Fort Wayne Nursing Home Abuse Lawyers

As our parents, grandparents, or other older family members become more dependent on us for care, we might find ourselves overwhelmed. Caregiving is a full-time job, and many people are stretched thin as it is. Caring for an elderly parent or grandparent can be hard when you have your own family to take care of. When we cannot care for them ourselves, we trust nursing homes with our loved ones.

Nursing home staff are supposed to be taking care of our loved ones, but sometimes the exact opposite occurs. Nursing home abuse is frightfully common, and patients have suffered significant harm at the hands of staff members. From physical injuries to emotional trauma, nursing home abuse is a huge problem. You should always report suspected abuse to the Long-Term Care Division of the State Department of Health and contact an attorney for assistance.

If you believe your loved one has been the victim of nursing home abuse, call our nursing home abuse lawyers immediately at the offices of Wruck Paupore at (219) 322-1166 for a free legal review.

What Does Nursing Home Abuse Look Like in Fort Wayne?

Nursing home abuse may take many forms. People often think of abuse as physical, but there is more to abuse than just physical injuries. If you suspect your loved one is being abused, you must look for more than just signs of injuries.

Physical Abuse

While abuse may go beyond just physical injuries, they are often present in abuse cases. Injuries can be bruises, cuts, broken bones, and more. Older patients are often more susceptible to physical injuries. A minor injury for a young person could be very serious for a nursing home patient. While injuries may happen because of real accidents, every injury should be heavily scrutinized. If injuries continue to appear without explanation, call a lawyer right away and report the abuse.

Physical injuries are not always the result of intentional abuse or harm. In many cases, physical injuries come from long-term neglect. Common signs of neglect are weight loss from malnutrition, bedsores from being ignored by staff, or illness from unclean living conditions.

Mental and Emotional Abuse

Nursing home abuse also often involves emotional or mental trauma. People often understand that emotional abuse from a spouse or a parent is very traumatic and may take years to recover from. Unfortunately, nursing home abuse is often overlooked.

Even if an abuser never lays a hand on your loved one, they might say or do things to cause them emotional distress. This might involve purposefully discussing distressing topics to upset the victim. It might also involve things like name-calling, insults, and instilling feelings of fear and denigration in the victim. Emotional abuse tends to take a serious toll when it occurs over a long period of time. Many victims of nursing home abuse suffer years of emotional and verbal abuse before they find the courage to tell someone about it.

Abuse, no matter where it happens, is a traumatic experience. Look for personality changes. Is your loved one more withdrawn? Do they lash out with angry outbursts? Do they seem depressed? These may be signs of nursing home emotional abuse. Additionally, this kind of abuse can have long-term effects on your loved one’s mental health. Victims often feel trapped with their abusers because they are unable to leave the nursing home on their own.

Theft and Financial Exploitation

In many abuse cases, nursing home staff members steal from their patients. This is highly abusive because nursing home patients might not have the ability to report the thefts on their own or prevent the thefts from happening. Some cases involve the theft of small items that might be easily missed. Other cases involve more expensive items, like jewelry or even cash. Unfortunately, many people living in nursing homes have impaired cognitive abilities, and they might be easily swindled or duped out of larger sums of money. Family members often do not realize what has happened until they discover that their loved one’s finances have suddenly dried up.

If you notice personal belongings are missing when you visit your loved one, you might want to investigate the situation for abuse.

What to Do if You Discover Your Loved One Was Abused in a Fort Wayne Nursing Home

It can be very difficult to learn that your loved one has suffered abuse while living in a nursing home. Many families experience intense guilt after learning what their family members went through. If you find yourself in this position, your first step should be to call the police. Abuse in nursing homes may result in serious criminal charges for abusers, and the police will likely want to investigate. Not only can the police help us make the abuse stop, but they may uncover evidence we can use to support your civil case.

You should also contact an attorney. People sometimes hesitate to contact a lawyer, but the sooner an attorney can start preparing your case, the higher your odds of success. Your attorney can begin coordinating with law enforcement while they investigate the abuse, which can help you obtain valuable evidence. They may also direct you to other authorities who can help you, such as state agencies that oversee long-term care facilities.

Next, you must get your loved one out of the nursing home. This might mean moving them to a new nursing home or taking them home with you for the time being. This might pose a serious financial strain on your family, as caring for a relative who needs a nursing home is a lot to handle. Expenses you incur by moving your loved one may be included in your overall claim for damages.

Get your loved one evaluated by a doctor immediately. If you are unsure about any diagnosis or medical determinations made by the doctor, get a second opinion. Medical evaluations may be the most important evidence in your case, as they might prove whether abuse occurred and how it might have occurred.

