Nursing Home Abuse, Neglect, & Malpractice

A nursing home resident at high risk for falls sustained a hip fracture when she fell as a result of the nursing home medical staff failing to follow the appropriate fall prevention measures when assisting the patient to the bathroom. Rather than reporting the incident, the medical staff placed the patient back in her bed with a fractured right hip. The patient subsequently suffered a heart attack due to the trauma and died.

A patient at very high risk for pressure sores developed several pressure sores just days after being admitted to a nursing home. The nursing home’s medical staff failed to properly implement and follow the patient’s careplan for preventing pressure sores. The patient developed numerous complications as a result of the pressure sores, requiring a below knee amputation of his left leg, and eventually died. The case was settled before trial.

Nursing home staff allowed an elderly patient with a history of swallowing difficulties to eat a sandwich while unsupervised. The patient subsequently choked while eating the sandwich and was found unresponsive. SUGARMAN attorneys obtained a settlement on behalf of the nursing home resident’s family.

Wrongful death settlement against a nursing home for the family of an Alzheimer’s patient who was allowed to wander outside at night and died as a result.

Settlement against a nursing home for fracturing the resident’s femur during a catheter replacement in violation of the established Plan of Care. The resident required orthopedic surgery and suffered post-surgical decompensation and death.

Settlement for family of elderly patient whose C. Difficile illness went untreated for several days when the staff at her nursing home in Boston failed to review critical laboratory results and failed to transfer the patient to a hospital for immediate care. By the time the patient was transferred to a hospital, four days after her symptoms began, she was septic and she passed away shortly thereafter.

Almost every family has had to make the difficult decision of sending a loved one to a nursing home so that he or she can get needed around-the-clock care or recover from an injury or illness. We expect that the medical staff will treat our loved ones with the utmost care and provide them with the medical treatment and services they need. Just as with infant children and toddlers, the elderly require a higher degree of care and supervision than a typical patient in a hospital. Unfortunately, nursing home abuse and neglect does occur, leaving families to deal with the consequences of the improper care and treatment rendered to a loved one.