Nursing Home Neglect/Abuse Attorneys Dallas
Was Your Family Member Abused in a Nursing Home? We Can Help Recover Damages
The abuse of the elderly, particularly in long-term assisted care and private facilities for the mentally impaired continues to be a serious problem in Texas. Often the elderly and mentally handicapped are treated in an appalling manner but the guilty parties go unpunished. The nursing home abuse attorneys with our Law Firm are committed to holding these offenders accountable. Nursing home abuse cases are challenging cases that require the attention of qualified legal counsel from our Nursing Home Neglect Attorneys to have any chance of success.
The traditional avenue of civil compensation is through an insurance company or, if that is unsuccessful, a civil lawsuit for medical malpractice. There are a few exceptions that commonly surround criminal behavior or possibly defective pharmaceutical lawsuits. But the great majority of civil actions in nursing and home and mental facility abuse or wrongful death is through malpractice.
The nursing home industry, by-and-large, is quite powerful because frankly, there’s money in assisted living, a lot of money for the owners of these facilities, and their investors. And because the long-term and assisted care industry has a lot of money, there are plenty of liability insurance companies and high-profile defense attorneys to help them put injured plaintiffs, or their surviving family members, in their place when they try to legally recover rightful damages when negligence leads to injury or death.
The purpose of this information page is to serve as a primer for the ins and outs of nursing home and mental care center abuse, how our Nursing Home Neglect Attorneys fight it, and how you, as injured or surviving plaintiffs, can be fairly compensated for your injuries if you are the one who has suffered negligent harm or is the surviving family members of a loved one who was needlessly killed at the hands of an assisted care employee, or due to the actions of such a facility’s administrators.
Common Forms of Nursing Home Abuse
Nursing home abuse comes in many forms. In some cases, the abuse is carried out to a criminal extent such as physical assault or willful starvation. In these events, the responsible parties may face criminal charges in addition to civil action being taken against them. In most instances, the abuse is some form of negligence such as:
- Neglect.
- Failure to provide proper or timely medication.
- Failure to examine patients for detrimental conditions such as bedsores.
- Failure to assist a patient to the restroom.
- Ignoring the valid requests for assistance from the patient.
The elderly and mentally impaired are often at the mercy of the medical staff who is supposed to look after them. Far too often the medical staff fails to provide the proper level of care and the patient suffers as a result.
Can I File a Wrongful Death Claim in Texas for an Elderly Relative’s Death?
In most Texas wrongful death claims, there are often large financial losses that the family members who have lost a loved one may have to incur.
But on the other hand, in the event of the wrongful death of an elderly loved one who was living in a nursing home (which are commonly referred to these days as “assisted living” or “elderly care” centers) or a mentally impaired relative in a mental hospital, the comparative financial losses incurred may be less severe. But that does not mean that a wrongful death lawsuit against a negligent caregiver cannot be pursued if negligence or some other civil tort was the cause. In such claims, damages sought are often for the emotional or mental stress experienced by the victim or the victim’s family. This and other physical pain and suffering can be compensated for through a wrongful death lawsuit in the event of an elderly family member’s wrongful, untimely death.
Calculating Damages in a Wrongful Death Case
When specific financial losses have occurred, calculating fair compensation is relatively straightforward since a specific dollar amount is tied to the damages incurred. However, in a wrongful death case, the plaintiff’s lawyer must be able to justify the surviving family members’ (the plaintiff’s) amount of damages sought. And since emotional or mental stress, as well as pain and suffering (all known as “non-economic damages”), can often be quite subjective and subject to a certain amount of interpretation, Almost universally, it takes the knowledge and assistance of an experienced Texas wrongful death lawyer like those with our Law Firm to place a clear value on these damages and help a plaintiff justify the actual value of the harm they, and their recently deceased elderly loved one, has experienced to a civil judge and jury.
It is certain that the defendants in any wrongful death or medical malpractice suit involving a senior citizen will be disputed by the defendants’ insurance company and the attorneys who represent them. They will doubtlessly try and paint a much more caring environment provided by their assisted care client than it actually is. Then they will ask for complete relief, or a much smaller damage payment than the plaintiffs are seeking.
But the courts do take physical pain and emotional stress into consideration when awarding compensation in regards to wrongful death, especially one that involves medical malpractice or elderly care. And they also may take into account the pain and suffering of the surviving family members as well. But it often requires the help of an experienced legal professional to ensure that a plaintiff is fairly compensated for their loss: either through fair negotiation or a civil trial should the latter be necessary.
And if that relative died in a mental treatment facility, it is possible that the relative may have been on the road to recovery; which means this loved one may have been released and again become a productive member of society. This means lost future earnings by this loved one may become a part of the wrongful death civil action against the treatment center.
We can tell you this, if you have a just case in which – upon investigation – proves negligence contributed to the injury or sad demise of your beloved family member at an assisted care center. Call us at 1-800-862-1260 (toll-free) to arrange a free legal consultation. We work on contingency and can apprise you of all your practical legal options. With experience in bringing cases against every major insurer in the state, and with a strong reputation among many defense attorneys, our Law Firm is well-positioned, highly-respected, and a firm that assisted care centers, their insurers and lawyers strongly wish to avoid.
We’ll use our reputation and experience to compel these defendants to give you the justice you deserve for your loved one’s injury or untimely passing. Your beloved relatives, grandparents or parents, elderly aunts or uncles lived rich lives. Don’t allow them to be victimized in their last days by negligent people who injured them or took them from you too-soon.
Call our Law Firm now at 1(800) 862-1260 (toll-free) or 972-278-9202 for a free consultation and find out how we can help you.
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6115 Owens #227 Dallas Texas 75235 1-800-862-1260