Nursing Home Negligence
Video Transcript:
Cindy Speaker: With an aging population that is living longer, nursing home negligence is becoming more prevalent. My guest today it’s North Carolina personal Injury attorney, Michael A. DeMayo with the law offices of Michael A. DeMayo. And he’s going to talk with us about this topic. So Michael, thank you for being with us today.
Michael A. DeMayo: Thank you for having me.
Cindy Speaker: Well Michael, what are some examples of nursing home negligence and abuse?
Michael A. DeMayo: Well unfortunately, Cindy, this is a fairly common occurrence in this day and age because as our population ages, oftentimes we have to put our mothers, our fathers, our brothers or sisters in care facilities. And unfortunately, many of the care facilities, not all, but many are under staffed and are not able to provide adequate care and supervision. Some injuries that we see that are fairly common are decubitus ulcers which for a layman is basically a bedsore. And that is someone who’s not being turned or properly positioned or is being left positioned for significant amount of time. Falls are very common. Fractures are fairly common.
If there’s tremendous amount of abuse, sometimes the injuries can result in death or significant brain injury for someone who’s not given the proper care because remember, the reason that most folks are initially put in these care facilities is because they can no longer take care of themselves.
Cindy Speaker: Well Michael, for the children of parents that are in nursing homes, what should they do if they suspect that their loved one maybe a victim of neglect or abuse in a nursing home environment?
Michael A. DeMayo: Well, there are a couple of steps they can take. Certainly, they can go to the state. There are different state entities where they can look for information and contact the specific governmental entities that are responsible for the supervision and licensing of these facilities. But obviously the first thing to do is to go into the facility, sit down with the administrator, and have some serious talks with them, and if possible talk to some of the caregivers, and/or any of the residents that will talk.
If the injuries are fairly obvious and blatant, I generally recommend that you move that individual to another facility as quickly as feasibly possible. And then obviously if the level of injury rises to the level of very serious, then they may want to get in touch with the personal injury attorney who does work in these types of cases.
Cindy Speaker: Well Michael, I know you handle nursing home abuse cases. Why is it important for the family to consult with the personal injury attorney in these types of situations?
Michael A. DeMayo: Well, as in other situations, the number one is obviously to stop the abuse or to put an end to what is occurring not necessarily with this individual because often times the damage has been done, but potentially with any individuals that would be part of that facility in the future. Obviously from a legal standpoint if there are injuries and there has been negligence, if there’s been gross negligence or failure to adequately supervise, then they’re potentially is a course of action that can be brought either on behalf of the individual and/or the family members if it’s wrongful death.
So we just actually represented an individual and it was a wrongful death case and resolved the case very favorably to the family obviously from a monetary standpoint, it was favorable. Their brothers would have been obviously that their mother is still be with us had the abuse have not occurred but unfortunately, there’s only so many things we can do in a particular instance. But there’s a variety of different options if there has been an abuse. But obviously one of the most common ones is that we would make a claim and then a lawsuit depending on the response from the appropriate facility.
Cindy Speaker: And in most situations, do you recommend that the individual be moved from that facility to another facility?
Michael A. DeMayo: Well again with the caveat, I mean it depends on what’s happening and what the level of abuse has been but if there’s any kind of significant neglect, I know speaking from the standpoint of someone who has a family member in a facility of that sort were I to get any report of any kind of abuse or neglect, my first move would be to move him out of that facility. And then my next move would be basically to have some sort of reckoning with the facility that they even allow that to occur.
Cindy Speaker: Michael, if someone has specific questions, how can they reach your office?
Michael A. DeMayo: They may do that, Cindy in three different ways. They can call us toll free anywhere in the United States at 877-333-1000. They can also get on the web at demayolaw.com and they have a variety of different ways to get in touch with our office through the web. And then we have a third option which is they can actually text the name DeMayo to the number 333-100 which is essentially our number less a zero and they will be given a variety of options within which to contact our office by text.
Cindy Speaker: Thank you, Michael.
Michael A. DeMayo: Thank you for having me.
Cindy Speaker: This is Cindy Speaker from Main Street Law.
