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Abuse of the elderly should never be tolerated. Let our team fight to hold negligent parties accountable and secure the justice your loved on deserves. Contact us to speak with a nursing home abuse lawyer today.

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Nursing Home Abuse Attorneys in North Carolina

You Pay Nothing Unless We Win Your Case

Trusting a long-term care facility to take care of your loved one can be a difficult decision to make. Your family most likely spent hours researching and reviewing nursing homes to ensure that your loved one would receive the proper care and be protected from harm. You put a lot of faith in the facility staff. Discovering that your loved one has been abused or suffered neglect is nothing short of a betrayal. Even worse, you may feel guilty about your decision to place your loved one in a facility. The fact is that your loved one was promised care that was not provided. Elder abuse and neglect should never be tolerating. It is an unforgivable crime. When a facility allows this to happen, it must be held accountable.

At Henson Fuerst, we understand how terrible it is to watch a loved one suffer. Although pursuing legal action will not undo your loved one’s suffering, it may result in the compensation needed to provide for far better long-term care for them. Therefore, we will do everything possible to hold the nursing home responsible and get a settlement or verdict on your loved one’s behalf.
Older man staring out a window

Common Signs of Poor Management and Supervision of the Nursing Home

Nursing homes have a responsibility to ensure their residents are properly cared for.  Common signs of neglect include:

  • Inability to find nursing staff when you need them
  • Nursing staff do not come in to check on the resident on a regular basis
  • Staff do not respond to the call bell in a timely manner
  • Staff cannot answer your questions about your loved one’s care
  • Nurses and aides not properly trained
  • Nurses and aides not properly supervised
  • Frequent staff turnover
  • Smell of urine/feces in facility
  • Poor personal hygiene or other unattended health problems

If you notice any of these issues happening with your loved one, contact our North Carolina nursing home abuse attorneys immediately. We’ll do everything we can to stop the abuse and ensure your family member gets the care he or she needs.

Long-Term Care Facilities Put Profits over People

Today, for-profit nursing homes are one of the most profitable industries in America. Unfortunately, many prioritize profits over residents’ quality of care and will try to cut corners wherever they can. This leads to severe understaffing and overworked employees who can’t provide the care and attention your loved one deserves. When corporations place their own profits ahead of patient safety, neglect-related injuries are bound to occur.

Although victims deserve recompense for what they’ve endured, getting the compensation your family deserves might be difficult. The facility’s management company has a team of attorneys on standby and will usually take any measures necessary to avoid accepting responsibility for allegations of abuse and neglect. It’s important to understand that nursing home administrators’ objectives directly conflict with yours, no matter how caring and helpful they appear. It’s in their best interests to pay as little as possible for the damages your loved one has suffered while also avoiding negative publicity. Frequently, they’ll go so far as to blame patients’ injuries on the aging process before assuming responsibility for an injury or death. If you take on the nursing home by yourself, it might be years before seeing any results.

When your family suffers from this gross injustice, our North Carolina nursing home abuse lawyers are here to protect the rights of your loved one and obtain the full compensation and justice they deserve.

Nursing Home Residents’ Rights

The federal and state government dictates that nursing home residents have certain rights facilities must adhere to by law. These regulations are designed to protect residents from being abused or neglected.

By law, nursing home facilities must adhere to North Carolina’s Bill of Rights for Nursing Home Residents:

