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Caring for loved ones who are older and in poor health often requires more than many people can give. Nursing home facilities are meant to provide care when families cannot do so themselves. Unfortunately, nursing home abuse is rampant, and many people are badly hurt.
You should report nursing home abuse immediately and contact an attorney for help. Spotting the signs of abuse is not always easy, and people often hesitate to take action out of fear that they might be wrong. Look for changes in your loved one’s body and mind. New injuries, changes in health, irritability, and depression are just a few signs of possible abuse. You should speak with an attorney soon. As soon as you report the abuse, the nursing facility will take steps to shield itself from liability, and you need a lawyer to help you get justice. You should not hesitate, as you only have two years to file a civil claim in court. Furthermore, damages might be quite high, and we need to collect evidence before it is too late.
Talk to our nursing home abuse attorneys at Wruck Paupore and ask for a free initial case review by calling (219) 322-1166.
If you have discovered that your loved one is being abused in their nursing home facility, call the police immediately. It is often difficult to distinguish between intentional acts of abuse and accidental or unintentional neglect. Either way, criminal charges might be assessed against the person or people responsible, and the police will want to investigate. Our nursing home abuse lawyers can work with the police to hopefully uncover useful evidence.
You should also talk to your attorney about filing a complaint with other governmental agencies and authorities. For example, you can file a complaint with the Indiana Department of Health. More specifically, you can contact the Health Care Facility Complaint Program. Complaints may be filed anonymously, and the Department may investigate the nursing home.
You might also contact the Long Term Care (LTC) Ombudsman. The ombudsperson’s job is to advocate for the health and welfare of people living in long-term care facilities like nursing homes. If you suspect abuse or otherwise believe the nursing home is an unsafe environment for your loved one, the ombudsperson may take action on your behalf.
Call a lawyer immediately. Even if you are not sure what to do after uncovering evidence of abuse, call a lawyer. Your attorney can take stock of the overall situation while planning legal strategies to protect your loved one, hold the negligent nursing home accountable, and get fair compensation for you and your loved one.
One of the hardest parts of dealing with abusive nursing home facilities is spotting the signs of abuse. Abusers often take steps to cover up their offenses and eliminate evidence. Many victims often cannot speak up for themselves because of medical conditions or fear. Below are some signs of abuse for which to be on the lookout.
If you find new injuries without any explanation on your loved one, you should be very concerned. It is not unusual for nursing home residents to get a few injuries. They tend to be in less-than-ideal health and are more vulnerable to injuries from minor accidents. However, if you inquire about the injuries and cannot seem to get a good explanation for where they came from, you should consider filing a complaint.
You should also be concerned about your loved one’s deteriorating health. Abuse takes a major toll on victims, and their overall health may decline as a result. The decline might be slow or shockingly fast. Again, if you cannot get a reasonable explanation for the change in health, call a lawyer and report the abuse.
Another sign of abuse might be sudden weight gain or weight loss. In some cases, victims of abuse withdraw into themselves. They might stop eating as a result. It is also possible that abusive nursing home staff members are withholding food. Alternatively, your loved one’s appetite might change, and they suddenly gain weight. Either way, you should have them evaluated by a doctor.
Abuse also takes a major emotional and psychological toll on victims. As such, their moods and personalities might shift dramatically.
If you notice your family member is uncharacteristically irritably or angry all the time, ask them about how they have been treated in the nursing home. If they are able to tell you, they might reveal the abuse.
Similarly, you should be wary if your loved one seems to be depressed or feeling a lot of anxiety. These feelings are common in abuse victims. Again, have your family member checked out by a doctor if you notice serious changes in mood or personality.
It is best to get in contact with an attorney about potential nursing home abuse as soon as possible. The statute of limitations for injury claims, according to I.C. § 34-11-2-4(a)(1), gives plaintiffs only two years to file claims in court.
While this might be a tight limitations period, you and your lawyer must calculate it correctly. In cases of abuse, the limitations period usually runs from the most recent instance of abuse, not the first. This might give you more time than you initially thought.
If the limitations period has expired or will soon, talk to your lawyer about having the statute tolled. Tolling pauses the clock for a specific amount of time, but only for specific reasons. Tolling may be available for those with legal disabilities, according to § 34-11-6-1.
A legal disability might be a mental condition that hinders a person from understanding their rights. For those in nursing homes, this is a real possibility, and many residents live with cognitive and memory problems. You may have two years from removal of disability to file a claim.
Talk to our nursing home abuse attorneys at Wruck Paupore and ask for a free initial case review by calling (219) 322-1166.
Don is a founding partner and one of the nation’s top-ranked personal injury litigators. He is a member of the Multi-million Dollar Advocates Forum, which includes less than 1% of the nation’s trial lawyers, and awarded the highest ranking given by Martindale Hubbel and AVVO.
More importantly, Don understands representing personal injury victims is about more than recovering the best settlement: it’s about helping clients get back on their feet and supporting them in every aspect of their recovery.
In nearly all cases, our clients seek compensation from the wrongdoer’s insurance company. Before forming Wruck Paupore, Jason worked for a prominent law firm representing some of the world’s largest insurers. This experience gives Jason a deep understanding of the insurance industry and the strategies it uses to pay injury victims as little as possible.
Jason -- and our entire team -- put this inside knowledge to work to force insurance companies to pay what is actually owed. Often, we use the insurance company’s own tactics against them as we fight for the full compensation our client deserves.
For more than four decades, Keith has been fighting for injury victims. During that time, he’s watched the insurance industry change, with insurers now more interested in protecting their stock price than treating injury victims fairly.
Since the beginning, Keith has put people first. From his childhood in Gary, Indiana during the 1960’s and working his way through law school, Keith has risen to become one of the Midwest’s most respected trial lawyers. He has never forgotten that being a lawyer is about helping people -- and seeing injury victims through struggles in a way that could change their lives forever.
Over the decades, Keith, Don and Jason have fought relentlessly for clients, even when other lawyers have said the case was impossible to win.
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Wruck Paupore P.C.
Injury Lawyers
275 Joliet St. Suite #250
Dyer, IN 46311
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