Connecticut Nursing Home Abuse Lawyer

Connecticut Nursing Homes Abuse Lawyer Stats
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Was your loved one mistreated, neglected, abused, or died unexpectedly from substandard care while living in a Connecticut nursing facility?

We encourage you to contact the Connecticut nursing home abuse lawyers at Nursing Home Law Center at (800) 926-7565 (toll-free phone call) for legal advice and discuss a claim for compensation during a free consultation.

In Connecticut, nursing home abuse is a rampant problem. It is becoming more and more difficult for family members to find a caring nursing home facility for their loved ones.

According to a research study conducted by the University of California-San Francisco, there were only three percent of nursing homes containing no deficiencies in 2008.

Ninety-seven percent of all nursing homes in Connecticut have severe understaffing problems, nursing home abuse, and negligence.

Family members must keep close watch of loved ones who are currently in nursing homes in Connecticut because it is likely that there are deficiencies in that facility.

Throughout the year, Medicare routinely inspects and surveys every Connecticut caregiving facility to identify violations and deficiencies that lead to substandard care. Currently, fifty-one (23%) of the 224 nursing facilities rated in Connecticut are deemed to be below the national average after investigators determined the medical team if you provide substandard care.

Even more tragic, statistics from the UCSF research study indicate that thirty-nine percent of all nursing home residents were the victims of actual harm and mistreatment in 2008. This is an extremely high number in comparison with other states, and family members must be aware of the health condition of a loved one in a nursing home at all times.

A nursing home attorney can help family members end the abusive treatment and take an assertive role in protecting a loved one's legal rights. If you suspect that a loved one is the victim of nursing home abuse, then you can report nursing home abuse in Connecticut and speak with a nursing home abuse lawyer who will help you.

Attorney Nicholas Wocl, represents victims of nursing home negligence across Connecticut. Mr. Wocl's main office is located at 80 4th Street, Stamford, CT 06905.

Connecticut Nursing Home Abuse Lawyer

State Nursing Home Care Laws in Connecticut

Family members should be aware that they only have 2 years to file an action for personal injury to a loved one. The Connecticut Statute of Limitations begins to run from the date in which one first discovers the injuries of a loved one.

There is no damages cap for actions involving injuries caused by professional nursing home negligence. Additionally, family members may also wish to consider filing a wrongful death claim citing abusive behavior or negligence that has resulted in the tragic loss of an elderly loved one.

In Connecticut, a wrongful death claim may be filed within 2 years from the date of death. There is also no damages cap for wrongful death actions.

Connecticut nursing home abuse is a serious situation for any family member to deal with, and protections for Connecticut nursing home residents have been codified into law as a result.

Chapter 319 DD is the governing authority for protective services of the elderly, and it maintains that any suspicion of abuse, mistreatment, exploitation, or abandonment must be reported to protective services.

Family members must report any suspicions of abuse or neglect that they may have concerning the care facility, and it also binds nursing home professionals to report these suspicions as well. Nurses, medical examiners, nursing aides, and physical therapists all have a legal obligation to report any suspicions of mistreatment that they may have.

Connecticut Nursing Home Negligence Attorney

Signs of Nursing Home Neglect

There are certain signs of nursing home neglect that can alert family members and care facility workers that a resident is a victim of nursing home neglect.

Family members and nursing home workers have a legal obligation to report the following signs of nursing home neglect and lack of medical care:

  • Unexplained bruises and abrasions
  • Bed Sores
  • Fractured or broken bones
  • Skin discoloration
  • Infections
  • Weight Loss
  • Constant anxiety and fear
  • Lashing out at family members and friends
  • Emotional distance
  • Genital bruising and bleeding from sexual abuse

Under Connecticut laws, the failure to report any signs of this abuse results in a Class C misdemeanor for a first offense or a Class A misdemeanor for subsequent offenses. When mistreatment is reported, the regional ombudsman’s office will investigate a Connecticut nursing home abuse report.

