Approximately 5% of U.S. seniors live in nursing homes. In addition, people recovering from injury and those with disabilities live in nursing homes. Millions of people depend on care facilities to provide both a safe home and medical care.
When abuse or neglect occurs in a nursing home, the facility may have liability.
Our experienced Greenville nursing home abuse lawyer at Bobby Jones Law explains nursing home abuse liability in South Carolina.
What Makes a Nursing Home Liable for a Resident’s Injury or Death?
Nursing homes have a legal duty to care for their residents and must provide adequate care.
If this legal standard sounds vague, you’re right. It’s meant to be a flexible standard because what’s reasonable depends on the circumstances.
Reasonable care
The standard the nursing home must meet is reasonable care. Residents have the right to expect medical and personal care that is reasonable. To avoid liability, the nursing home must do the bare minimum or better.
A nursing home must:
- Meet the daily needs of residents to provide food, water, and other necessities
- Provide medical care or access to healthcare
- Maintain a clean facility, free of hazards and infection
- Identify and remedy dangerous conditions
- Care for the special needs of residents, both personally and medically
If the nursing home doesn’t meet standards of adequate care, it may be liable for harm that occurs.
Negligence
Another name for failing to provide reasonable care is negligence. Negligence can be an affirmative act, or doing something that is not reasonable under the circumstances. Negligence can also be a failure to act when it would be reasonable to do something.
A claim can also be based on recklessness or intentional misconduct. It may be based on the facility failing to respond to incidents to prevent additional harm.
Cause of harm
The nursing home acting negligently is one part of the liability. In addition, the negligent act must be the cause of harm. Even if negligence occurs, if no one gets hurt, there is no nursing home liability. The nursing home’s fault must be the cause of harm to the victim, bringing the case.
Types of Abuse and Neglect That Lead to Legal Claims
Examples of abuse and neglect that can lead to nursing home liability are varied.
- Poor overall hygiene and lack of sanitation, which can result in the spread of infection
- Infrequent changes of bedding and clothing, including regular changes and circumstances where linens are soiled
- Delaying medical care and treatment, not responding quickly to emergencies
- Inadequate fall protection, such as broken or missing handrails, slippery flooring, and failure to provide individual mobility support
- Not checking on residents enough or helping immobile residents reposition, resulting in bedsores and overall health decline
- Inadequate staffing
- Elopement, resident wandering away
- Hiring unqualified staff, retention of poorly performing staff
- Carelessness in providing medication, leading to errors like the wrong dose or medication being given to the wrong patient
- Assault and battery, intentionally harming a resident, verbal abuse
- Failing to respond appropriately when residents act dangerously toward others
Harm to a resident in a nursing home may be the result of something common, such as bedsores or medical malpractice. Liability can also be based on harm that is unusual or uncommon if the nursing home fails to meet standards of reasonable care.
Who Can Be Held Responsible: Staff, Owners, or Contractors?
There may be multiple parties with nursing home abuse liability. Claiming compensation requires evaluating who owns the nursing home, the contractors involved, and when individuals may be personally liable. Claims are often resolved through nursing home liability insurance.
There may be several contractors who provide services for the nursing home. For example, one contractor may handle maintenance, another medical care, and another the food service. The company or organization that owns the nursing home may be liable for failing to check the contractor’s qualifications and performance. They may be liable for not doing enough in response to previous complaints.
In addition, a contractor has a legal responsibility to exercise reasonable care in the services they provide to the nursing home. This duty can make them liable for negligence or other misconduct that results in harm to a resident.
Someone who works at a nursing home may be personally liable for abuse. Nursing homes are generally liable for the actions of their employees, but gross negligence or intentional harm may result in personal liability for the worker. It may be beneficial to investigate insurance and sources of compensation when considering personal liability for nursing home negligence.
The Role of State and Federal Nursing Home Regulations
South Carolina nursing homes must comply with state and federal regulations. These regulations cover many aspects of operations.
Standards cover:
- Medical staff and training
- Accident and incident reporting
- Resident records, resident care plans
- Use of restraints
- Patient transportation
- Medication storage
- Patient rights
- Food storage, food service
- Fire prevention
- Clean and soiled linens
- Facility construction and design
- Lighting, maintenance
- Bathrooms and common areas
- Other topics
Regulations can be informative of the standard of care. Nursing homes should comply with licensing regulations, at a minimum.
Even if no regulation was broken, there may still be nursing home abuse liability.
How To Prove Negligence in a South Carolina Nursing Home
To prove negligence in a South Carolina nursing home, you must prove what happened and how it was negligent. You must detail the facts of what caused the person to be hurt and explain the standard of care and how the nursing home or other parties have liability.
Nursing home liability is usually proven by a combination of fact witnesses, experts, reports, tests, photographs, and other evidence. There are important steps to take to compile this evidence and present it at trial. An attorney can help you investigate and prove your case.
Contact an Experienced Greenville Nursing Home Abuse Lawyer
You or a loved one may deserve compensation for nursing home abuse. Contact an experienced Greenville nursing home abuse lawyer at Bobby Jones Law today to talk about your case.
