Nursing Home Lawyer in Maryland

Our Nursing Home Attorney in Maryland is an Advocate for Families & Patients

It’s often a painful experience to discover that your loved one has been mistreated or neglected while living in a nursing home or other medical facility. What first appeared as a few bruises or weight loss turns out to be full-scale neglect.

People who have been injured in Maryland nursing homes, assisted living facilities and group homes don’t have to feel alone and unprotected. Nor do people hurt by medical professionals. Our office is here to help. Maryland nursing home abuse attorney Roger Weinberg understands not only the legal issues involved in abuse, neglect and medical malpractice, but also the difficult emotions and practical needs of his clients.

Abuse and medical malpractice can feel like your worst nightmare has come true. You put the health and welfare of a loved one in the hands of a professional, someone you trusted, and that trust was violated. Whether in Maryland or Baltimore, the nursing home or group home staff failed to live up to their word, and your family member suffered because of it. As a result of their negligence, your loved one was injured or killed.

You may be confused and angry, not only at the professional you trusted, but at yourself because you think you made the wrong decision. Don’t blame yourself. Find out who is responsible and hold them accountable.

Contact Maryland nursing home attorney Roger Weinberg today at (410) 825-3161 or fill out our online contact form. We offer free consultations to help you better understand your legal options.

Why You Need a Nursing Home Lawyer in Maryland

With so many baby boomers now streaming into nursing homes, overworked staff may become unsympathetic, and even abusive. Residents aren’t cared for properly, resulting in infections, falls and other injuries due to improper supervision. They may not get their medications as prescribed, or they may wander off the property. They may even be abused by other residents. And yet, management is often more concerned with profits than properly caring for your loved one.

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How Do I Know if I Have a Nursing Home Claim?

Pay attention to evidence of physical, emotional or sexual abuse. Some clues that your loved one may be suffering from abuse include the following:

• Bruises, cuts, burns, sprains, bedsores or fractures that cannot be satisfactorily explained.
• Rapid weight gain or loss.
• Unexplained changes in their behavior.
• Your loved one is kept in an over-medicated state, or their pain is not managed effectively.
• Staff do not communicate frequently with you about your relative’s status, or they give you evasive answers to questions about your family member’s condition.
• Staff discourage you from visiting your relative, or there are delays in allowing you to see your loved one after you arrive. Sometimes, you are not allowed to be alone with your family member.

Remember – You Do Have Options

If you or a family member is the victim of abuse or neglect at a nursing home, assisted living facility or group home, you have choices. You don’t have to accept the facility’s excuses. You can take legal action.

• Contact us. You can contact our Maryland nursing home lawyer so we can discuss the situation, explain your and your family member’s legal rights, and potentially launch an investigation into what happened and why.
• File a lawsuit. If there’s evidence that laws were broken or negligence occurred, you may be able to file a legal action and hold those responsible for the neglect or abuse accountable for their actions.
• Receive compensation. You may be awarded compensation for your loved one’s serious injuries or death caused by the negligence or abuse of staff and management.

Neglect, abuse or medical malpractice can lead to the painful death of a loved one. This is wrong. Roger Weinberg is a nursing home attorney in Maryland who helps families cope with wrongful death cases by advising them of their rights. We can investigate why the family member died and who is responsible. For a free initial consultation about your case, call us today at (410) 825-3161.

Identifying Nursing Home Abuse – Common Examples

Abuse and neglect come in many forms and can result in a number of injuries:

• Abuse can be financial, physical, emotional or sexual. Signs include bruises and broken bones, mood swings, listlessness or confusion. Residents can lash out and be angry or be withdrawn and fearful. Sexual abuse can be especially harmful to an elderly or disabled resident, causing them to live in fear, feel a total loss of control over their lives and become depressed.
• Nursing home abuse can happen not only at the hands of staff who intentionally harm a resident, but also because of careless and understaffed facilities that don’t keep residents safe and allow one resident to abuse others.
• Neglecting a resident’s physical and emotional needs can lead to a quick downward spiral. A fall that shouldn’t have happened can lead to secondary injuries or death. Bedsores can develop life-threatening infections. A resident who is not getting proper nutritionmay rapidly lose weight, weaken and be susceptible to pneumonia.
• Negligence and medical malpracticecan cause contagious diseases to flourish. If a medical professional fails to diagnose a condition, it may progress to the point where it’s impossible to treat. Giving a resident the wrong medication or dosage can cause severe side effects. A resident may be over-medicated to the point of non-functioning. The failure of a facility to obtain emergency medical treatment can often be fatal.