Connecticut Nursing Home Abuse Attorney

Help Your Loved One Today with Connecticut Nursing Home Lawyers

A Connecticut nursing home abuse lawyer is here to help you at every stage of the process of reporting if your loved one is being abused. Don’t allow your loved one to be one of the thirty-nine percent of all victims who suffer from nursing home abuse in Connecticut every year.

Our lawyers are here to help families and residents throughout the State of Connecticut in such areas as:

Call a Connecticut nursing home attorney to receive the help that you need to file a legal claim. The home abuse law firm can offer free legal advice during a free consultation.

Connecticut Nursing Home Negligence Lawyer

Connecticut Nursing Home Negligence Lawyers Serving Victims of Bed Sores, Pressure Sores & Decubitus Ulcers

Nursing facility residents, confined to their bed or wheelchair, have an increased potential of developing a decubitus ulcer (bedsore; pressure sore; pressure ulcer). Any condition not treated effectively and promptly is an indicator of neglect or abuse that could cause permanent damage or fatal infection.

Decubitus ulcer injuries usually develop when nursing home bedridden or wheelchair-bound patients remain in one position for an extended time. The condition is the result of pressure on the skin that limits the amount of blood flow to the area.

Skin deprived of oxygen after just a couple of hours could become damaged, inflamed, reddened, and even die. The medical team could be held legally and financially accountable for any personal injury that could have been prevented by following nursing home protocols.

Connecticut Nursing Home Abuse attorneys

Connecticut Nursing Home Abuse Personal Injury FAQs

What Is Elder Abuse?

State law identifies nursing home abuse as any type of mistreatment against the elderly involving physical abuse, sexual assault, emotional abuse, financial exploitation, self-neglect, abandonment, and negligence.
According to the National Center On Elder Abuse (NCEA), elder abuse involves:

  • Physical abuse involving physical force resulting in physical pain, bodily injury, or impairment
  • Sexual assault involving non-consensual sexual activity with an older adult that might not include physical contact
  • Emotional abuse involving the infliction of distress, pain, anguish, harassment, humiliation, social isolation, or other harm by verbal and non-verbal acts
  • Financial exploitation involving the illegal or improper use of the resident’s property, assets, or funds, including cash, bank accounts, and credit cards
  • Self-neglect where the elderly individual’s behaviors threaten their health, well-being, or safety
  • Abandonment where those in charge of the elderly adults deserts them and fails in their responsibility to provide care, services, and safety
  • Negligence that involves the failure or refusal to fulfill their legal duty and responsibilities to the senior citizen that leads to damages, injuries, harm, or wrongful death

The federal government has not released any current national statistics on the prevalence of nursing home abuse or neglect. Currently, nearly to million Americans of retirement age have been exposed to negligence and abusive behavior by their caregivers in charge of their protection.

What Is the Punishment for Elder Abuse?

Nursing home administrators, employees, nurses, nurses’ aides, and other workers are legally responsible for protecting older individuals from any harm, including mistreatment.

Law enforcement agencies and government services monitor nursing homes to identify any signs of mistreatment or financial exploitation.

Any caretaker responsible for managing a resident’s health and well-being could violate state law if they intentionally commit elder abuse leading to severe injury or wrongful death.

An individual found guilty of nursing home abuse or neglect could be charged with various felonies and misdemeanors based on the extent of the crime. Also, any caregiver could be found guilty of a felony if they mistreat a senior citizen under their care in a private residence.

How Does an Untrained Staff Lead to Nursing Home Abuse?

By state law, nursing homes are required to ensure they have adequate staffing on hand to make sure every resident's needs are being met. A lack of sufficient nurses and nurses' aides to care for and support the resident could be considered nursing home neglect.

Many patients are harmed when the situation worsens, and the victim is deprived of their health and medication needs. The administrator may choose to place profits over adequate staffing and training.

