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Camden County Nursing Home Abuse Lawyers
Serving people who have suffered abuse in long-term care facilities in South Jersey
Our parents, aunts, uncles, and senior friends deserve to be treated with respect when they live in any type of long-term care facility or skilled nursing facility. Sadly, many seniors are abused – physically, emotionally, sexually, and financially. At Ferrara & Gable, we hold nursing homes accountable when their staff members or anyone with access to the nursing home abuses a senior or anyone with a disability – or when the nursing home is negligent.
Our Camden County nursing home lawyers are skilled at showing a nursing home violated your loved one’s rights or failed to follow acceptable nursing home standards. We demand compensation for all your loved one’s injuries, including medical bills, pain and suffering, and loss of dignity and respect. Call us today to discuss how we fight for nursing home abuse and neglect victims.
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How can we help?
- What is nursing home abuse and neglect?
- What types of nursing home abuse and neglect claims do you handle in Camden County?
- What are the signs of nursing home abuse or neglect?
- What laws protect seniors who live in Camden County nursing homes?
- Do you have a Camden County nursing home abuse and neglect attorney near me?
What is nursing home abuse and neglect?
Nursing home abuse and neglect both cause harm to residents.
Nursing home abuse generally involves intentional misconduct. Nursing home abuse often involves a staff member, another resident, or anyone with access to the facility who takes advantage of a resident’s infirmities. These infirmities include age, physical difficulties, cognitive difficulties such as dementia or Alzheimer's, loneliness, and emotional challenges. Nursing homes and other long-term care facilities are generally liable for abuse because they are the employer of someone who commits abuse and/or they failed to take steps to prevent the abuse.
Nursing home neglect generally involves failing to establish safety protocols, respond to known problems, and provide timely competent medical care. Nursing home neglect can include failing to provide basic needs such as water, food, medications, and mobility assistance. Nursing home abuse can also include faulty design of the premises, like failing to provide secure railings and guard rails for the residents to hold onto.
If you suspect your loved one is being abused or has been the victim of neglect, our office can help.
What types of nursing home abuse and neglect claims do you handle in Camden County?
According to the National Institutes of Health, elder abuse (the most common type of nursing home abuse) includes:
- Physical abuse. This type of abuse includes physical harm such as slapping, pushing, striking, or hitting a resident. Physical abuse can also include the use of physical and chemical restraints to control a resident.
- Emotional abuse. This form of abuse includes threatening, yelling at, intimidating, or ignoring a resident. A dangerous form of emotional abuse is isolating a resident from their relatives and friends.
- Sexual abuse. Sadly, many seniors and disabled residents are sexually abused – sometimes by staff members and sometimes by other residents (especially residents with dementia). Sexual abuse involves forcing someone to participate in or watch sexual acts.
- Neglect. As discussed above, nursing home neglect includes failing to tend to a resident’s physical, emotional, social, and medical needs. Nursing home abuse can also include abandoning a resident (leaving the resident alone without supervision) and financially abusing a resident (stealing Social Security checks, using credit cards, forging checks, and other unauthorized financial transactions).
Many acts of abuse in Camden County nursing homes involve residents with dementia. Nursing homes should be prepared to protect residents who have cognitive challenges from any type of abuse or neglect.
What are the signs of nursing home abuse or neglect?
Our Camden County nursing home abuse lawyers are skilled at identifying the signs of nursing home abuse. Common signs, according to the NIH, include any signs of:
- Physical abuse. These include bruises, burns, scars, pressure marks, and bleeding. Other physical abuse signs include bedsores, infections, dehydration, malnutrition, poor hygiene, nonuse of dentures and hearing aids, falls that can’t be explained, and weight loss.
- Financial abuse. Examples include unpaid bills, unusual charges, unexpected financial losses, powers of attorney in non-relatives, and forged signatures.