Nursing home residents who are not mentally competent due to dementia or Alzheimer’s disease or who have difficulty communicating are especially at risk for abuse or neglect. These residents are more vulnerable, and staff may feel it is easier to get away with mistreating them. Many times, these residents won’t be believed or can’t identify their attacker.

Negligent Care Calls for Legal Action

We talk a lot about nursing home abuse, but you should know that what most people commonly think of as abuse represents only a fraction of the injuries residents suffer in these facilities. Negligence is often more prevalent than abuse.

Examples of negligence in nursing homes include…

• Failure to properly move or assist residents, resulting in serious falls, bed sores, broken bones or internal injuries.
• Failure to administer proper medication or to prescribe the appropriate type or dosage of a needed medication.
• Failure to provide sanitary conditions, proper nutrition or any other necessities of residents.

As you can see, it’s not just what a nursing home does that can be harmful to residents; what a facility doesn’t do can be just as dangerous. You might notice signs of a negligent nursing home in your loved one’s facility, including overstaffing, unsanitary conditions and a lack of communication between staff members or between staff members and patients. For a free conversation about your situation, call us today at (410) 825-3161.

The Process of Filing a Nursing Home Abuse Claim

After you suspect your loved one’s nursing home injury has been caused by abuse or neglect, you should contact a nursing home attorney as soon as possible. If you have any correspondence with staff or representatives of the facility, keep notes about your conversation or any documents you receive.

Do not sign anything given to you by the facility or an insurance company without first consulting an attorney. Nursing homes and their insurance companies might attempt to give you some form of compensation that is far less than what your loved one deserves. An experienced nursing home abuse attorney will know whether an offer is fair.

It’s just as likely that a nursing home will deny accountability for the harm your loved one has suffered. It will be up to your attorney to gather evidence proving your loved one’s injuries were caused by the negligence of the nursing home staff. After your attorney has adequate evidence, he can build a powerful legal claim on your behalf.

If the nursing home is unwilling to meet your demands, the process will move through discovery, pre-trial and trial. In discovery, your attorney will interview witnesses, examine evidence and review medical records. Your case could be settled out of court for an agreed-upon monetary amount, or it could go to trial. In a trial, your attorney will argue your loved one’s case before a judge and jury. The jury will then decide whether the nursing home is at fault and, if so, how much you and your loved one will be awarded in damages.

This process requires a skilled nursing home attorney. Contact a Maryland nursing home attorney by filling out our online contact form or calling (410) 825-3161.

What Is Wrongful Death?

Wrongful death is the legal term applied to an accident where someone dies because of the negligent (or careless) act of another person or entity.

Wrongful death in nursing homes may be due to willful abuse or negligence by anyone on the staff.  By failing to do their job correctly, regardless of whether the behavior was willful or accidental, any nursing home worker may cause an elderly person’s death.

Know Your Rights!

Nursing home, assisted living and group home residents have legal rights under both Maryland and federal law. They include these rights:

• To be treated with consideration, respect, and dignity
• To be free from physical, verbal, sexual and mental abuse
• The right to complain about problems
• To obtain a safe and secure transfer or discharge.

If your family member’s rights are being violated and he or she is being harmed as a result, you should contact our Baltimore nursing home abuse lawyer. Call us at (410) 825-3161.

What Qualities Make a Good Nursing Home Abuse Attorney?

A few of the traits you should look for when selecting a nursing home abuse lawyer include:

• Law firms which specialize in nursing home abuse
• A record of successfully getting justice and proper compensation
• Demonstrated strengths of investigating and documenting suspected abuse, including the review of medical and financial records
• Someone you can trust and communicate with to professionally represent your loved one’s best interests
• Extensive knowledge of the nursing home industry
• Access to expert witnesses who can help build a strong case.

Costs of a Nursing Home Lawyer in Maryland

Most nursing home injury lawyers in Maryland work on a contingency basis, meaning that the plaintiff (you, your family, your elderly relative) pays nothing unless their attorney is successful in winning financial compensation. The attorney will then receive a percentage of the damage award, usually between 30 and 40 percent. If you are not awarded any damages, you will not owe any fee.

Settlement vs. Trial

Around nine out of ten injury claims are settled out of court after successful negotiations between the injured plaintiff’s attorney and the liability insurance company which covers the nursing home and/or individual medical professional.

Both sides prefer a settlement over a trial; trials are expensive and pose the risk of an unfavorable decision by the jury. The best way for a plaintiff to win compensation is to have a nursing home attorney who presents a very strong case and is able to press that advantage into a fair and full settlement because the defendants fear they’ll lose (and pay even more) at trial.