How to Report Nursing Home Abuse to the Authorities in Fort Wayne

Once you realize that your loved one has been abused, you must act quickly to get them help and put a stop to the abuse. First, report the abuse to the police. Abuse is not accidental, and injuries may be severe. The person responsible for the abuse may be held criminally responsible in addition to civilly liable. As such, the police may investigate the abuse and find evidence we can use to support your claims.

After calling the police, call a lawyer. As you move your loved one out of the nursing home and into some other facility or possibly to your home, you might be incurring significant expenses. Your loved one likely needs costly medical attention, and private care might also be a necessity. These may be massive expenses, and a lawyer can help you build a civil case against the abuser and the nursing home so you can get these expenses paid for.

Other authorities might need to be contacted about the abuse. Nursing homes and other long-term care facilities are regulated by certain governmental agencies. For example, you can file a report about the abuse with the Indiana Department of Health. They may launch their own investigation into the nursing home to determine if abuse occurred and if other patients might also be experiencing abuse. The more authorities we have investigating the case, the more evidence we will likely find.

How Do I Prove a Nursing Home Abuse My Loved One in Fort Wayne?

Proving allegations of abuse requires proof and evidence. The type of evidence you need will vary based on the type of abuse your loved one suffered. Abuse can take many different forms and be perpetrated by any number of people. It is important to speak with our nursing home abuse attorneys before gathering evidence in your case.

For abuse resulting in physical injuries, you should immediately take your loved one to a doctor and get treatment. A doctor will be in the best position to evaluate the extent of your loved one’s injuries. Also, hospitals keep thorough records of patients’ medical care. By bringing your loved one to a doctor, you create a reliable record of their injuries and treatments.

Discuss your situation with the people in charge at your loved one’s nursing home. Nursing home managers do not usually like to admit when patients have been harmed while in their care. However, they also have a great interest in getting to the bottom of abuse. You might be able to work with nursing home managers and use evidence like security camera footage and testimony from other staff members to determine how the abuse occurred.

Is there any physical evidence that can be used to support your case? Can doctors determine if a particular item was used as a weapon to harm your loved one? Were any of your loved one’s belongings or medications found in the possession of a nursing home staff member? Talk to our nursing home abuse attorneys about your case. We can help you find evidence in places you might not expect it.

Damages for a Nursing Home Abuse Case in Fort Wayne

Nursing home abuse often leads to considerable damages. Unfortunately, these damages are experienced by your vulnerable and elderly loved one. Depending on how serious your loved one’s injuries are and how long the abuse was allowed to continue, your damages might be very extensive.

When nursing home abuse involves physical injuries, the medical bills to treat the victim can be very costly. In some cases, a nursing home patient is taken to a doctor and treated for mysterious injuries multiple times before abuse is detected. If this is the case, it may be possible to include previous medical bills you believe were incurred due to abuse.

Nursing home abuse often leads to severe pain and suffering, both mentally and physically. Nursing home patients are in very vulnerable positions, and they rely on staff to take care of them. Unfortunately, the people they rely on for care are also their abusers. Nursing home patients are often trapped with their abusers, as they cannot leave on their own. Persistent abuse and the sense of being trapped can lead to extreme pain and suffering for which your loved one deserves compensation.

You should also consider any loss of property as part of your damages calculations. Abusers sometimes steal personal belongings or medication from nursing home patients. If your loved one lost anything of value, like jewelry, watches, or expensive medication, you should include the value of lost property in your damages. Talk to our nursing home abuse attorneys about determining the extent of the damages in your case.

Wrongful Death Cases From Nursing Home Abuse in Fort Wayne

People who live in nursing homes often pass away while living there. Residents are usually older and may be in poor health, so death is somewhat common, albeit sad. As such, it is sometimes hard to determine whether a nursing home resident passed away from natural causes in the nursing home or if abuse played a role in their passing. The nursing home will very likely claim that your loved one passed from natural causes. If you suspect abuse, the nursing home is unlikely to be forthcoming with details. As such, a lawyer can help you investigate.

If you believe your loved one passed away under suspicious circumstances, have their remains evaluated. This might be a very hard subject to broach with your family, but it might be a necessary step in your legal case. You may be able to push for a medical exam or autopsy, which might tell us how your loved one passed away.

In some cases, families discover that their loved ones had injuries prior to their passing that were never reported. Others discover that the cause of death is not what the nursing home told them. The resulting medical reports might be incredibly powerful pieces of evidence, especially if they directly contradict what the nursing home told you and your family about your loved one’s passing.

If your loved one was abused before they passed away in a nursing home, we can help you sue the nursing home for wrongful death under I.C. § 34-26-1-1. Not only can you claim many of the same damages mentioned above in a survival action, but your wrongful death claim may involve damages you and your family experience as a result of losing your loved one.

Call Our Fort Wayne Nursing Home Abuse Lawyers

Our nursing home abuse lawyers can help you get your loved one to safety and file a report about the abuse. Call the offices of Wruck Paupore at (219) 322-1166 for a free case assessment.