Arkansas Nursing Home Abuse Lawyer

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When your loved one has been the victim of negligence in Arkansas, it is essential to be proactive and get help as soon as possible.

Nursing home abuse attorneys can meet your needs and provide you with professional legal advice to represent your family in a negligence case.

An elder home can be held legally accountable for the poor care that they have given your family member. They can be sued in a personal injury lawsuit when they fail to meet their numerous obligations.

Attorneys for AR Nursing Home Neglect

Call the nursing home abuse and neglect attorneys at Nursing Home Law Center (800) 926-7565. We represent injured victims and surviving family members.

Contact us today to schedule a free initial consultation on the phone or at our office. Our law firm can help your family as it seeks justice for the harm that was done to your loved one. You can call us at the number above or fill out the contact form to schedule your free consultation

The Nursing Home Reform Act and state statutes currently govern nursing home negligence cases in the state.

There are a large number of laws that elder homes and long-term care facilities must follow, or else they are at risk of a civil lawsuit or a fine from the federal or state government. These laws govern practically every single aspect of an elder's life at their facility.

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Nursing Home Negligence and Elder Abuse

Information released from Medicare from reports, surveys, inspections, and investigations revealed 232 nursing homes in Arkansas.

Inspection data reveals that seventy-two (thirty-one percent) of all AR elder care homes were found to have severe violations and deficiencies that now rank these facilities below the national average due to substandard care.

Compared to other states in the country, Arkansas actually has a higher than average rate of underperforming and substandard nursing homes. These facilities risk their continued ability to participate in the Medicaid program, which is a large part of their revenues.

The Average Cost Per Day of a Nursing Home Stay

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services estimates the average cost of staying temporarily or permanently in a long-term care facility is approximately $225 per day ($6800 per month) for a semi-private room.

For $253 per day ($7700 per month), the resident could stay in a private room. However, there are additional costs at any level to pay for certified health aide assistance and adult daycare services.

For this kind of money, you would expect that an elder home would have adequate staff to care for your loved one.

arkansas nursing home negligence attorney

What is the Average Time a Person Lives In an Elder Care Home?

The National Care Planning Council estimates that caregiver patients stay in facilities for approximately five months on average. About sixty-five percent of all residents die within the first year after their admittance into the facility, and fifty percent die within six months.

According to statistics, males tend to die quicker than females living in nursing centers. Married residents tend to live longer than unmarried patients, and nearly a quarter of people living in the United States will die in an assisted care or nursing facility.

What Type of Abuse is The Hardest to Detect?

According to the National Institutes of Health, sexual and physical assault often leave apparent signs of abuse with bruising, cuts, and lacerations.

Alternatively, the signs and symptoms associated with emotional abuse are often less apparent when the victim faces threats, rejection, neglect, blaming, isolation, manipulation, degradation, punishing, fear, shame, humiliation, or guilt.

The victim often knows their emotional abuser, who intentionally neglects the resident's respectful boundaries. Many abusers are family members, friends, visitors, other residents, and caregivers.

These abusers often call the victim names, put them down, or cut off access to others (social isolation). Victims could also be financially abused through theft of their personal belongings, bank accounts, cash, or credit cards.

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5 Signs Of Nursing Home Abuse

The Department of Health and Human Services identify the five leading signs of abuse against vulnerable children and adults that include:
  • Physical abuse involving kicking, slapping, choking, physical restraint, and pinching
  • Sexual abuse involving non-consensual inappropriate sexual contact that might involve unwanted touching, sodomy, rape, sexual humiliation, sexual coercion, and sexually explicit photographing
  • Neglect caused by action or inaction that deprives vulnerable residents of a safe environment, or access to food, water, medications, health care, or clothing
  • Financial exploitation through the theft of the resident's credit cards, bank accounts, or personal belongings

What Are The Signs That Someone Has Been Abused?

Common signs that an individual in a nursing home has been physically (elder abuse), emotionally, or sexually abused is often revealed through:

  • Broken bones and fractures
  • Bruising, black eyes, rope marks, lacerations, and welts
  • Reports involving mistreatment, getting kicked, hit, or slapped,
  • Cuts, puncture wounds, unexplained injuries, and open bed sores
  • Unsanitary conditions
  • Emotional agitation
  • Signs of being withdrawn (non-responsive behaviors)
  • Nervousness or panic when around specific caregivers, residents, friends, family members, or visitors
  • Unsafe conditions including hazardous or dangerous environments
  • Insufficient medical care
  • Failing to follow the resident's Care Plan
  • Failing to administer the patient's prescribed drugs
  • Allowing the residents to elope or wander away from the facility
  • Abandonment

Families need to be vigilant to spot these signs because their loved one is often not able to say anything about what they have been experiencing.

In fact, most cases of nursing home abuse will go unreported because of the elder's lack of cognitive ability to speak about what is happening to them.

This is why you should always be on the lookout for signs of abuse whenever you see your loved one.

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A Little Rock Injury Nursing Home Attorney Can Help

Was your spouse, parent, grandparent, sibling, or child injured, or did they die prematurely while residing in an AR nursing facility?

If so, contact the Arkansas personal injury attorneys at Nursing Home Law Center at (800) 926-7565 for a free initial case consultation.

We can provide immediate legal representation and work with the facility's insurance company to ensure your family receives financial compensation for your damages.

You need to know about your loved one's rights as defined by federal and state law. If caregivers fail to protect these rights or violate them somehow, you might have a private cause of action against a facility in Little Rock ar.

