Nursing home abuse claims are on the rise in the United States due to a variety of factors, including staffing shortages, caregiver burnout, and medical malpractices. When abuse or neglect occurs, it is imperative that we hold nursing homes accountable.
Rosenfeld Injury Lawyers can help your family navigate the legal process after nursing home abuse or negligence. Read on to learn more about the signs to look for, how to report abuse, the standards that nursing homes must maintain, and how to file a claim for compensation with the help of a Louisville nursing home abuse attorney.
What to Do If You Suspect Nursing Home Neglect or Abuse in Louisville, Kentucky
Nursing homes have an obligation to provide quality care for residents. However, not all of them do. If you suspect that your loved one might be the victim of nursing home abuse or negligence, it’s important to take prompt action.
Start by learning more about the signs of nursing home abuse. This way, you’ll know what to look for when you go to report the abuse. Document any of your concerns in writing and take photos, if possible. If you do see signs of abuse, you should report it.
Next, be sure to set up a free consultation with a Louisville nursing home abuse lawyer to discuss your legal options. In many cases, you will be able to file a civil lawsuit against the responsible party to recover compensation.
Common Signs of Abuse and Negligence in Nursing Facilities in Louisville
Not all types of nursing home abuse are obvious. Here are some common signs of abuse and negligence to be aware of in nursing homes:
- Unexpected bruises or injuries indicative of physical abuse
- Poor hygiene could indicate neglect
- Sudden fearfulness or avoidance could be a sign of emotional abuse
- Lost money or personal items of value can show financial abuse
- Diagnosis of a new STD or STI could indicate sexual abuse
Reporting Nursing Home Abuse in Louisville, KY
To protect nursing home residents from abuse, it is important to report any reasonable suspicion of nursing home abuse to the appropriate authorities.
You can call Kentucky’s Adult Protective Services by calling 1-877-597-2331 [1]. You can file an anonymous report in writing or over the phone. In addition to filing a report of abuse, neglect, or exploitation, Adult Protective Services also offers resources to seniors and their families that can help.
The Office of the Inspector General oversees the licensing of nursing homes in Kentucky. You can file a complaint against a nursing home by calling (502) 564-7963 [2].
You can also file a complaint with the Kentucky Attorney General by calling (502) 696-5389 [3]. In addition to calling, you can also mail or fax your complaint to the Attorney General’s Office.
The Nursing Home Ombudsman Agency of the Bluegrass is available for formal complaints and concerns, even from friends of nursing home abuse victims [4]. You can email nhoa@ombuddy.org or call (859) 277-9215 to reach your local ombudsman to discuss your concerns about elder abuse.
If you are concerned that your loved one is in immediate or life-threatening danger or if you found out about their sexual assault, contact the Louisville Metro Police Department directly by dialing 9-1-1. The police department can gather DNA evidence that could be lost in a sexual abuse case if not urgently addressed.
When to Hire a Louisville Nursing Home Lawyer
Hiring an experienced attorney earlier in the process can make a big difference in collecting evidence and getting a timely resolution for your case against an assisted living facility or nursing home.
The more time that passes, the more likely it is that critical evidence will be lost or destroyed. Even if you are early in the process of building a case against a nursing home, it can be a smart idea to set up a free case evaluation with a nursing home abuse attorney from our team as soon as possible.
Who Is Legally Liable for Nursing Home Abuse and Neglect in Louisville, KY?
There can be several negligent parties that Kentucky nursing home abuse lawyers can prove liable when it comes to nursing home abuse. In most cases, staff members working in the nursing home are held liable for their behavior and actions. If a nursing home staff member hurts your loved one, you can sue them directly.
Doctors and nurses can also be held liable if they fail to provide adequate medical care and a resident’s medical condition deteriorates as a result of this negligence. If another nursing home resident hurts your loved one through abusive behavior, you can take legal action against the other residents responsible for hurting them.
How Long Do I Have to File a Nursing Home Abuse Claim in Louisville?
Nursing home abuse cases fall into different areas of law that have varying statutes of limitations in Kentucky. The statute of limitations for medical malpractice and personal injury cases in Kentucky is just one year from the date of injury or loss [5].
However, if your case is about the financial exploitation of a loved one after staff stole items, you may have up to two years to recover the personal property. [6].
For wrongful death cases, you generally have a one-year statute of limitation to comply with [7]. This starts on the date of death. There is an exception to this called the discovery rule. If you didn’t know that someone else’s actions or negligence caused the death, you have one year to file the claim after that discovery.
What Damages Can Be Recovered in a Nursing Home Abuse Lawsuit in Louisville?
There are various factors that influence what types of damages can be recovered in a nursing home abuse case. In most cases, loved ones can seek compensation to provide proper medical care, property damage, and other financial losses. This type of compensation is referred to as economic damages.