- Emotional abuse. Signs include isolation, withdrawal, and nonparticipation in nursing home activities and events. Other signs of emotional abuse include rocking back and forth, agitation, depression, fear of other people, complaints of mistreatment, and sleep difficulties.
Other signs of nursing home abuse or neglect that may justify a legal claim include:
- Failing to respect any federal, state, or contractual right that belongs to the resident
- Failing to provide the proper medications in the right dosages at the correct times
- Unsanitary living conditions
- Heating and air conditioning that doesn’t work
- Unexplained illnesses or injuries
Family members, friends, and staff members should monitor any signs of abuse or neglect and report any concerns to the nursing home, the New Jersey Long-Term Care Ombudsman, or contact our Camden County nursing home lawyers.
Our Camden County personal injury lawyers are skilled at holding the abusers directly responsible for any type of abuse they inflict. We’re also skilled at holding nursing homes in South Jersey accountable for:
- Failing to conduct background checks of their employees
- Failing to investigate complaints about staff members
- Failing to establish safety and reporting protocols
- The neglect of their employees
- Not honoring the rights of the nursing home resident
- Failing to conduct safety inspections and make timely repairs
- Failing to comply with nursing home standards across New Jersey
- Understaffing
- Many other acts of abuse or negligence
What laws protect seniors who live in Camden County nursing homes?
New Jersey has numerous laws that govern how nursing homes are required to operate.
New Jersey defines nursing homes as:
Any institution, whether operated for profit or not, which maintains and operates facilities for extended medical and nursing treatment or care for two or more nonrelated individuals with acute or chronic illness or injury, or a physical disability, or who are convalescing, or who are in need of assistance in bathing, dressing, or some other type of supervision, and are in need of such treatment or care on a continuing basis.
N.J. Stat. § 30:13-5 establishes the rights of nursing home residents. We file claims when these rights are violated. Nursing home rights include the right to:
- Manage their own financial affairs unless that right is properly assigned
- Wear their own clothing
- Use their personal property in their room unless it’s unsafe
- Receive and send unopened correspondence
- Privacy
- Retain the services of their own personal physician at their own expense (residents can also use the physicians who work for the nursing home)
- Personal visitation with persons of their choice at reasonable hours
- Present grievances to the nursing home administrator or other qualified agencies/persons – without fear of reprisal or discharge
- A safe and decent living environment
- Respectful care that “recognizes the dignity and individuality of the resident”
- Not be deprived of any constitutional, civil, or legal right solely by reason of admission to a nursing home.
- Other rights
Residents of skilled nursing facilities that are funded by Medicare (many are) have additional rights including the right to:
- Freedom from discrimination
- Respect
- Freedom from abuse and neglect
- Freedom from restraints
- Information on services and fees
- Use of their money
- Privacy, property & living arrangements
- Medical care
- Visitors
- Social services
- Protection against unfair transfer or discharge
Do you have a Camden County nursing home abuse and neglect attorney near me?
Ferrara & Gable meets seniors, family members, and guardians at our Camden County office located at 601 Longwood Avenue in Cherry Hill, NJ. We meet nursing home residents at their facilities when necessary or at the home of a relative. We also conduct phone and online consultations.
We’ll answer all the questions the nursing home residents and their loved ones have. We’ll guide you through each step of the claims process.
Call our Camden County, NJ nursing home abuse and neglect lawyers today
Every senior deserves to live their remaining years in the best health possible with the enjoyment of family and friends. Nursing home residents with dementia or any type of physical or emotional challenge must be treated with respect and dignity. At Ferrara & Gable, our lawyers have the experience and understanding of nursing home laws and policies - to hold nursing homes and staff members accountable for abusing or neglecting your mother, father, or any other person you cherish. We’re ready to protect seniors and other nursing home residents today.
To schedule a consultation with a respected Camden County nursing home abuse lawyer, call our offices or contact us today. Proudly serving Camden County including Cherry Hill, Haddonfield, Pennsauken and all of South Jersey.