Nursing Homes and Premises Liability In Atlanta
When we place an elderly loved one in a nursing home or long-term care facility, we expect skilled, compassionate care in a safe environment. While we commonly consider cases of nursing home abuse caused by caregiver negligence or physical assaults, a significant portion of nursing home resident injuries occur due to an unsafe condition or inadequate maintenance in the nursing home facility. In these cases, an Atlanta nursing home neglect case becomes a premises liability claim against the negligent property owner or nursing home administrators.
What Is Premises Liability?
All property owners have a general duty of care to maintain their premises in a way that’s safe for anyone who legally enters the property, including visitors, delivery workers, and others. Commercial property owners who operate businesses such as hotels, apartment buildings, stores, and nursing homes have an enhanced duty of care because they invite persons onto their premises for commercial or business purposes.
A nursing home facility is liable for damages like medical expenses, lost wages, out-of-pocket costs, compensation for pain and suffering, or wrongful death compensation when the case meets the following legal standards of liability:
- The property owner owed a duty of care to the injury victim
- They breached the duty of care through negligence
- The breach of duty directly caused injury
- The injury victim suffered economic and non-economic damages from the injury
When nursing home administrators fail to regularly inspect their facility, don’t provide adequate maintenance, or neglect to repair or correct safety hazards, they are liable for damages if their neglect causes harm to a resident, staff member, or visitor.
What Types of Premises Liability Accidents Occur In Nursing Homes?
All property owners must maintain their property in a reasonably safe condition, but nursing homes are filled with vulnerable elderly residents who are far more likely to have mobility problems and susceptibility to fractures and other serious injuries, requiring extra attention to ensure a safe living environment. The most common types of premises liability accidents in nursing homes include the following:
- Slip-and-fall injuries
- Falls due to faulty bed rails or mobility equipment
- Broken rails
- Burns from scalding water or spilled beverages
- Falls from unmarked floor level changes
- Staircase or elevator injuries
- Inadequate lighting injuries
- Assaults due to negligent security
- Broken door locks or gates, allowing a resident with alzheimers or dementia to leave the facility
- Fire hazards
- Inadequate smoke detectors or fire extinguishers
- Toxic exposures from the improper use of chemical cleaners or pesticides
- Electrocution from faulty or exposed wiring
Nursing home administrators and staff must ensure that their residents are in a safe, secure environment that’s free of safety hazards.
Recoverable Damages In an Atlanta Nursing Home Premises Liability Case
Injuries like hip fractures and traumatic brain injuries are life-altering for the elderly and can lead to diminished quality of life and wrongful death. When a preventable injury occurs to an elderly nursing home resident because of negligent building maintenance or uncorrected safety hazards, the resident and/or their family have the right to seek compensation for their injury-related damages through a premises liability claim. Depending on the unique circumstances of the case, a successful claim recovers compensation for damages such as the following:
- Past and future medical expenses
- Out-of-pocket costs
- A family member’s lost earnings for time away to care for an injured loved one
- Compensation for pain and suffering
- Catastrophic injury compensation for hip fractures or other permanent harm that leads to diminished quality of life for the elder, or
- Wrongful death compensation to the family of a nursing home premises liability injury victim who died from their injury
Recovering these damages requires proving that the nursing home administrators created an unsafe condition, knew about the unsafe condition, or should reasonably have known, and they failed to address the problem in a timely manner.
How Can a Nursing Home Premises Liability Lawyer In Atlanta Help?
It takes substantial evidence, careful attention to filing details, and a compelling claim to recover the compensation an injured elderly resident or their surviving family members deserve after a preventable premises liability injury. Contact Piasta Walker Hagenbush to learn how an experienced attorney from our team can help.