  1. The Right to Be Informed
    Upon admittance to the home, residents have the right to be informed about nursing home policies and about their personal rights. Residents’ rights and policies must also be posted in a visible area for all residents to see.
  2. The Right to Receive Adequate Care
    Residents have the right to receive treatment, care, and services that are adequate, appropriate, and in compliance with state and federal laws and regulations.
  3. The Right to Choose a Physician
    Residents have the right to choose their own physicians and pharmacies. They do not have to use the nursing home’s physicians or pharmacies.
  4. The Right to Be Informed About Medical Conditions
    Residents have the right to be fully informed of their medical conditions, unless their physician believes it is not in the patient’s best interest.
  5. The Right to Participate in the Plan of Care
    Residents must be given the opportunity to participate in the planning of their own medical treatment, including the right to refuse treatment.
  6. The Right to Be Free from Abuse and Restraints
    Residents have the right to be free from mental and physical abuse, physical restraints, and sedation. Only a physician can authorize a restraint, and this can happen only when there is a threat of injury.
  7. The Right to Privacy, Dignity, and Respect
    Residents have the right to be treated with consideration, respect, and full recognition of their dignity and individuality, including privacy in treatment and in care of their personal needs. They also have the right to privacy in their rooms, where possible.
  8. The Right to Manage Personal Finances
    Residents have the right to either manage their own funds or authorize someone else to manage them. If residents authorize the nursing home to handle their funds, they have additional rights:
    • To know the whereabouts of their funds and account numbers
    • To receive written accounting statements every three months
    • To receive receipts for any funds spent
    • To have access to their funds within seven banking days
  9. The Right to See Visitors
    Residents have the following rights regarding visitation:
    • Residents may receive any visitor of their choosing, may refuse visitors permission to enter their rooms, and may end a visit at any time.
    • Residents have the right to immediate access by family and reasonable access bt others.
    • The visiting hours must be posted in a public place and residents must be permitted eight visiting hours per day.
    • Members of community organizations and legal services may enter any nursing home during visiting hours.
    • Communication between residents and visitors is confidential.
    • Visitors may help residents claim their rights and benefits through individual assistance, counseling, organizational activity, legal action, or other forms of representation.
  10. The Right to Confidentiality
    Residents have the right to confidentiality of personal medical records and the right to access those records within 24 hours after a request.
  11. The Right to Be Made Aware of Services and Charges
    Residents have the right to be made aware of the nursing home’s services and of the charges related to those services. This includes charges for services not covered by the facility’s fee, Medicare, or Medicaid.
  12. The Right to Voice Grievance Without Retaliation
    Residents have the right to voice grievances and recommend changes in policies and services to facility staff and/or outside representatives of their choice without fear of coercion, discrimination, or reprisal.
  13. The Right to Organize and Participate in Groups
    Residents have the right to organize and participate in resident groups within the nursing home. Residents’ families also have the right to gather in the facility with families of other residents.
  14. The Right to Participate in Social, Religious, and Community Activities
    Residents have the right to participate in social, religious, and community activities that do not interfere with the rights of other residents in the nursing home.
  15. The Right to Examine Reviews
    Residents have the right to examine the results of the most recent review of the nursing home. The federal government requires nursing homes to be reviewed once every 15 months. If the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services gives administers a revocation of license or a provisional license due to a violation of licensure regulations, all residents must be notified within 10 days.
  16. The Right to Remain in the Nursing Home
    Residents may only be discharged or transferred for medical reasons, for their welfare, or for the welfare of other residents. They must be provided with a written, 30-day notification of the transfer or discharge.
  17. The Right to Personal Items
    Residents have the right to retain, secure storage for, and to use personal possessions and clothing, where reasonable.
  18. The Right to Refrain from Work
    Residents are not required to perform services for the facility without personal consent and written approval of the attending physician.
  19. The Right to Receive Response from Requests
    Residents have the right to receive a reasonable and timely response to all requests they submit to facility administrators.

Family Member Rights

Family members of nursing home residents have certain rights they should be aware of, including the right to:

  • Attend and participate in needs assessments and care planning meetings.
  • Be informed of resident’s rights.
  • Immediate access to visit the resident at any time, if the resident so desires.
  • Be notified within 24 hours of an accident resulting in injury, a significant change in the resident’s condition, an alteration in treatment, or a decision to transfer the resident.
  • Be promptly notified of room or roommate changes.
  • Participate in a family council and make recommendations and present grievances without retaliation.

Upon the admission of each resident, the nursing home should be provided a list of next of kin and any legal representatives of the resident who are chosen to have access to the above rights.

