New Jersey Nursing Home Abuse Attorneys
When you place your elderly loved ones in nursing homes, you rightfully expect these facilities to provide professional care, dignity, and respect. Unfortunately, nursing home abuse and neglect remain serious problems in New Jersey and across the country. These vulnerable residents may suffer physical injuries, emotional trauma, financial exploitation, or neglect at the hands of those entrusted with their care. When such abuse occurs, victims and their families deserve justice and compensation from all responsible parties.
At Mandelbaum Barrett PC, our nursing home abuse attorneys have decades of experience representing elderly victims and their families throughout New Jersey. We understand the complex state and federal regulations nursing facilities must follow and work diligently to hold negligent facilities and staff accountable while securing the compensation you and your family deserve.
What is Nursing Home Abuse?
Nursing home abuse is any refusal or failure to provide adequate care. It can take many forms, including physical abuse, verbal or emotional abuse, financial abuse, and neglect. If you notice the following signs or symptoms, abuse may have occurred:
- Bed sores, ulcers, or other untreated injuries/health problems
- Medication errors
- Injuries from falling or being improperly transported
- Malnutrition or dehydration
- Unexplained bruises or injuries
- Fractured or broken bones
- Infections
- Physical and/or sexual abuse
- Emotional abuse
- Nurse and physician negligence
- A lack of personal and/or dental hygiene
- Unsafe living conditions (such as lack of heating in the winter)
If your loved one shows these signs or symptoms, don’t hesitate to reach out to our skilled lawyers to seek justice. We thoroughly investigate your case, create effective, personalized strategies to build a strong claim, and hold the liable parties accountable for their negligence.
Who May Be Liable for Nursing Home Abuse Injuries?
Nursing home abuse cases often involve multiple responsible parties. Identifying all potential defendants is crucial for maximizing compensation and promoting accountability. Depending on the specific circumstances, liability may extend to the following individuals and entities:
The Nursing Home Facility
The nursing home itself typically bears primary responsibility for abuse and neglect occurring within its walls, including direct corporate negligence for institutional failures such as inadequate staffing levels, poor hiring practices, or insufficient training protocols. Liability may also arise from inadequate security measures that fail to protect residents from known risks, violations of federal and state regulations governing nursing home operations, failure to implement and enforce proper safety policies, or negligent maintenance of premises, creating dangerous conditions.
Individual Staff Members
Direct perpetrators of abuse may face both civil liability and criminal charges for their actions. Potentially liable staff members include nurses and nursing assistants who provide the most direct patient care, administrators who oversee facility operations and staff supervision, maintenance personnel responsible for facility safety, food service workers who prepare and serve meals, and security personnel tasked with resident protection.
Management Companies
Many nursing homes belong to larger corporate networks or contract with management companies to handle daily operations. These entities may share liability for abuse when they set inadequate staffing levels to maximize profits, implement flawed policies and procedures, fail to properly train and supervise staff, ignore complaints or warning signs of abuse, or prioritize financial considerations over resident safety.
Medical Professionals
Physicians, therapists, and other healthcare professionals who treat nursing home residents may be liable when their negligence contributes to abuse or neglect. This includes doctors who fail to diagnose or properly treat conditions, pharmacists who make medication errors, therapists who provide inadequate treatment, and medical directors who fail to oversee proper care.
Staffing Agencies
Many nursing homes rely on temporary staff provided by third-party agencies. When these workers commit abuse or neglect, liability may extend to the agencies that failed to conduct proper background checks, provided inadequately trained personnel, neglected to verify credentials or qualifications, or sent staff with known histories of problems.
Equipment Manufacturers
When defective medical equipment contributes to resident injuries, manufacturers and distributors may face product liability claims. Examples include defective bed rails that cause entrapment or falls, malfunctioning lift devices leading to transfer injuries, faulty wheelchairs resulting in accidents, and defective medical monitoring equipment.