However, with nursing home abuse, it is also possible to request non-economic damages. Non-economic damages are subjective and often include valuations based on pain and suffering, emotional trauma, and psychological abuse.
A skilled attorney may also be able to request punitive damages against the nursing home or staff member. If a judge awards punitive damages because of the severity of the abuse or other aggravating factors, this could potentially help protect residents still living at the nursing home from further abuse.
How to Prove Nursing Home Abuse or Neglect in Louisville
Fortunately, it is not up to family members on their own to prove nursing home abuse or neglect. When you work with our law firm, we will take the lead in gathering the evidence that you’ll need to support your case. This includes medical records, eyewitness testimony, surveillance videos, photographs, and written logs.
Louisville Nursing Home Abuse Statistics and Facts
It is a dangerous time to live in nursing home facilities in Louisville due to Kentucky’s inspector shortage. 83% of inspector jobs in Kentucky are vacant, leaving the entire state with a severe lack of inspectors to visit nursing homes [8]. As a result, Kentucky hasn’t performed all of its required regular surveys since before spring 2020.
When inspectors from the Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services investigated one Louisville nursing home, they found rodents, poor living conditions, and a very poor standard of care [9]. An employee punched a resident in the groin after family members requested the employee stay away from their loved one because of prior instances of harassment. The same facility faced a wrongful death lawsuit after allegedly starving a patient to the point of emaciation.
1987’s Nursing Home Reform Act created the Special Focus Facility (SFF) program to better monitor some of the nation’s poorest quality nursing homes. It includes the 88 nursing home facilities with the worst inspection scores. Six Kentucky nursing homes are candidates, including two Louisville area facilities [10].
When the Department of Justice ordered two nursing homes in Louisville to pay $1,026,409 in civil penalties for non-compliance to Medicare standards, the nursing homes agreed to close instead [11].
The nursing homes faced numerous issues, including rodent infestations, lack of staff supervision, overflowing trash cans full of soiled adult briefs, hiring employees with criminal backgrounds, not sanitizing glucometers between residents, and abuse.
At one of the nursing homes, a resident died of hypothermia after being left on the floor in an unheated room covered in her own urine and feces.
Which Standards Do Nursing Homes Have to Meet in Louisville?
Nursing homes that operate as Medicare and Medicaid-certified facilities in Louisville must meet more than 100 standards when it comes to health and safety [12]. However, there are other state-specific standards that nursing homes must follow [13], including:
- Maintaining adequate staffing levels for the number of residents in case
- Nurses and LPNs must be available 24-hours a day for overnight nursing needs
- Having access to a licensed pharmacist as a staff member or a consultant
- Employees must undergo a thorough orientation and in-service training process
Which Agencies Regulate Louisville Nursing Homes?
There are a number of agencies that take some role in regulating nursing homes in Louisville, such as:
- Kentucky Office of Inspector General [14]
- Commonwealth of Kentucky Attorney General [15]
- Kentucky Division of Health Care [16]
- Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services [17]
How Often Are Louisville Area Nursing Homes Inspected?
The nursing homes in Louisville are supposed to undergo an unannounced inspection at least annually [18]. Federal law mandates that nursing homes that are Medicaid or Medicare-certified must be inspected every nine to 15 months [19].
However, Kentucky has not been meeting this standard for a number of years. 73% of the 277 nursing homes in the state of gone more than two years without an annual inspection [20].
Since penalties are rarely seen for not complying with these inspection standards, most of the inspections conducted on Louisville nursing homes are based on complaints from residents, family members, friends, and staff.
Contact a Louisville Nursing Home Abuse Attorney Today!
If your family member did not receive quality care from a nursing home facility, it is possible to claim financial compensation for emotional distress and for medical expenses related to physical abuse, sexual abuse, and neglect.
Contact the nursing home abuse lawyers at Rosenfeld Injury Lawyers for a free consultation by filling out our contact form or calling our law office toll-free at (888) 424-5757.
Someone from our team is available 24/7. We have helped many others receive the fair compensation that they deserve as a result of the physical injuries, emotional harm, and medical complications that stem from nursing home negligence or abuse.
Resources: [1] DCBS, [2] CMS, [3] Kentucky Attorney General, [4] NHOA, [5] § 413.140, [6] § 413.125, [7] § 413.140, [8] U.S. Senate, [9] Lexington Herald Leader, [10] Spectrum News 1, [11] DOJ, [12] CMS, [13] Kentucky General Assembly, [14] Office of Inspector General, [15] Kentucky Attorney General, [16] Cabinet for Health and Family Services, [17] CMS, [18] OIG Division of Health Care, [19] CMS, [20] Lexington Herald Leader