Case
Results

$5 Million

NURSING HOME ABUSE

$4.25 Million

NURSING HOME DEATH

$5.2 Million

NURSING HOME DEATH
Talk to a nursing home abuse attorney today

We Give a Voice to the Voiceless

Nursing home residents are among society’s most vulnerable individuals. Unfortunately, this makes them easy targets for various types of mistreatment by staff, including physical, emotional, and verbal abuse, as well as inadequate medical care and neglect. In some cases, victims find it difficult to speak out about the mistreatment, either because they fear retaliation by their abuser, are ashamed or don’t want to embarrass anybody. Abuse of any kind is unacceptable and needs to be stopped, especially when directed at those too vulnerable to advocate for themselves.

When families are torn apart due to nursing home corporations’ negligent and selfish acts, we take a stand. Our North Carolina nursing home abuse and neglect attorneys will not rest until every aspect of why and how this abuse or neglect occurred is discovered, and the responsible parties are held accountable.

We have the resources and experience to take on large corporations, ensuring that your loved one’s story is told and justice is served. If someone you love has suffered the indignity of nursing home abuse or neglect, call us today at (919) 781-1107 or complete a free initial consultation form now.

Over 150 years of combined experience

We have been serving North Carolina residents since 1976. If you need an nursing home abuse and neglect lawyer, don't wait. Contact us today.

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You can expect to be treated like family and provided with honest and compassionate legal representation. We have helped hundreds of people just like you.

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Contact a nursing home abuse attorney day or night to get help with your case. Henson Fuerst will to stand up for your rights.

Why Does Abuse and Neglect Happen in Nursing Homes?

More often than not, abuse and neglect in nursing homes is a result of purposeful decisions made by the companies that own the nursing homes.  These decisions, which are oftentimes made in order to increase the profitability of the companies that own and manage the nursing homes, result in the nursing homes being understaffed and poorly managed.  There is a lack of oversight by the companies that own and manage the individual nursing homes, which creates the perfect environment for neglect and abuse to occur.

Understaffing

Staffing is the largest single expense in a nursing home. As such, that is the line item expense that gets cut the most by corporate when trying to increase their profitability. This leads to understaffing. Understaffing-not enough nurses and aides to provide proper care for the residents. An adequate number of skilled staff is the single most important factor in ensuring good care at a nursing home. Even with the most caring of staff members, they cannot provide adequate care if they do not have the staffing resources needed to do so.

  • Overworked staff – Staff are often called upon to work double shifts or excessive overtime.  This leads employee burnout.  When employees are overworked and burned out, neglect and abuse are to be expected.
  • Burned out staff – Understaffing and overworking staff leads to employee burnout.  When staff are overworked and burned out, it is not surprising that they cannot provide good care to the residents.
  • Underpaid staff – Nursing homes notoriously pay their staff poorly, compared to comparable wages paid to healthcare providers at hospitals and other types of facilities.  This results in unqualified staff and frequent turning at all levels of staffing, from the nursing aides to the Director of Nursing and Administrator.

Impact of Understaffing on Residents and The Care They Receive

Understaffing significantly affects the quality of care residents receive in nursing homes and can lead to issues such as:

Frequent Falls – Lack of staff results in the failure to properly monitor, supervise, and assist those in need, in order to protect them from falls.  This results in frequent falls, which can lead to injury or death.  Falls are the 6th leading cause of death in the elderly in the U.S.

  • Falls may result in broken bones, including broken hips, legs and arms, as well as head injuries, including subdural hematomas (bleeding on the brain).
  • Fall prevention interventions may include frequent monitoring and supervision of the residents, staff assistance with walking and transferring, keeping bed lower to the floor so that a resident has a shorter distance to fall, if they do fall, fall mats beside the bed to cushion a fall, personal alarms, bed alarms, chair alarms to alert staff that a resident is attempting to get up unassisted, and others.

Elopement/Wandering Away From Facility – Lack of staff results in the failure to properly monitor and supervise residents who may attempt to leave the facility unassisted, which can lead to residents getting outside and away from the facility unnoticed.

  • Wander prevention interventions include a wander guard; supervision and monitoring; alarms on doors.

