Hartford Nursing Home Abuse Lawyer

Every year, thousands of families put their disabled and elderly loved ones in Connecticut nursing homes. They trust the nursing home staff and administrators for quality care, medical attention, and full-day nursing. But unfortunately, this trust is often broken.

Nursing home abuse is a living reality in Hartford, Connecticut. Many nursing home patients become the target of mistreatment, abuse, and neglect by the staff members and other residents. Most of them can’t even speak up about the abuse they suffer.

Do you suspect abuse in your family member living in a Hartford nursing home? If so, the affiliate Connecticut personal injury attorneys at Nursing Home Law Center, LLC can evaluate your elder abuse case and ensure you receive full compensation for all your suffering.

Contact our Hartford nursing home abuse lawyers at (800) 926-7565 (toll-free phone number) to get a free case evaluation to discuss your legal options. Our attorney-client relationship keeps the confidential or sensitive information of all our clients private throughout the entire process.

Multiple nursing homes operate in the county of Hartford, Connecticut, serving hundreds of residents daily. Since these people can’t care for themselves, they need round-the-clock attention from trained physical therapists and caregivers.

Sadly, these people suffer mistreatment from the nursing home management and staff. Sometimes the residents don’t receive their meals on time; the other times, they’re deprived of proper medicines and hygiene. Even worse, a resident can also become a victim of mental, physical, and sexual abuse.

When this negligence continues for days or even months, it harms the overall well-being of the elderly and disabled. In worst cases, wrongful deaths can also occur. All these things come under abuse and neglect in nursing homes.

Many factors contribute to nursing home abuse injuries. These include negligent staff members, untrained caregivers, lack of staff, and incompetent management. In many cases, the nursing facility is more interested in maximizing profits than ensuring that the resident’s needs are met.

You or your loved one living in a nursing home can be mistreated in several ways. Abuse has no one definite form or sign. Instead, it has many forms, each having varying effects on the residents.

The most common types of nursing home abuse are:

Any aggressive physical altercation by the nursing home staff, visitors, family members, friends, employees, or other residents can be considered abusive behavior. Physical assault could include:

It includes:

• Hitting
• Kicking
• Pushing
• Slapping
• Forced physical restraint
• Burning

It includes non-physical harm provided to the resident by nurses, nursing aides, visitors, family members, friends, and other patients. Emotional abuse affects the victim’s psychology and causes mental distress and anguish.

The most common forms of emotional abuse are:

• Non-verbal or verbal abuse
• Insulting
• Yelling
• Manipulation
• Intimidation
• Isolation
• Using hurtful language

Any non-consensual or unwanted sexual interaction involving the resident that’s initiated by caregivers, family members, friends, visitors, employees, and other patients could involve sexual abuse. The abusive inaction can be physical as well as non-physical, such as:

• Inappropriate sexual advances
• Obscene jokes
• Excessive touching
• Rape, sodomy, and oral sex
• Groping
• Forced intercourse

Financial abuse or exploitation is when the nursing home administration or staff acquires a resident’s confidential information related to their finances. This could be either manipulating the patients or threatening them to give up their bank account details.

It includes:

• Unauthorized withdrawals from the resident’s bank account
• Forged signatures on financial documents
• Unpaid medical bills by those in charge of the resident’s finances
• Unexplained changes in the resident’s finances
• Altered will or trust
• Loss of personal belongings

Nursing home negligence involves any mistreatment caused intentionally or unintentionally by the caregivers in charge of providing care. Negligence might involve not providing assistance with dressing, grooming, and feeding, leading to serious medical conditions.

Neglect can be:

• Poor hygiene
• Medication errors
• Failure to provide meals
• Not changing a resident’s filthy or dirty clothing
• Inadequate medical care
• Bed sores
• Malnutrition

In many incidents, the resident survival is based on the caregivers providing daily-life assistance. Unfortunately, many nurses and nurse’s aides are overworked or failed to follow protocols, leading to negligent behavior.

