Nursing home neglect across the country has led to hundreds of deaths during the pandemic. Losing a loved one to nursing home neglect can be one of the hardest things to go through. Strong feelings can make moving on challenging, especially when the nursing home tries to cover up what happened. A New York City nursing home negligence lawyer can help you seek significant compensation for your loss.

Consequences of Nursing Home Neglect

Nursing home neglect impacts nursing home residents in a variety of ways. Some of the most commonly reported effects of nursing home neglect are:

• Dehydration
  
• Infected bedsores
• Severe weight loss
• Poor hygiene
• Abusive use of medications

Neglect involves a failure to care for the needs of someone else who is dependent on someone for those needs. There are a variety of reasons for this like stress, being too busy, and forgetfulness. Nurses who fail to keep up with nursing home residents can end up starving residents and missing signs of infected bedsores.

Some nursing home staff members have over-prescribed or abused their power to prescribe medications. Stress from the job can tempt staff into administering sedative-related medications to residents when these medications are unnecessary. This can lead to residents who are constantly under the influence of strong medications.

In combination, these effects can drain the physical and mental health of neglected nursing home residents. The most severe outcome is death. When nurses have no time to pay attention to signs of dehydration, malnutrition, or infection, nursing home residents often end up passing away.

The pandemic introduced a new problem into this mix, the coronavirus. This can add more stress and less time to care for each resident. As a result, nursing home staff may miss signs of the virus and fail to take appropriate steps.

How to Sue for Nursing Home Neglect

Suing for nursing home neglect requires knowing what counts as neglect. Nursing home neglect happens when a staff member fails to or refuses to care for the needs of a resident. These needs must be life necessities like:

• Food and water
• Hygiene
• Medicine
• Safety
• Shelter
• Clothing

Nursing home staff who fail to provide these necessities could be sued for negligence. However, you must also prove the harm or damages that came from this. Damages may include:

• Pain and suffering
• Physical injuries
• Infections
• Worsening of symptoms
• Emotional distress

Lastly, you must prove causation, the connection between the negligent actions and harm your loved one suffered. This can be difficult to do alone. Try contacting a New York City nursing home negligence lawyer to navigate through this tricky legal situation.

New York City Nursing Home Negligence Lawyer

Finding out your loved one has been neglected can be difficult. Call the Sullivan and Brill Law Firm today at (212) 566-1000 to speak with a New York medical malpractice attorney for a free consultation. Our New York City lawyers can help you seek compensation for damages related to nursing home neglect. We are located in New York City, Long Island, Kings, Bronx, Queens, Richmond, Nassau, Suffolk, Westchester, and Rockland Counties, and San Juan, Puerto Rico.