Urinary Tract Infection (UTI) or Other Infections – Lack of staff results in the failure to properly and timely clean residents after incontinent episodes, the failure to ensure catheters are cleaned properly and timely, and a lack of appropriate nursing supervision to recognize signs that a resident may be suffering from an infection, leading to a delay in assessment and treatment and therefore worsening conditions.

Signs/symptoms of UTI or other infection:

  • More lethargic; Sleeping more than normal
  • Change in mental status
  • Behavioral changes, such as:
    • Confusion or delirium
    • Agitation
    • Hallucinations
    • Other unusual behavioral changes
  • Falling
  • Blood in urine
  • Strong or foul-smelling urine
  • Fever

Pressure sores – Lack of staff results in a failure to turn and reposition residents on a regular basis (i.e. every 2 hours) as needed to alleviate pressure from pressure points, as well as a failure to properly treat pressure sores once they begin, resulting in worsening of pressure sores.

Dehydration/Malnutrition – Many residents need to be fed and given water by the caregivers.  If a facility is understaffed, the caregivers do not have the time to feed residents, resulting in malnutrition and dehydration.

Signs/symptoms of Malnutrition:

  • Unplanned weight loss
  • More tired or weak than usual
  • Loss of appetite
  • Swelling or fluid accumulation

Signs/symptoms of Dehydration:

  • Poor skin turgor/loose skin that doesn’t return to normal after pinching
  • Dry mouth
  • Headache
  • Nausea
  • Urinating less than usual
  • Lethargy

Choking – Lack of staff results in failure to supervise residents at risk of choking while eating; to ensure that residents’ food is properly prepared, i.e. ensure that resident who needs a mechanically soft diet receive that, instead of regular food.

Medication Errors – Understaffed and overworked employees do not have or take the time to ensure residents receive the correct dosages of the correct medications at the correct times.

Chemical restraints – Overworked staff may drug residents to sedate them, in order to make them easier to care for.  The use of chemical restraints for the staff’s convenience is prohibited.

Physical Assault

  • Resident-on-resident abuse – Failure to supervise residents with known history of aggression/psychosis, allowing them unsupervised access to other residents.
  • Staff-on-resident abuse

Sexual assault/rape/molestation

  • Resident-on-resident abuse – Lack of staff results in the failure to properly supervise residents who have aggressive or dangerous behaviors, allowing them unsupervised access to other residents which can result in physical abuse and assault.
  • Staff-on-resident abuse – Underpaying staff results in poorly qualified and poorly trained staff who do not have the proper temperament for caring for the elderly.  Understaffing and overworking staff results in employee burnout, which leads to verbal and physical abuse of residents.
  • Sadly sexual assault and abuse occurs in nursing homes.  The abuser may be another resident, or a staff person.  The failure to provide sufficient numbers of properly trained staff results in the failure to properly supervise and monitor residents, as well as staff, to ensure that sexual abuse does not occur.

Nursing Home Abuse and Neglect News

Our North Carolina nursing home abuse lawyers strive to keep our community educated and informed about the latest news and laws regarding nursing home abuse. Browse our most recent blog posts here:

Nursing Home Residents’ Rights

Signs of Nursing Home Abuse

Nursing Home Care Planning

Steps to Follow After Discovering Nursing Home Abuse or Neglect

Making the decision to place a loved one in a nursing home or long-term care facility is never easy. But when you discover the facility you trusted to take care of your family member has mistreated, abused, or neglected your loved one, what do you do? The North Carolina nursing home abuse lawyers at Henson Fuerst suggest taking these steps:
1
Step 1

Seek medical attention

Take your loved one to a hospital or alternative care facility to be examined as soon as possible. If the nursing staff doesn’t allow you to remove your family member from the facility, contact a North Carolina nursing home abuse attorney at Henson Fuerst immediately.

2
Step 2

Document the abuse

As soon as you discover your loved one is suffering from abuse or neglect, take pictures of the injuries and room conditions, and write down any witness statements from staff or other residents.

