Eastern NC Nursing Home Negligence Attorneys

It is no secret that our population is aging. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, over 12 percent of Americans are now senior citizens.  The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that the average life expectancy is now 78 years. This encouraging statistic is tempered by the fact that many elderly people cannot be cared for at home. When parents and/or grandparents reach a certain point in their lives, their loved ones are often faced with difficult decisions about their care and may turn for answers to nursing homes, personal care facilities, retirement homes, or assisted living facilities.

While most facilities do an adequate job of providing care, there are numerous instances (and sometimes patterns) of a lapse in, or inadequate, and sometimes unsafe, care in these nursing homes. This negligence, dubbed nursing home abuse or elder abuse, is a serious problem. In North Carolina, there have been dozens of documented instances where nursing home neglect and mistakes led to severe personal injury and death.

• A frail 79-year-old man died from a subdural hematoma after falling when he tried to get out of bed without assistance.
• A woman in her 70s died from bowel impaction which went untreated despite numerous symptoms.
• An 86-year-old nursing home patient was inadvertently given the wrong medication for two weeks, causing liver failure and death.
• A male patient was left with severe injuries because of complications from untreated bedsores.
• A 98-year-old woman was left alone in her room with a new roommate who was known by the nursing home to be violent and who soon thereafter attacked and blinded the 98-year-old patient.

If you believe that your loved one has suffered an injury or a decline in their condition due to the negligent care provided by a nursing home, contact the nursing home abuse and neglect attorneys of Teague & Glover, to discuss the situation. Our attorney, Danny Glover, Jr., previously served as the elected Chair of the AutoTorts Section of the North Carolina Advocates for Justice and has for six years served on the Board of Governors and other various boards and committees of the North Carolina Advocates for Justice.

Although damages against nursing homes and assisted care facilities can be recovered under several legal theories, the most common theory is negligence. A nursing home and its owner can be held liable for negligence if it can be shown that the home breached its duty to provide adequate and reasonably safe care to the injured person, and that the person's injury was caused by this breach. The liability of a nursing home owner or employees can result from negligent personal supervision and care, negligent hiring and retention of staff, inadequately trained staff, an insufficient numbers of staff, negligent maintenance of the premises, and negligent selection or maintenance of equipment and other theories.

Nursing home abuse may manifest itself as a one-time occurrence (such as a fall or an attack) or as a pattern of ongoing neglect. Nursing home neglect can result in malnutrition, dehydration, blood clots and pressure sores. When those symptoms arise, it may be possible to show that the nursing home was negligent and breached its duty of care in not following commonly accepted medical practices. Examples of nursing home neglect include:

• Failure to administer proper medication.
• Failure to assist in personal hygiene.
• Failure to care for wounds and bedsores.
• Failure to provide a safe and clean environment.
• Failure to provide adequate medical care.
• Failure to provide adequate services and assistance for incontinent residents.
• Failure to provide proper nutrition.

Nursing home patients may not be able to communicate that they are being abused or they may be afraid to do so. Thus, people who have loved ones in nursing homes, personal care facilities, retirement homes, or assisted living facilities must be on the lookout for signs of abuse.  You should be concerned if a nursing home patient has:

• Unexplained bruises, cuts, burns, sprains, or fractures in various stages of healing.
• Bedsores or frozen joints.
• Unexplained venereal disease or genital infections.
• Been kept in an over-medicated state.
• Lost his/her possessions.
• Suddenly changed his or her banking practices.
• Abruptly changed his or her will or financial documents.

You should also be concerned if the staff refuses to allow visitors to see a resident or does not allow visitors to be alone with the resident.

If a nursing home receives federal funds through Medicare or Medicaid, they must follow certain federal laws that demand a high quality of care.  The federal laws require that such nursing homes:

• Have a sufficient staff of nurses.
• Assess a patient's functional capacity no more than 14 days after admission and no less than once every 12 months thereafter.
• Prevent the deterioration of a patient's ability to perform basic life functions such as bathing, dressing, grooming, eating and communicating.
• Ensure that patients receive proper treatment and assistive devices to maintain good vision and hearing.
• Maintain patients’ proper nutrition and hydration.
• Ensure that patients are free of significant medication errors.
• Care for the patient so as to maintain or enhance the patient's quality of life.
• Provide supervised medical care for each patient by a physician.
• Maintain proper clinical records in accordance with professional standards.

If you suspect that a nursing home has abused or neglected someone you love, please contact the nursing home negligence lawyers of Teague & Glover. We can be reached by phone at 252-335-0878 or contact us online. We will guide you through every step of the legal process. Since 1981, we have helped people throughout northeastern North Carolina, including Elizabeth City, Kitty Hawk, Nags Head, Corolla, Duck, Kill Devil Hills, Manteo, Hertford, Edenton, Camden, Currituck County and all of the Outer Banks with these and other types of injuries cases.