Nursing Home Negligence Attorney
Negligence may not involve intentional wrongdoing, but it can be just as harmful. Generally defined, negligence is a failure to act with reasonable caution or care. At a nursing home, elder care center, or assisted living facility, negligence can take on many forms:
- Failure to properly supervise elderly residents or patients, resulting in wandering or elopement
- Failure to provide adequate nutrition or water, resulting in dehydration or malnutrition
- Unsafe property grounds, resulting in falls or other accidents
- Negligent hiring practices, resulting in caregivers committing the abuse or other wrongs
- Improper wound care, resulting in infections or sepsis
- Overmedication and medication errors
- Improperly caring for patients with limited mobility, resulting in bed sores
Signs of Nursing Home Neglect
If you have an elderly loved one at a nursing home, stay in close contact and communication. Make frequent and unexpected visits and keep your eyes open for potential signs of neglect, such as weight loss, wandering, emotional withdrawal, or unexplained injuries. Ask your loved one how he or she is being treated. Look for signs of proper personal hygiene. Take a proactive approach, and if you notice anything, act. Call a South Carolina nursing home neglect attorney and improve conditions for your elderly loved one. Hold negligent parties accountable and secure financial compensation for medical care, emotional trauma, and other injuries or losses you may have experienced.
Malnutrition & Dehydration
One of the key parts of caring for an elderly patient at a nursing home is providing adequate food and water. Meals should be properly balanced, and vitamins or other supplements should be given if necessary. Residents that have trouble drinking and eating should be assisted as needed. If a facility or caregiver is negligent in caring for patients or intentionally withholds food or water, this can lead to dehydration or malnutrition. This can have serious or even deadly results.
South Carolina nursing home abuse attorney Jeff Morris has been working in this field of law and as the founder of the Morris Law Accident Injury Lawyers, he leads our firm to victory in complex cases involving neglect, negligence, and abuse at nursing homes and assisted living facilities. If you or someone you love has suffered from malnutrition or dehydration, we can help. We will take your case personally, fighting for the fair compensation you deserve. We're in this together.
As the loved one of a person in a nursing home, it is important to educate yourself on the signs of malnutrition and dehydration. This can help you identify these conditions and take action before it's too late.
The following are potential signs of malnutrition:
- Weight loss
- Fatigue
- Lethargy
- Loss of interest in food
- Poor concentration
- Difficulty with memory
- Mental fogginess
- Untreated, malnutrition can lead to pneumonia, anemia, immune system weakness, organ damage, mental impairment, and death.
The following are signs of dehydration:
- Excessive thirst
- Dark urine
- Chills
- Nausea
- Dry mouth
- Flushed skin
- Dry skin
- Feeling dizzy and lightheaded
Untreated, dehydration can lead to high body temperature, headache, grogginess, elevated heart rate, and death. Nursing home abuse should never be tolerated. Watch and listen so you can identify potential abuse. At Morris Law Accident Injury Lawyers, we have the resources and skill to face off against abusive caregivers and the facilities that hire them. We are here to stop abuse in its tracks. Put a South Carolina nursing home abuse attorney on your side and demand justice.
If you have noticed signs of improper care, call Morris Law Accident Injury Lawyers. With a South Carolina nursing home negligence lawyer on your side, you can hold the facility or caregiver responsible. Together, we can improve conditions at nursing homes. We can utilize the civil justice system to help you face a brighter future.
Medication Errors at Nursing Homes
Prescription medications save lives, but they can cause serious injuries or even death if they are improperly administered. Medication errors can be particularly harmful to residents of nursing homes and elder care centers. Each patient at such a facility may be taking multiple medications, and they must be taken at the appropriate time of day, with or without a meal, and with or without other medications to prevent adverse reactions or other issues. Nursing staff members must be particularly diligent about dispensing and administering medication to each patient.