The following list identifies nursing facility residents' rights that include:

  • Good care and safety
  • Optimal
  • medical care, free from malnutrition, dehydration, mistreatment,
  • physical abuse, neglect, sexual abuse, or other personal injuries
  • Live in clean premises
  • Be free from drugs that alter one's behavior for no medically related reason
  • Have a say in one's plan of care
  • Be free from involuntary seclusion
  • Privacy and access to confidential medical records
  • Maintain one's personal belongings in a nursing home without any interference

If nursing home professionals do not treat your loved one with the utmost care, respect, and dignity, you have a right to file a complaint on behalf of your loved one both in court and with the state regulator responsible for the nursing home.

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Signs of Injuries

You have three years from the date of the injury to file a compensation claim for any negligent injury. The state has a three-year Discovery Rule, and private causes of action for negligence or wrongful death must be filed within this period.

Physical signs of nursing home abuse include burns, abrasions, bruising, open wounds, infections, or scratches. Also, nursing home residents might show signs of exploitation or emotional abuse.

Withdrawn patients or those who show signs of sadness, high anxiety levels, or communicating feelings of isolation might be victims of emotional abuse harmed by a nursing home staff member.

Family members should also pay attention to subtle signs of abuse, including lost or stolen personal items, strange behaviors, frequent illness, heavy sedation, or an inability to express oneself around nursing home staff members.

Contact a Little Rock Nursing Home Lawyer Who Can Help You

Every nursing home professional has a legal obligation to deliver optimal care to elder home residents. Severe issues could arise when this obligation is not met.

Our elder abuse attorneys help families and residents throughout the state in all areas, including:

Do you suspect your injuries are the result of nursing home abuse,  neglect, or exploitation? If so, speak with a nursing home lawyer today. Long-term care facility law firms offer free consultations to discuss your situation.

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Nursing Center Abuse Injury FAQs

Here are questions that families of nursing home residents may often ask of an attorney. Of course, should you have additional questions, we welcome you to contact an affiliated nursing home abuse lawyer for a free consultation.

Can You Sue a Nursing Facility For Lack of Care?

Abused and neglected victims could file a civil lawsuit against the medical team or elderly care home if their negligent or reckless actions caused harm. In extreme cases, where the nursing staff caused a loved one's death, surviving family members could file a wrongful death case against all those involved.

The victim or surviving family members could seek compensation, including:

  • Hospitalization expenses
  • Medical care costs
  • Rehabilitation, physical and occupational therapies, and diagnostic expenses
  • Lost time away from work
  • Lost future earnings
  • Loss of consortium and companionship
  • Pain, suffering, mental anxiety, grieving, and emotional harm
  • Possible punitive damages if the nursing home's behavior was bad enough

An Arkansas nursing home abuse lawyer can help with examining the context of your case and determine the liability and potential damages. Complete the contact form for a free consultation.

How Do I Win a Case Against a Little Rock Nursing Home?

In order to be eligible for financial compensation from a skilled nursing facility, you would need to show that the nursing home was negligent in its care of your loved one.

This would mean that the long term care facility acted unreasonably in a way that a reasonable nursing home would not. Things such as physical abuse and neglect would make a nursing home legally responsible in legal law cases.
Here are some other examples of possible negligence:

  • The failure to properly supervise and prevent falls for your elder
  • Not ensuring that residents receive the proper hydration and nutrition
  • Your family member develops an infection because the elder home caregiver has failed to take care of your loved one's hygiene and other needs
  • Lack of appropriate medical care to diagnose and treat medical conditions
Can I Afford an Arkansas Nursing Home Abuse Lawyer for Nursing Home Neglect?

You will not need to pay any money upfront to hire a nursing home abuse lawyer. After you have a free consultation, our lawyers litigate nursing home abuse cases on a contingency basis.

This means that you do not pay us hourly and are not left with a large legal bill if, for some reason, your case is not successful. We are only paid if you are paid. Then, our compensation will come as a percentage of your financial recovery in your neglect case.

How Long Will My Nursing Home Abuse or Negligence Case Take?

A nursing home abuse lawsuit can take many years to resolve if your case goes all the way to a jury trial. However, many long term care facilities will try to manage their own legal risk by settling your case.

This could take some time off how long your case will take to finish. Our nursing home abuse lawyers can negotiate on your behalf with the defendant to secure you and your family financial compensation.

When Should I Visit an AR Nursing Home Abuse Lawyer?

As soon as you have a suspicion that your loved one is experiencing physical, sexual or financial abuse in a Little Rock nursing home or anywhere else in Arkansas, you should see a nursing home abuse lawyer.

arkansas nursing home abuse neglect lawyer

Arkansas Nursing Home Neglect Lawyers Serving Victims of Skin Breakdown, Bed Sores & Decubitus Ulcers

The medical staff at nursing homes must rotate bedridden and wheelchair-bound patients every two hours as a preventative measure against developing skin ulcers. Unfortunately, many nursing facilities are staffed with overworked nurses and nursing aides who cannot provide the time necessary to monitor every patient properly.

The Arkansas nursing home abuse attorneys at Nursing Home Law Center LLC are committed to holding negligent medical facilities, including Arkansas nursing homes and hospitals, fully accountable for their negligent care.

Our attorney affiliate network has experience prosecuting Little Rock bed sore lawsuits on behalf of individuals and families impacted by pressure sores. We can handle your case in every county of Arkansas.

Contact our personal injury lawyers for a free review of your bed sore case today. We can give you legal advice once we begin the attorney client relationship.

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Legal Resources for Arkansas Families

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