Nursing Home Neglect

Plaintiffs in South Carolina Nursing Home Negligence Suit Entitled to Review of Trial Court’s Bifurcation of Corporate Defendants Prior to Trial – Morrow v. Fundamental Long-Term Care Holdings, LLC

Published on: July 24, 2015 | by Patrick E. Knie

In injury litigation, sometimes there is but a single defendant – the driver of a car or the owner of a small business, perhaps. Other times, however, there are multiple defendants and multiple claims. A seemingly simple case can quickly get complex.

Defendants often resist being brought into a lawsuit and will avail themselves of every available opportunity to ask for a dismissal of the case against them. While a thorough accident attorney can spend countless hours researching a case so as not to omit a possible wrongdoer, it is ultimately up to the court to decide who stays and who goes.

Son sues nursing home after mother subjected to male dancer

Published on: April 22, 2014 | by Patrick E. Knie

A nursing home’s responsibility to provide appropriate care to residents goes beyond administering medications and protecting the residents from injuries. Nursing home abuse can take many forms, including verbal and psychological abuse.

Readers in South Carolina may have seen disturbing headlines about a woman’s experience at a nursing home in New York. According to reports, a male dancer was hired to perform in front of elderly residents, and now the family of an 86-year-old woman who suffers from dementia and Alzheimer’s disease is suing the facility.

Can a health care directive lead to accusations of neglect?

Published on: February 11, 2014 | by Patrick E. Knie

Imagine that you have a loved one who is currently living in an elderly care facility. Unable to care for themselves, they rely on the help from staff members to provide a certain standard of care. The nursing home staff then in turn relies on the health care directives provided to them by the patient or their health care proxy. This is done so as to avoid breaking any state laws. But what happens if these health care directives aren’t known or are not followed? Could it lead to accusations of patient neglect?

It’s possible for a family to think that a health care facility has failed to provide care for their loved one, especially when it comes to do not resuscitate orders. If the patient establishes a DNR without informing their loved ones, a death at the facility might be considered suspect and the family could accuse the facility of abuse or neglect as a result.

Are there enough regulations to keep assisted living homes safe?

Published on: November 22, 2013 | by Patrick E. Knie

As our loved ones age the topic of what to do about their care inevitably comes up in conversation. In-home care can be incredibly expensive and isn’t something many families can afford, while nursing homes consistently crop up in news reports telling of the unsafe conditions many facilities across the United States provide.

If a family is unable to care for their loved one themselves, this leaves assisted living homes as their only choice. But as some investigators are discovering, these facilities may not be as safe as people might think due to minimal state and federal regulations. And in a multimillion dollar industry that will only get bigger as more Baby Boomers age, this could mean an increase in wrongful deaths across the nation.