Nursing Home Neglect and Elder Abuse Attorneys
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No fee if no recovery.

Was your loved one a victim of elder abuse or nursing home neglect? Before you hire a lawyer, consider this.

Nursing home litigation is one of the most complex areas of law. Any law firm that takes a nursing home neglect case must know a maze of Massachusetts and federal nursing home care laws and regulations. They have to know all the evidentiary issues backwards and forwards and need an in-depth understanding of medical and health related issues along with working relationships with competent medical experts. Health care liability claims also require an understanding of the nursing home budgetary process, medical technology, medical billing, nutrition and geriatrics.

Most patients in nursing homes are also dealing with multiple medical issues. Medical treatment is continuous and usually involves multiple medical providers and specialists, which creates mountains of medical records that contain complex medical concepts and terminology. Nursing home medical records are more detailed than other types of medical records and going through all these medical records is time consuming. An attorney cannot just dabble in nursing home abuse and neglect law.

We don’t dabble.  Our law firm has the resources, knowledge and experience to aggressively pursue claims involving elder abuse or neglect.  You can learn more about our successes, strategies, and how we may be able to help you by contacting us for your free legal consultation.

Up until about the 1930’s, families were the ones that cared for the elderly members of their family and charitable hospitals would care for people without resources or family. However, the nursing home industry expanded dramatically in the second half of the 1900’s as concerns over the quality of care led the government to enact laws and programs to offer better resources and services for the elderly starting with the Hill-Burton Hospital Construction Act, then the Medicare/Medicaid Act, and the Social Security Act Amendments of 1972 (incorporated standards for nursing facilities). All this led to the passage of the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1987 (OBRA).

OBRA fundamentally changed the way Nursing Homes were regulated by incorporating a framework for government oversight. It also provided guidelines nursing home facilities needed to implement and follow in order to receive payments from Medicare and Medicaid. All these laws led to the proliferation of large private for-profit nursing home chains.

These large chains, some of which are back by hedge funds and private equity firms, owned and operated over 65% of all the nursing facilities in the United States as of 2003. Nursing homes are big business in the United States. The problem is that bottom dollar thinking can lead to a decrease in quality of care. This in turn has led to an increase in cases of nursing home abuse and neglect.

The problem of nursing home abuse and neglect is likely to increase in the future as the baby boomer generation ages and comes to rely more and more on nursing home facilities. According to a 2004 report prepared by the United States Census Bureau the number of people ages 65 years and older will increase from 35 million in 2000 and 40 million in 2010 to over 53 million by 2020 and 70 million by 2030.

By 2030 people 65 years and older will make up 20% of the population in the United States. Everyday in the United States some 10,000 people celebrate their 65th birthday. As the population of people over 65 years of age increases so to does the demand for skilled nursing facilities.

A 2016 Congressional investigative report determined that 30% of the nations 17,000 nursing homes were cited for approximately 9,000 instances of elder abuse from 1999 to 2001. It is hard to imagine that 1 out of 3 nursing home facilities reported abuse. However, this report only dealt with REPORTED cases of elder abuse. Underreporting is a major problem however.

Elder abuse comes in many forms and can be difficult to detect. It is estimated that 4 out 5 cases of elder abuse go unreported each year. A troubling survey of nursing-home staff provides some insight on the extent of the elder abuse problem:

  • 36% nursing-home staff witnessed at least 1 incident of physical abuse over the last year;
  • 10% nursing-home staff committed at least 1 act of physical abuse towards an elderly patient;
  • 40% nursing-home staff admitted to psychologically abusing patients.

Elder Abuse and Nursing Home Neglect Practice Areas

It is important to work with a personal injury attorney to investigate the circumstances surrounding your loved one’s accident or wrongful death in order to determine if the nursing home has any liability.   To learn more about legal actions in cases involving nursing home neglect or abuse, contact our law offices today for a FREE legal consultation, where you can find out more information about whether or not the nursing home facility might be liable for compensation.  Our experienced team of personal injury lawyers can help evaluate the circumstances of an injury to help you determine if compensation might be available to you.

Elder and nursing home abuse and neglect comes in many forms.  The following are just some of the practice areas in which we can help victims of nursing home abuse and neglect:

Patient Abuse and Neglect

Patient Care & Wellbeing

Injuries and Accidents

Medical Concerns & Complications

Sores, Ulcers, Infections

Each day in the United States 10,000 people turn 65.  As our population ages, so does the burden on society to help properly care for our elderly.  New technologies and medical advancement help us to live longer — but that sometimes means living with health issues that must be carefully monitored as well as coping with physical and mental limitations.

The demand for quality care is high, but unfortunately, many nursing homes fall short of state and/or federal standards.  (See our special section on Nursing Home Ratings.)  However, nursing homes are held to strict care standards by the law — and you can help hold them accountable if your loved one suffered harm at a nursing home.

The following articles explain some of the ways in which residents may be harmed due to nursing home neglect and abuse, and the liability of nursing homes. Each injury and situation is unique so we invite you for contact us for a free legal consultation — there’s no obligation and no fee for the initial consultation.

Was Your Loved One Injured or Suffered Neglect at a Nursing Home or Care Center?

It is important to work with a personal injury attorney to investigate the circumstances surrounding your loved one’s accident or neglect situation to determine if the nursing home has any liability. If your loved one has suffered serious harm as the result of nursing home negligence, contact our law offices today for a consultation, where you can find out more information about whether or not the nursing home facility might be liable for compensation.

Our experienced team of personal injury lawyers can help evaluate the circumstances of an injury to help you determine if compensation might be available to you.

Did your loved one suffer harm or death as a result of elder abuse or nursing home neglect? Fight back!  Our lawyers can help you hold negligent or abusive caregivers accountable for their actions.

We offer a free, no-obligation legal consultation to help you understand your rights and the value of your case. Our personal injury law firm takes cases involving elder abuse and neglect. We offer legal service to clients in Massachusetts, Rhode Island and New Hampshire.

Massachusetts Elder Abuse and Nursing Home Neglect Personal Injury Attorneys, Free Consultation. No fee if no recovery.