Government Agencies
In rare circumstances, government entities responsible for nursing home regulation and oversight may share liability if they fail to investigate reported problems, neglect to enforce regulatory requirements, conceal known dangers from the public, or approve licenses for facilities with serious deficiencies. These claims involve special procedural requirements and immunity considerations under the New Jersey Tort Claims Act.
What Damages May You Recover for Nursing Home Abuse?
Nursing home abuse and neglect can cause severe physical, emotional, and financial harm to your loved ones, all of which deserve compensation. Based on the details of your case and the severity of your loved one’s injuries, you may recover the following damages with the help of our seasoned lawyers:
- Medical expenses: Emergency room visits and hospitalization, surgical procedures, specialist consultations, medication and medical equipment, rehabilitation therapy, mental health counseling, and future medical care related to the injuries
- Loss of income and earning capacity: Wages lost while recovering from injuries, reduced future earning capacity, lost employment benefits, and business opportunities lost due to injury
- Pain and suffering: Physical discomfort and suffering, emotional trauma and psychological distress, anxiety, depression, and fear, loss of dignity and independence, and diminished quality of life
- Disability or disfigurement: Functional limitations, scarring or visible disfigurement, loss of bodily functions, and dependence on medical devices or assistance
- Relocation: Costs associated with finding appropriate alternative care, moving personal belongings, higher fees at a new facility, and transportation to and from the new location
- Punitive damages: Serve to punish wrongdoers for outrageous behavior, deter similar conduct by the defendant and others, and recognize the reprehensibility of abusing vulnerable elderly individuals.
- Financial exploitation: Misappropriated funds, value of improperly obtained property, costs of credit monitoring and financial recovery and fees for legal services to resolve financial issues.
When calculating your claim’s value, we consider every detail and collect as much evidence as possible to ensure insurance companies don’t lowball you. This can help you understand your rights and give you the best chance of recovering maximum compensation.
How Can Our Nursing Home Abuse Attorneys Help You?
If you believe your loved one has been neglected or abused at a nursing home, you should seek legal assistance right away. Mandelbaum Barrett PC stands up for victims of nursing home negligence and abuse, providing compassionate and reliable counsel that stands out in the following ways:
Comprehensive Services
We handle every aspect of your nursing home abuse case with precision and careful attention, starting with a detailed investigation to uncover evidence of abuse and establish liability. This meticulous approach builds the strongest possible case against all responsible parties.
Extensive Knowledge
Our attorneys understand the complex federal and state regulations governing nursing homes, including the Federal Nursing Home Reform Act requirements, Medicare and Medicaid participation standards, New Jersey Department of Health regulations and resident rights provisions under state and federal law. We leverage these standards to establish clear violations and negligence, strengthening liability and damages claims.
Expert Testimony
We work with geriatric medicine specialists, nursing experts, and other healthcare professionals who can testify about proper standards of care in nursing facilities, causation between negligence and resulting injuries, reasonable and necessary medical treatment and prognosis and future care needs. This expert testimony helps overcome defense arguments blaming injuries on age or preexisting conditions.
Contact New Jersey Nursing Home Abuse Attorneys at Mandelbaum Barrett PC
If you suspect your loved one has suffered abuse or neglect in a nursing home, taking prompt action is essential both for their immediate safety and to protect their legal rights. Our attorneys can guide you through reporting the abuse to appropriate authorities, securing proper medical care, and documenting the evidence needed for a successful claim. We handle all aspects of your case with sensitivity to the emotional challenges families face when confronting nursing home abuse.
With decades of experience handling personal injury claims, our experienced attorneys include Certified Civil Trial Attorney Andrew Bronsnick and Co-Chair Joseph J. Peters. If your loved one has suffered abuse or neglect in a nursing home facility, contact Mandelbaum Barrett PC today at (973) 585-5100 or complete our contact form for a free consultation to discuss your case and learn how we can help hold responsible parties accountable.