Florida has hundreds of licensed nursing homes and thousands of licensed assisted living facilities. Most of these facilities provide high-quality care to all their residents—but unfortunately, there are some which cause life-altering harm to far too many families.
Taking legal action over mistreatment of a nursing home resident may be complicated on both legal and emotional levels, which is why working closely with a qualified personal injury attorney could be especially important. With a compassionate Cocoa nursing home abuse lawyer on your side, you may have better chances of protecting your loved one from further harm and recovering compensation for injuries and losses they have already sustained.
Even for family members who check on loved ones in nursing homes or assisted living facilities regularly, it can be difficult to know for sure when abuse or neglect is occurring. Not every form of mistreatment inside a nursing home produces immediately obvious symptoms. Residents who are being mistreated may have difficulty communicating clearly or may not want to say anything because they are afraid the abuse could get worse.
Not every form of nursing home abuse or neglect warrants a civil lawsuit or criminal prosecution. Minor instances of misconduct by individual staff members or inadvertent neglect can be addressed by raising concerns with facility supervisors or administrators, or by seeking help from the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration.
That said, anyone who believes their family member may be in imminent danger of harm in their nursing home should take steps to quickly remove their family member from that facility and then consider their options for legal action. A Cocoa nursing home mistreatment attorney could provide more specific guidance about the best course of action for a particular situation, including the involvement of law enforcement if necessary.
Elderly people who receive around-the-clock, long-term care are especially vulnerable to suffering serious harm through abuse and neglect. Financial compensation can only do so much to make up for the immense physical and psychological trauma this misconduct can leave. Demanding civil restitution for economic and non-economic effects of nursing home mistreatment, like those listed below, is still key to stabilizing your family’s finances and minimizing long-term damage:
In cases involving egregious negligence or intentionally malicious conduct, a court may impose additional punitive damages against a nursing home facility and award them to people impacted by that facility’s misconduct. A nursing home abuse lawyer in Cocoa could further explain this type of compensation.
Learning someone you love is being abused or neglected is a traumatic and upsetting experience. When the people mistreating your family member are the same ones you were paying to provide them with considerate 24-hour care, there may be a lot of other emotions as well, not the least of which could be anger.
A Cocoa nursing home abuse lawyer could help you protect your loved one’s best interests, and minimize additional heartache and stress for your whole family. Call today to discuss your options.
The Umansky Law Firm Criminal Defense & Injury Attorneys