Not all forms of abuse are apparent to the nursing staff, family, and friends. However, the resident’s family members must remain vigilant in observing what is going on in their loved one’s environment.

The most common signs of nursing home abuse are:

• Socially withdrawn or isolation from other people
• Bedsores and other serious infections
• Overmedicated or sedated patients
• Fear of physical contact
• Substandard living conditions
• The resident’s unusual lack of communication with family and friends
• Poor hygiene
• Weight loss
• Unexplained injuries and bruises
• Dehydration
• Marks on the body
• Broken bones
• Bruises around genitals

Do you suspect that something is wrong with your loved one while living in a nursing home or assisted living facility? Take immediate legal action and report what you know to the facility administrator, law enforcement, and federal/state agencies that protect the elderly, disabled, and rehabilitating nursing home residents.

Provide a safe environment for your loved ones to discuss exactly what happened and how they were harmed. Gathering information can help others better understand who to hold responsible and how to take legal action against the abusive predator or negligent nursing staff.

Contact the Connecticut Department of Public Health and file a complaint at the Connecticut Facilities Licensing and Investigation Section.

Seek help from a personal injury attorney who specializes in nursing home abuse and neglect cases. An attorney from our law offices can ensure that all necessary documents and paperwork are filed to submit a compensation claim before the statute of limitations expires.

Do you suspect that your loved one is the victim of nursing home abuse or neglect? Hiring a personal injury attorney can ensure that all responsible parties are held accountable for their egregious actions.

Our legal team will navigate you to the civil tort law process can help your loved one receive compensation through a negotiated settlement or jury trial award. Our legal team can ensure that your loved one receives monetary recovery for:

• Past and ongoing medical bills
• Future hospital medical costs
• Therapy and rehabilitation expenses
• Non-economic damages, including pain, suffering, and mental anxiety
• Funeral and burial expenses in wrongful death cases

The evidence, circumstances, and injuries of every case is unique. Because of that, determining how long it will take to negotiate a fair acceptable settlement or win the case to trial varies.

Data shows that approximately 95% of all civil cases are resolved through a negotiated settlement for various reasons. Both the plaintiff (injured party) and the defendant (responsible party) are not guaranteed of winning their case in front of a judge and jury. Negotiating a settlement ensures that the case is resolved amicably between both parties.

• Negotiating a case out of court also ensures that:
• The compensation amount is agreed upon by both parties
• Both the defendant and the plaintiff can maintain their privacy
• The length of time it takes to negotiate a settlement is significantly shorter than presenting evidence in court, obtaining the jury’s verdict, and the losing side appealing the case

Only a small portion of the remaining 5% of cases that are not negotiated ever see the inside of the courtroom. Typically, these cases have significant issues for either the defense or the plaintiff.

While it is always the plaintiff’s decision to take the case to trial, it is often recommended to have one or more settlement meetings to resolve the claim to an amicable conclusion

Every abuse case is different, but the settlement value is primarily determined based on the severity and extent of the clients' injuries, property losses, and the pain and suffering from the neglect or abuse of others.

The settlement coverage usually falls into two categories:

• Economic Damages: These include monetary losses, such as hospital bills and stolen property.
• Non-economic Damages: These are non-monetary losses, such as pain and suffering you and your loved one experienced.
• Punitive Damages: Jurors may award the plaintiff punitive damages to punish the defendant for their egregious behaviors. Receiving punitive damages is only available in some cases.

We know you can’t see your loved one in distress and pain. This is why having an experienced personal injury attorney by your side is essential to relieve stress and hold the nursing home facility accountable for its actions through a court case.

Contact our Hartford nursing home abuse lawyer at (800) 926-7565 or use an online contact form to schedule a free consultation.We will provide a safe environment to discuss exactly what happened and provide numerous legal options on how to proceed.

Our fee policy is contingency-based, meaning that you will not be charged any upfront fees until your case is successfully resolved through a jury verdict or negotiated settlement.

• NCBI: Older People Abuse in Nursing Homes
• HRW: Apprehension Over Neglect in Long-Term Care Facilities