When a nursing home breaks your trust and neglects your loved one, it’s important to hold the facility accountable. To do so, families need to learn how to prove nursing home negligence in Texas.
Victims’ families can do a lot in helping their attorney prove fault in a Texas nursing home negligence lawsuit. When you see visible signs of neglect, take photos. Report the abuse and get your loved one the medical attention they need. Next, remove them from the negligent facility. Once you hire an attorney, they will use all of this evidence to prove a nursing home’s negligence. Your lawyer will also prove fault by showing that a facility owed a victim a duty of care and breached it, causing damages to your loved one.
Our goal is to help nursing home negligence victims and their families hold irresponsible facilities accountable. For a free case evaluation with the Arlington personal injury lawyers at The Queenan Law Firm, P.C., call us today at (817) 476-1797.
How to Help Prove Your Texas Nursing Home Negligence Claim
Compiling evidence in a nursing home negligence case can be difficult. When seniors are under a nursing home’s care, they may not see their families regularly, making it harder for their loved ones to recognize signs of abuse. This can complicate things when it comes time to prove a nursing home negligence lawsuit in Texas. However, there are things families can do to help their loved ones and support their claim against a negligent nursing home.
Take Photos
If there are visible signs of nursing home neglect, take photos. Families can photograph visible bruises or bedsores that have been caused by nursing home neglect. If a resident’s room is in disarray or unclean, photograph that as well. Take pictures of any visible indicators pointing to a nursing home’s negligence. This can go a long way in helping your Houston personal injury lawyer prove a facility’s negligent actions.
Report Abuse
Because it can be difficult for some seniors, especially those living with Alzheimer’s or dementia, to report neglect themselves, that responsibility may fall to a resident’s family. If the situation escalates to an immediate emergency, call Texas police and other emergency personnel. Otherwise, file a formal report with your loved one’s nursing home, informing it of your concerns.
Families can also reach out to the facility’s ombudsman, the representative of residents’ interests. To further document your complaint, you can also file a report with your state’s Adult Protective Services agency. Having multiple reports on the record can greatly support your future claim against a negligent nursing home.
Seek Medical Attention
If a nursing home’s negligence has caused your loved one’s medical conditions to worsen, take them to a doctor. Nursing home neglect can occur in many forms, a notable one being the failure to give residents their prescribed medication. This can cause seniors to develop otherwise avoidable medical complications.
Other forms of nursing home negligence, such as failure to provide adequate food and water or give mobility-impaired residents walking devices, can lead to declining health and serious injuries. If a senior in your life has informed you of neglect, take them to a doctor immediately. These medical records can be invaluable during a Texas nursing home negligence lawsuit.
Change Facilities
Suppose you and your loved one have reported nursing home negligence to multiple agencies and intend to file a lawsuit against a facility. In that case, it is important to remove the victim from their current nursing home. The primary reason for this is to protect your loved one from negligent care. Additionally, it can hurt your claim if your loved one remains at a negligent facility. Families can work with our Dallas personal injury lawyers to find a suitable facility that will give their loved ones the care they deserve.
What’s Needed to Prove Nursing Home Negligence in Texas?
Once you and your Texas attorney compile the right evidence, they will begin to build a case. Our lawyers’ goal is to prove a nursing home’s negligence so that your family can recover compensatory damages and your loved one can begin to heal. To do that, your attorney must prove three things during a Texas nursing home negligence lawsuit.
To recover compensatory damages for the wrongs done to your loved one, a Texas nursing home negligence lawyer needs to prove three things. The following aspects are vital in any nursing home negligence lawsuit:
- The nursing home owed your loved one a duty of care
- The nursing home breached the owed duty of care
- The breach in duty of care caused damages to your loved one
In Texas, nursing homes must provide a safe environment for residents. There is a standard of care that staff and administration must uphold so that residents have a suitable quality of life.
If nursing home staff or administration acts negligently and endangers a resident or damages their health, they have breached the owed duty of care. Compiling evidence of this breach is crucial, so it is important to document nursing home negligence and believe a senior in your life when they confide in you.
After proving that the duty of care exists and that a nursing home breached it, our Fort Worth personal injury lawyers will show that your loved one sustained real damages. These damages can be economic or non-economic. For example, if a nursing home’s negligence caused your loved one physical injuries, they can recover compensatory damages for medical bills and other expenses. If a nursing home’s negligence reduces your loved one’s quality of life, they can recover non-economic damages for pain and suffering.
Call Our Texas Attorneys if Your Loved is a Nursing Home Negligence Victim
Nursing home negligence can be incredibly damaging for seniors and their families. For a free case evaluation with the Irving personal injury lawyers at The Queenan Law Firm, P.C., call us today at (817) 476-1797.