While many nursing homes in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina provide proper care, far too many fail their residents. Nursing home neglect and abuse are alarmingly common across the state, and families often uncover these failures only after serious harm has occurred.
If your loved one is being mistreated or neglected, you are not powerless. South Carolina law protects nursing home residents, and families have the right to take legal action. The nursing home can be held accountable, and your loved one may be entitled to financial compensation for the harm they have suffered.
At Rikard & Protopapas LLC, we represent families throughout Mount Pleasant and the Lowcountry in nursing home abuse and neglect cases. We help investigate what really happened, hold negligent facilities accountable, and fight for the justice your family deserves.
The Legal Rights of Nursing Home Residents
Both federal and state law provide nursing home residents with extensive rights. South Carolina’s Omnibus Adult Protection Act supports nursing home residents at the state level, while the 1987 Nursing Home Reform Act protects residents at the federal level. These laws outline the minimum standard of care due to nursing home residents and establish investigating and reporting procedures.
The Nursing Home Reform Act provides that nursing home residents have basic rights, including but not limited to the right to:
- Necessary care
- Be free from exploitation, mistreatment, neglect, and abuse
- Reasonably participate in decisions regarding their care plan
- Be informed in advance about changes in treatment
- Report complaints without fear of retaliation
- Privacy
- Security of possessions
- Self-determination
- Welcome or refuse visitors
- Be treated with dignity
Nursing home staff members and administrators who violate these rights may be subject to legal action.
Types of Nursing Home Abuse
Sadly, nursing home abuse can take many forms. These are as follows:
- Physical abuse: Common examples of physical abuse in nursing homes include hitting, slapping, biting, kicking, burning, pinching, and choking. Improper use of physical or chemical restraints also constitutes physical abuse.
- Emotional abuse: Emotional abuse is the most common type of abuse in nursing homes. This type of abuse is intended to inflict emotional harm on residents. Humiliating, degrading, threatening, confusing, isolating and agitating nursing home residents all constitute emotional abuse.
- Sexual abuse: Nursing home residents are often vulnerable to sexual abuse due to their inability to give consent and report abuse. Just like in other settings, sexual abuse in nursing homes involves any non-consensual sexual contact between a nursing home staff member and a resident. It can also include showing images that are sexual in nature to a resident.
- Financial abuse: Financial abuse is also common in nursing homes. When staff members steal property from a resident or their private room, it is financial abuse. However, it is more common for staff members to trick and manipulate residents into giving them property. For example, a staff member may convince a resident to include them in their will or assign them power of attorney.
Nursing Home Neglect
While neglectful acts may not be intentional, they are nevertheless extremely harmful to residents and can lead to serious injury or death of residents. Often nursing homes fail to provide residents with proper care during their stay. Neglect can include failing to properly supervise residents, not ensuring a resident is receiving medications and medical care, failing to provide a resident with adequate nutrition and hydration, and failing to ensure adequate hygiene.
How to Identify Abuse in Nursing Homes in Mt. Pleasant, SC
If you have a loved one in a nursing home, you should become familiar with the common signs of nursing home abuse. These include:
- Sores, wounds, and cuts that have not been treated
- Soiled bedding or clothing
- Signs of inadequate hygiene, such as an odor of feces or urine
- Unexplained weight loss
- Withdrawal from activities the resident once enjoyed
- Unexplained sexually transmitted infections
- Abrasions or bruises
- Distress when being bathed or changed
- Stained, torn, or bloody bedding or clothing
- Untreated bed sores
- Strange behaviors
- Strange financial transactions
- Denied visits with the resident
The above are just a few of the most common signs of nursing home abuse and neglect. If your loved one was not being cared for properly and it led to their injury or death, do not delay in reaching out to a nursing home abuse lawyer.
Legal Options if You Suspect Nursing Home Abuse
You may feel as though you do not have options after suspecting or learning of nursing home abuse.
Fortunately, this is not true. You have many legal options that can stop the neglect or abuse and help your loved one obtain the compensation they need to cover their injuries and other losses. The legal avenues you may be able to pursue are as follows:
- Civil lawsuits: Civil lawsuits are the most common type of legal action taken after suspected or confirmed cases of neglect and abuse. This involves filing a lawsuit against the nursing home and seeking damages for your loved one’s injuries and any other harm they suffered.
- Mediation/arbitration: Many nursing homes require individuals to enter mediation or arbitration to resolve a dispute. These options are not always in the best interests of nursing home residents and their families, so it is always important to first seek legal advice.
- Formal complaints: There are many ways to file a formal complaint against nursing homes. You can report these cases to the South Carolina Department of Health, the Long-Term Care Ombudsman, or the police.
- Criminal charges: When nursing home abuse is particularly egregious, you may want to report it to the police so formal criminal charges can be filed. Criminal charges such as assault, sexual harassment or abuse, or theft can result in imprisonment, high fines, and probation for wrongdoers. It can also ensure that no other nursing home residents are harmed.
Our Mount Pleasant nursing home abuse lawyer can review the facts of your case and help you determine which course of action is best for you.
Our Nursing Home Abuse Lawyer in Mount Pleasant Can Help Your Family
If you suspect that your loved one has been harmed in a nursing home, you need legal help. At Rikard & Protopapas, our Mount Pleasant nursing home abuse lawyer can help ensure your family member obtains the financial compensation they deserve. Call us today or fill out our online to schedule a consultation and to get the legal help you need.