Nursing home abuse and neglect is an important issue. It can leave emotional, mental and physical scars on its victims. Unfortunately, the average time between government inspections of a facility and any fines or penalties imposed on that facility for violations and complaints has gone from six months in 2007 to four years in 2015. This delay allows a nursing home to continue to provide substandard care for a longer time before corrective actions are taken and fines and penalties are levied.
To win the case, you must prove that the nursing home owed a duty of care to the resident, breached that duty of care and the breach caused harm to the resident. As in any personal injury lawsuit, having strong evidence is critical if the court decides to award damages. Most injury cases are easy to prove because if the injuries resulted in medical treatment, there is an official record of the treatment and a history of the incident that is easily accessible and can be used as strong evidence. Other documentation that can be used as evidence to prove injury or abuse include:
