Nursing Home Abuse and Wrongful Death Claims
When our cherished elderly loved ones reach their end-of-life days and require full-time care, we seek the best possible nursing home within the budget. We expect the staff to uphold their promises and their legal duty to provide skilled, compassionate care with respect for human dignity. Tragically, not all nursing homes live up to the promises in their glossy brochures.
When a loved one suffers abuse in a nursing home, and the abuse causes their death, it’s more than an egregious affront to the family; it’s also an actionable violation in civil law as well as potentially in the criminal courts.
An Atlanta nursing home abuse lawsuit involving a wrongful death claim helps families achieve a sense of justice through financial accountability.
What Types of Nursing Home Abuse Cause Wrongful Death?
Elderly nursing home residents are often completely dependent on their caregivers. They may be unable or unwilling to report neglect and abuse. Alarmingly, the National Council on Aging (NCO) reveals that one in ten elderly Americans experiences abuse, particularly those in nursing homes. Worse, this number is widely recognized as under-reported. The most common types of nursing abuse include the following:
- Neglect, including neglecting basic nutrition, hydration, and hygiene, failing to properly administer medications, a lack of adequate supervision, and a lack of infection control
- Physical abuse, such as hitting, shoving, kicking, pinching, and other forms of assault, or the unnecessary use of restraints
- Emotional abuse, such as yelling, berating, belittling, intentional isolation, name-calling, and other forms of mental abuse that cause emotional anguish, diminished quality of life, and sometimes a physical decline resulting in death
- Sexual abuse, including any unwanted sexual touching or penetration, leading to emotional anguish, infections, STDs, and physical injuries
- Willful deprivation, or intentionally withholding food, water, or medications
- Negligent property and equipment maintenance
Elderly nursing home residents often have multiple physical and cognitive conditions and reduced immune system function, which leaves them vulnerable to rapid physical decline and death when they suffer abuse and neglect.
Evidence In a Georgia Nursing Home Wrongful Death Claim
Wrongful death claims in Atlanta, Georgia are a category of personal injury cases that require the injury victim or their close, surviving family member to prove negligence and liability. A successful claim must show evidence of the following:
- The nursing home administrators and staff owed a legal duty of care to the deceased resident
- They breached this duty of care through negligence or wrongdoing
- The breach of duty caused the injury and death
- The family suffered damages from the death
Damages in nursing home abuse wrongful death claims often include funeral and burial costs, a family member’s lost income, compensation for the elderly resident’s pain and suffering, and compensation for the family’s grief and anguish.
Who Can File a Nursing Home Abuse Wrongful Death Claim In Georgia?
In Georgia, only a spouse, parent, or adult child may file a wrongful death claim. If there are no surviving close family members, a legal representative may file on behalf of the decedent’s estate.
Wrongful death claims must be filed within two years of the date of the elderly resident’s death under Georgia’s statute of limitations for wrongful death claims.
How Can a Georgia Nursing Home Abuse/Wrongful Death Lawyer Help?
You and your family deserve to spend time focusing on your grief. Unfortunately, the grief is often compounded by justifiable outrage when an elderly loved one’s death was caused by nursing home abuse. A successful claim can deliver the sense of justice your family needs and your lost loved one deserves. Contact an injury attorney at Piasta Walker Hagenbush, LLC to learn more about your family’s rights.