Legal Updates from our Nursing Home Neglect Legal Team Trim

Tawanda: I'm Towanda Coleman

Tennessee has seen a large number of nursing home neglect cases and a common denominator is that nursing homes are understaffed.

Attorney Jim Higgins with The Higgins Firm is here to tell us more. Welcome, Jim.

Jim: Thank you.

Tawanda: So these nursing home neglect cases are growing. How can people protect their loved ones in nursing homes?

Jim: Well you know you got to be active and… and what we have seen lately.... Of course, we have an office that has an entire nursing home neglect division of lawyers, experts and staff that these are the only cases we handle and there's not many offices, if any, in the country that has a division like that. As such, we get a lot of a lot of cases and referrals from other lawyers who don't do this type of work and so we see trends. What we have been seeing recently in these cases that we have been settling and taking to trial... all the ones we are following as that we've noticed this trend of there's just been this common lack of basic care. People are dehydrated, not being fed, they have dramatic weight loss bed sores sepsis and that's just because during this pandemic there wasn’t enough staff in a lot of these homes to simply give these people their basic needs to make sure they are eating….that that human dignity type of care and so what it's shown us is if you want to prevent it you got to be active this home is putting profits over the residents and they're not hiring enough staff or good enough staff then then you got to supplement that care for your loved one it's sad but that's the state we're in.

Tawanda: So when should someone call your office?

Jim: Immediately. You know you don't pay anything unless we win. If you need a lawyer my firm will tell you so if you don't we can still point you in the right direction

Tawanda: Thank you so much Jim always great information for more information visit the higginsfirm.com

Jim: Thank you so much

The best way to keep nursing home residents safe is to make sure the nursing home has hired a sufficient number of care givers and trained them to make sure the residents stay clean, comfortable, active, well-nourished and hydrated. It really is not complicated. When a home decides to increase their profits by cutting the number of staff or not putting the time and money into properly training staff the residents immediately suffer. So how do you know if a nursing home is sufficiently staffed? Well there are a few ways. The first and most important way to visit the nursing care facility as often as you can. Look around. What do you see? Are the call lights being timely answered? Are the residents being feed? Does it smell clean? Get to know the other residents and their families so that each of you can check on the other’s loved ones when you are there.

In addition to your own observations go to the Medicare nursing home compare website. This site if full of valuable information. It can help confirm or deny any suspicions you may have about the quality of the facility. However, do not rely just open this website. It is never a substitute for your own observations.

Finally, get to know the staff and administration. Do not be afraid to ask them direct questions. What is their care giver to resident ratio? How many nurses do they have on staff? Do they have a different ratio at night? How can you help them make sure your loved one is treated with care, dignity and respect? 

If you have any questions about nursing home neglect and malpractice cases just give us a call.