3
Step 3

Re-locate your loved one

Whenever possible, try and move your loved one to another facility. Choosing another facility may take time, so make sure you have documented and reported the abuse as soon as possible.

4
Step 4

Report the abuse

If your loved one or other nursing home residents exhibit any signs and symptoms of abuse, report the abuse as soon as possible to government authorities.

5
Step 5

Contact Henson Fuerst

A North Carolina nursing home abuse lawyer at Henson Fuerst can investigate the details surrounding your case and help ensure the abuse or neglect is put to an end for the entire facility.

CONTACT US FOR HELP IF YOUR LOVED ONES HAVE SUFFERED FROM NEGLIGENCE, ABUSE, OR NEGLECT

$5M Settlement

Our client, who lived in a nursing home due to dementia, died after being brutally beaten by his roommate in a nursing home. The attack took place within three days of the nursing home forcing our client to share a room with a dangerous man. This physical attack was foreseeable as the nursing home staff was aware of other instances of physical violence that the roommate had displayed toward staff and others, and more importantly, had been made aware of a threat made by the roommate against our client within 24-48 hours of the assault, yet no preventative actions were taken. The settlement was collected in full.

Looking for a Long-Term Care Ombudsman?

A long-term care ombudsman is an advocate for residents in elder care facilities, board and care homes and assisted living facilities. An ombudsman is trained to help resolve problems and assist patients or families when filing complaints. All matters are kept confidential unless specified otherwise. In North Carolina, there are currently 17 offices with long-term ombudsman support throughout the state.

A long-term care ombudsman has multiple benefits, including:

  • Resolve complaints made for or by residents of long-term care facilities.
  • Educate consumers and long-term care providers about residents rights and good care practices.
  • Promote community involvement.
  • Provide public information on nursing homes and other long-term care facilities services, residents rights and legislative and policy issues.

We’ll Fight for Your Loved One

If you are concerned about the treatment your loved one is receiving in a nursing home or long-term care facility, contact a North Carolina nursing home abuse lawyer today at (919) 781-1107 or complete a free initial consultation form.

The legal team at Henson Fuerst has a long history of advocating for the rights of people suffering from mistreatment in nursing homes or assisted living facilities. Let us help you and your family member.

When you have Henson Fuerst on your side, you’ll be treated with respect and compassion. A member of our experienced legal team will listen to your concerns and document the details of your case. Our North Carolina nursing home abuse lawyers will research the issues of abuse or neglect and fight to get your loved one the treatment and respect he or she deserves.

Frequently Asked Questions

The value of a nursing home abuse case is determined by the severity, duration, and other details of the abuse and injuries suffered. When you contact Henson Fuerst, a North Carolina nursing home abuse lawyer will go over the facts surrounding the case and help you determine the best way to move forward.

The North Carolina nursing home abuse lawyers at Henson Fuerst handle most cases on a contingency fee basis, which means that you pay us nothing unless we win or settle your case.  Some cases, however, are handled on an hourly or project basis depending on case circumstances and facts.  Call us today for an initial free case review and consultation, and we will talk further with you about how we would handle your case.

The North Carolina Nursing Home Resident’s Bill of Rights states that nursing home residents are to be free from physical restraints and chemical sedation unless there is an emergency or a physician has authorized restraints for a specific period of time according to clear and indicated medical need.

It’s important to first make sure that your loved one receives immediate medical care . Be aware of the most common signs that nursing home abuse or neglect is happening.

To help ensure loved ones receive proper care in nursing homes, Henson Fuerst’s North Carolina nursing home abuse attorneys recommend that families:
  1. Visit frequently and at varying times to monitor care quality.
  2. Participate in care planning meetings to stay involved in treatment decisions.
  3. Keep a detailed journal of conditions and staff interactions.
  4. Report any signs of mistreatment immediately.
  5. Consider relocating loved ones if abuse is suspected and find a safer facility.
  6. Contact a nursing home abuse attorney to seek justice and prevent further harm to residents.

For more information, read about nursing home care planning for your loved one.

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