Common forms of neglect and mistreatment at the administration level could include:

  • Hiring and maintaining nurses and nurse’s aides that lack requires vocational and educational training
  • Hiring employees without sufficient work experience in a nursing home environment
  • Failing to train the medical workers on established policies and procedures following nursing home regulations
  • Not understanding the resident’s rights
  • Failing to adequately train the staff on specific illnesses, medical conditions, disabilities, and needs

In some cases, employees underpaid, especially in privately run businesses. Any underpaid nurse or nurses' aid may be overwhelmed or disgruntled and take out their frustration on an innocent resident.

A lack of training or underpay could lead the employees to experience low morale, creating an unacceptable culture of providing substandard care.

Why Is It Taking so Long to Resolve My Nursing Home Abuse Case?

Waiting to receive financial compensation from the at-fault party’s insurance company can be challenging. However, ensuring you or your family receives the monetary recovery you deserve might be worth the wait.

You likely need to receive monetary compensation to pay for your hospitalization costs, medical care bills, rehabilitation expenses, pain, suffering, and mental anguish. However, resolving your case too quickly might lead you to accept an offer too low to cover the value of all damages.

Our nursing home abuse lawyers can explain all your legal options and help you take legal action to resolve your case as efficiently as possible. Call us now at (800) 926-7565 to discuss the merits of your claim and the extent of your damages.

Taking time to settle the case through negotiation could help prevent waiting to take the case to trial and presenting evidence in a few years in front of a judge and jury.

Why Is It Taking so Long to Resolve My Nursing Home Abuse Case?

Bedsores (pressure wounds, pressure ulcers, decubitus ulcers, pressure sores) occur too often in nursing homes throughout the United States. According to Medicare, nearly all pressure wounds can be avoided when the nursing staff followed the established protocols and procedures.

In addition to providing medical care and prescribed treatments, the nursing staff must follow the care plan and readjust the resident’s mobility-challenged or impaired body.

The readjustment helps eliminate pressure wound development by alleviating prolonged pressure on specific body parts, including the ankles, shoulders, elbows, cheeks, sacrum (tailbone), knees, and hipbones.

According to the National Pressure Ulcer Advisory Panel, the nursing staff can treat a skin wound based on its stage.

The stages include:

  • Stage I – At its initial stage, the developing wound has not compromised skin integrity other than through discoloration or redness
  • Stage II – If the wound is allowed to degrade, the skin is broken, and a shallow sore begins to appear
  • Stage III – a worsening sore now exposes the dermis level and fatty tissue at the bottom of the wound
  • Stage IV – A life-threatening wound now exposes bone, muscle, tendons, and ligaments
  • Unstageable – Pressure wounds are unstageable when there is sufficient debris inside the open sore, and measurements cannot be taken to reflect the stage or degradation of the pressure ulcer adequately

Connecticut Nursing Home Abuse & Neglect Lawyers

Hiring a Nursing Home Abuse Lawyer to Protect a Loved One

Was your loved one injured through abuse and neglect while residing in a Connecticut nursing home?

Our nursing home abuse lawyers can take immediate legal action against the nursing staff and facility to hold them legally accountable.

Contact us today at (800) 926-7565 to schedule a free consultation with our law firm. An attorney working on your family's behalf can ensure you receive financial compensation for your damages.

A nursing home abuse lawyer with our personal injury law firm seeks justice through negotiated compensation claims or taking cases to trial. Our injury attorneys have years of experience in resolving abuse and injury cases.

Resources:

Nursing Home Negligence Attorney Connecticut

Certain areas of the body are most affected. These are usually bony prominences including:

  • Toes, heels and ankles
  • Back of the knees, legs, buttocks and hipbones
  • Sacrum, spine, shoulder blades, shoulders and the back of the head

Preventing Decubitus Ulcers

Connecticut Nursing Home NegligenceNearly every type of bedsore is preventable if action is taken in its earliest stage. Because of that, it is essential that doctors properly evaluate the patient when being admitted to the facility and develop an effective plan for bedsore prevention. The plan should include:

  • Proper detection of any existing bedsore
  • Identifying patients most at risk for developing decubitus ulcers
  • Implement a pressure sore prevention plan by turning bedridden and wheelchair-bound patients at least one time every two hours
  • Use procedures including debridement to remove rotting or dead tissue from the pressure ulcer to avoid becoming worse
Call (800) 926-7565 Toll-Free for a No Obligation Consultation

Understaffing and Insufficient Training Common Culprits Behind the Development of Decubitus Ulcers

Unfortunately, bedsores are a common problem in nursing homes due to understaffing and insufficient training of the nurses and nurses’ aides at the facility. Many times, nurses tend to focus on the resident’s primary health condition and do not monitor the patient’s skin properly to detect any decubitus ulcer in its early stage.

Many nursing facilities put profitability of the nursing facility ahead of providing quality care to patients around-the-clock. However, developing and implementing an effective health plan for every bedridden patient could improve the quality of their well-being. Routine repositioning of immobile patients could eliminate nearly every incident of bedsore development in the facility. Relieving the pressure on the skin at the site of an existing decubitus ulcer could provide oxygen-rich blood to damaged tissue to encourage healing.

What Families can do When Their Loved has Acquired a Pressure Ulcer During an Admission to a Connecticut Facility?

In all likelihood, you placed your loved one in a nursing facility because the family was unable to provide proper health care to assist in their ailment, illness, disability or medical condition. You likely believed that your loved one would be treated with dignity in a loving environment while under the care of experience nursing staff. You probably thought that the nursing home would develop an effective plan to maintain your loved one’s health, and implement the plan with competent, well-trained medical staff.

If you suspect your loved one is suffering serious harm from a bedsore, or died from negligent care of an existing pressure sore, you can likely file a malpractice claim. A claim for compensation can provide you peace of mind knowing that the negligent actions of the medical staff will stop immediately and save other patients in the facility from the same mistreatment.

The dedicated professionals listed below can provide you a variety of legal options to stop the neglect of your loved one in the nursing facility. These professionals offer services throughout Connecticut in many cities including:

  • Bridgeport
  • New Haven
  • Hartford
  • Stamford
  • Waterbury

If your loved one is suffering from a bedsore, a skilled Connecticut decubitus ulcer lawyer can take legal action to stop the neglect by the nursing home staff immediately. The law firm can build a solid claim for financial recompense to cover expenses including the cost of medical care provided by professionals who specialize in treating decubitus ulcers.

The professionals provide at Nursing Home Law Center LLC offer a no obligation free consultation to discuss a malpractice claim. They accept cases on contingency, which means the family is not required to pay any upfront fees.

Call (800) 926-7565 Toll-Free for a No Obligation Consultation
Nursing Home Negligence

Statute of Limitations

  • 2 years from date of act or discovery. (§52-584 – Limitation of action for injury to person or property caused by negligence, misconduct, or malpractice.)
  • Medical malpractice – 2 years from date of injury or discovery.(§52-584 – Limitation of action for injury to person or property caused by negligence, misconduct, or malpractice.)

Damages Cap

  • None.
Wrongful Death

Statute of Limitations

  • 2 years from date of death. (§52-555 – Actions for injuries resulting in death.)

Damages Cap

  • None.

State Resources

Nursing Home Care State Law

Related Articles

Nursing Home Abuse & Neglect Resources

Client Reviews

★★★★★
Jonathan did a great job helping my family navigate through a lengthy lawsuit involving my grandmother's death in a nursing home. Through every step of the case, Jonathan kept my family informed of the progression of the case. Although our case eventually settled at a mediation, I really was impressed at how well prepared Jonathan was to take the case to trial. Lisa
★★★★★
After I read Jonathan’s Nursing Home Blog, I decided to hire him to look into my wife’s treatment at a local nursing home. Jonathan did a great job explaining the process and the laws that apply to nursing homes. I immediately felt at ease and was glad to have him on my side. Though the lawsuit process was at times frustrating, Jonathan reassured me, particularly at my deposition. I really felt like Jonathan cared about my wife’s best interests, and I think that came across to the lawyers for the nursing home. Eric