The following are examples of medication errors that may happen at nursing homes:
- Administering an expired medication
- Overmedication
- Administering the wrong dose of medicine
- Splitting a pill or crushing a pill that is not supposed to be split or crushed
- Allowing a patient to swallow a sublingual medication
- Skipping a dose of medication
- Administering medication at the wrong time of day
- Administering the wrong medication
- Administering medications together, which react adversely to one another
- Failing to monitor a patient after administering medication
- Using the wrong technique to administer medication
Understaffing, inexperience, improper training, and poor supervision of nursing home staff may all contribute to medication errors. No matter the cause, you have the right to pursue justice if you or someone you love was harmed. Now is the time to involve an experienced South Carolina nursing home negligence attorney. Involve Morris Law Accident Injury Lawyers and put a trusted name in your corner. We can work together to make things right.
Improper Wound Care
If a patient at a nursing home is not cared for properly, he or she may develop certain types of wounds or may develop infections if wounds are improperly cared for. Improper wound care often results from negligence or even abusive conduct by elder caregivers. Any nursing home must have proper protocol in place for chronic wound care, including wound prevention and how to address infection or sepsis. Failures in this key area can lead to serious injuries and even death.
At Morris Law Accident Injury Lawyers, we are committed to holding nursing homes and elder caregivers accountable when they provide substandard care. Their negligence can have disastrous results for innocent patients, and we work to expose this and secure fair compensation for those they have wronged. Put South Carolina nursing home neglect lawyer Jeff Morris on your side - and experience the difference that our firm can make. We are here to set things right.
Infections & Sepsis: When an elder's wound is not properly cared for, it can become infected. In addition to causing severe discomfort, an infected wound can cause serious health problems. If an infected wound goes untreated, this can even lead to sepsis, caused by a bacterial infection of the blood. Sepsis is potentially deadly and difficult to treat.
The following may be signs that an elder's wound is infected:
- Fever
- Pus at the wound site
- Redness at the wound site
- Warm or swollen skin at the wound site
- Weakness or fatigue
- Confusion
- Foul odor coming from the wound site
The following are symptoms of sepsis:
- Fever and chills
- Rapid heart rate
- Excessive sweating
- Rapid breathing
- Slurred speech
- Mental confusion
- Feeling faint
- Loss of consciousness
- Shortness of breath
- Diarrhea, nausea, or vomiting
- Cold, clammy, and pale skin
Falls & Fractures
For an elderly person, a fall can be an extremely serious accident that leads to mobility issues and an overall reduced quality of life. Some can be left feeling fearful that they will fall again, which can in turn contribute to depression and isolation. Considering the physical and psychological consequences of falls, it is important to understand how they occur and what can be done to help a victim regain independence.
At Morris Law Accident Injury Lawyers, we represent patients and residents of nursing homes, elder care centers, and assisted living facilities across South Carolina nursing home neglect lawyer Jeff Morris offers experienced representation to elderly patients who have fallen and suffered fractures and other serious resulting injuries. He has decades of experience in this field and leads our firm with his commitment to the pursuit of civil justice.
If you or a loved one has fallen at a nursing home, call 1-843-232-0944. There are specific factors that contribute to falls and fractures in nursing homes and elder care centers. Some have to do with mental and physical ailments suffered by the elderly, and some have to do with unsafe property grounds or inadequate supervision. Investigating the cause of a fall is a key part of building a claim against a facility or caregiver.
Common causes of nursing home falls include:
- Muscle weakness, gait problems, and issues with balance or eyesight
- Environmental hazards, such as objects or equipment in walkways
- Unsafe property grounds, including poor lighting, wet floors, or missing railings
- Difficulty transferring from wheelchairs to beds, and back again
- Medications that affect the central nervous system
Morris Law Accident Injury Lawyers Defends Your Rights on Nursing Home Abuse Cases
When a loved one has been injured or abused in a home nursing facility, the nursing home company will fight tooth and nail to keep from paying an injured person what they deserve. Our Myrtle Beach nursing home abuse lawyers know their tactics and will fight hard for your right to recover the compensation you deserve. Call our Myrtle Beach location (843) 232-0944 for a free consultation to discuss your case.
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