Nothing is more disheartening than seeing a loved one suffer from a debilitating illness or disease. If you have been forced to place your loved one in a nursing home, then you have likely done so as a way to ensure that your loved one receives the appropriate care. Even though you have the best interests of your loved one in mind, the nursing home may not have the best interests of a loved one in mind. A nursing home may engage in neglect or abuse that causes direct harm to your loved one. When this happens, you may have legal recourse with the help of Iowa nursing home abuse lawyers. Abuse in Iowa nursing home is illegal and absolutely unacceptable. Nursing home abuse attorneys are here to stand by your side and assert your loved one’s legal rights in this difficult time.
Throughout the year, Medicare routinely surveys and inspects every nursing facility in Iowa and releases the publicly available information of surveys, investigations, and inspections. The federal agency states that 112 (25%) of the 443 nursing facilities in Iowa have been identified with serious deficiencies and violations. Medicare now ranked these homes below the national average because they provide substandard care to their residents. If your loved one was abused, mistreated or died prematurely due to neglect, we encourage you to contact the Iowa nursing home abuse & neglect attorneys at the Nursing Home Law Center at (800) 926-7565 to discuss your claim for compensation during a free case review.
Much attention has been given to the issue of nursing home abuse in Iowa, as indicated by the several statutes that concern it. The several statutes that currently set forth punishments and civil remedies for nursing home abuse are the Adult Abuse Act, Wanton Neglect or Nonsupport of a Dependent Adult Act, Department of Elder Affairs and Elder Abuse Initiative, Emergency Shelter and Support Services Projects. It is clear that the Iowa legislature regards nursing home abuse in a serious manner and will hold abusers accountable for their conduct under these statutes.
Under the Wrongful Neglect statute, a caretaker is deemed to neglect a nursing home resident when he or she knowingly acts in a way that injures the physical, mental or emotional health of a resident. This neglect is considered a serious misdemeanor under the statute. One who fails to provide support for a resident is guilty of a class D felony.
The Adult Abuse Act emphasizes the legal duty that individuals have to report incidents of nursing home abuse. Abuse entails a wide range of circumstances, including the withdrawal of health care or failing to acknowledge the wishes of a resident in light of his or her religious beliefs. A specific department has been designated to handle reports of adult abuse and will then investigate any reports after they are made. Individuals who work in a nursing home are under a legal obligation to report any incidents of abuse that they suspect exist, including a staff member, physician, psychologist, social worker or nursing home administrator.
If an adult has suffered from abuse and is at risk for suffering from additional abuse, then Iowa laws require that a peace officer must use all reasonable means necessary to prevent the adult from experiencing any further abuse. He or she may help to obtain alternative medical treatment for the dependent adult and will make the adult aware of his or her rights. He or she may also assist in the process of finding an alternative residence and support services for the adult.
If you believe that your loved one has suffered from abuse, then call an Iowa nursing home abuse lawyer today. Abuse in Iowa nursing home is intolerable, and it is important to end the abuse as soon as possible. Filing a lawsuit can help you and your loved one to find a sense of resolution after this type of tragic situation. You may feel a sense of uneasiness after discovering that your loved one has been abused in a nursing home. Instead of dwelling upon this feeling, taking legal action can be empowering to you and your loved one in this difficult time.
Iowa nursing home lawyers are available to meet with you in an initial consultation or speak with you over the phone. Take action so that you can proceed in securing the compensation that your loved one deserves as a result of the neglect or abuse that he or she has suffered. You should not be responsible for covering the cost of injuries that result from traumatic abuse or neglect. Our attorneys are here to help families and residents throughout the State of Iowa in such areas as:
Call today to learn more about your legal claim and whether filing a lawsuit is in your loved one’s best interest.
It is often a legally actionable offense any time negligence by nursing home staff results in a patient acquiring a bedsore while at the facility. This is because most bedsores (pressure sores; pressure ulcers; decubitus ulcers) are preventable or easily treated when in their early stage. Because of that, many families will hire an Iowa pressure sore lawyer to take appropriate legal action to improve the quality of life of their loved one while a resident in a nursing home.
If your loved one developed a bed sore at a Kansas nursing home or hospital you have legal options to recover compensation for their injuries. The Iowa bed sore attorneys at Nursing Home Law Center LLC are committed to providing you with the legal representation need to prosecute these cases to the fullest extent of Iowa law. We invite you to contact our office for a free review of your Iowa pressure sore case with an experienced attorney.
In most incidences, a pressure sore will develop because of poor health care decisions by the nursing staff. Other times, the bedsore is the result of a pervasive culture of neglect in nursing homes throughout the state, in an industry that often provides patient care by untrained employees. In many incidences, the staff lacks sufficient training, inattentive or too lazy to perform the simple step of “turning” or repositioning the patient every couple of hours to avoid developing a bedsore.
Most bedsores develop as a result of pressure being applied constantly to a specific area of the body which could include the head, neck, shoulders, tailbone, buttocks, heels, ankles and elbows. The pressure can be nothing more than where the body part comes in contact with the bed mattress, padded seat or pillow. The restricted blood flow limits the amount of oxygen to the area, causing the skin and underlying tissue to die or become permanently damaged
Without proper treatment, an early-stage bedsore can begin to ulcerate, creating a small crater in the skin. Eventually, the small crater can turn into a deep wound exposing muscle, bone and tendons, making the area very susceptible to infection. In many incidences, the acquired infection is difficult to manage properly, even with heavy doses of antibiotics.
As a result of the infection, many patients develop blood clots, contusions, fever, loss of muscle tone or gangrene when the antibiotics are ineffective. In some incidences, a small infection can escalate into sepsis (blood infection) or osteomyelitis (bone infection), which often leads to death, especially in elderly patients with a compromised immune system.
While many nursing home administrators tell family members that pressure sores are just a result of the aging process, nothing could be further from the truth. Typically, nursing home patients who are highly susceptible to developing pressure sores are those that are unable to readjust their body position on their own. However, when the nursing staff follows “turning” protocols and readjusts immobile patients every two hours or less, the development of a bedsore is greatly reduced. However, this simple protocol must be followed routinely because a bedsore can develop within hours.
There is no circumstance where a loved one should be mistreated or neglected while living in a nursing facility or hospital. There are legal steps that can be taken to hold those negligent accountable for their reckless or uncaring actions. The professionals below provide legal and medical remedies to ensure that the negligence of the nursing staff stops immediately.
In addition to reporting the neglect to appropriate state authorities, the attorneys can ensure that your loved one receives immediate medical attention by skilled professionals trained specifically to treat complex pressure sore at the bedside of the nursing home patient. The initial care and follow-up treatments can often reverse even the most debilitating decubitus ulcer within months. If you are looking for an attorney to assist with the investigation or prosecution of a nursing home abuse case involving bed sores or other injury visit the pages below:
Fill the contact form here to schedule a no obligation free initial consultation with the skilled legal professional. The nursing home negligence attorneys listed at Nursing Home Law Center LLC handle all Iowa pressure sore cases on contingency fee basis. This means the lawyers advance the family all costs involved in investigation, litigation, negotiation and taking the case to court when necessary. With your requested free evaluation of the case, your attorney can provide legal options and take all necessary steps to stop the negligence now.
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