of a nursing home resident this negligence often borders on outrageous conduct and has sometimes led to the imposition of punitive damages by a jury.
It is important to know your rights and those of a loved one residing in a nursing home or long term care facility. Speak up in defense of the resident and demand accountability for the acts and omissions of the staff.
If you or your loved one has been the victim of nursing home abuse, it may be in your best interests to contact a Milwaukee personal injury attorney immediately. The good Milwaukee lawyers of Domnitz & Domnitz, S.C. may be able to help you.