Many families trust elder care facilities in Louisiana to take care of their loved ones when they are no longer able to care for themselves. The workers at these facilities have several responsibilities including:
- Monitoring the residents’ medications and medical treatments.
- Helping residents maintain proper hygiene.
- Making sure residents are properly fed.
- Ensuring that residents are safe and healthy.
When a nursing home worker or the nursing home itself breaches a duty owed to residents of the facility, and the resident suffers an injury as a result of this breach, the resident and their loved ones may be able to recover damages under the legal theory of negligence.
How can I prove negligence?
The key to any negligence claim is establishing that the other party breached a duty owed to you and caused you harm as a result of that breach. In cases involving nursing home negligence, the goal is to show that the nursing home and/or a nursing home employee failed to provide the appropriate level of care, and as a result, caused a resident to suffer injury. Common forms of nursing home negligence include:
- Failing to provide resident with appropriate medical treatment.
- Failing to bathe resident, change resident’s clothes, etc.
- Failing to provide resident with adequate food and water.
- Verbally or physically abusing the resident.
- Socially neglecting the resident by refusing to speak to them or isolating them.
- Failing to protect the resident from falling or failing to report falls and other accidents.
You may use several forms of evidence to establish nursing home negligence. Medical records showing the injuries suffered by the resident, testimony from the resident’s family members and nursing home staff members who witnessed the negligent acts, reports from inspections of the nursing home, and complaints filed regarding the treatment of the resident.