Texas Nursing Home Abuse | Nursing Home Negligence Suit Filed over Poor Care

Nursing Home Negligence Suit Filed over Poor Care

A lawsuit filed in Illinois gives an example of the dangers of nursing home negligence. One of the chilling parts of this lawsuit is how it shows that any neglect in nursing homes can lead to death due to the fragile health of many of the residents at nursing homes.

The Claim

The victims in this case claim that their family member died because she wasn't given the care that could be expected at the facility. The family member had been taken home because of the level of care she was receiving. After 8 months of being at home, the woman's health deteriorated, she slipped into a coma and died. The family is alleging that the nursing home was responsible for the death.

At the heart of the claim is a concern that many elderly people have to deal with: blood sugar. The family alleges that hospital staff allowed her blood sugar to drop to such a low level that she eventually expired. All that would have been required in this situation, if it turns out to have been the case, would have been for the staff to correctly monitor the woman's blood sugar levels and to have made sure that they did not slip too far.

Negligence and What it Means

Whenever someone is in a nursing home, there is a reasonable expectation that they will receive competent care. This doesn't mean that the workers are expected to perform heroic actions that always succeed in preserving the patient's life. It simply means that the staff is expected to render care at a level that could be described as competent. In fact, they are being expected to perform the duties that any normal person in their position would perform.

When they fail to live up to these standards, a lawyer can sometimes step in and help the family file a lawsuit. Nursing home abuse attorneys have experience and expertise dealing with the laws that apply to these situations and, when they have a family that has a legitimate complaint, they will sometimes take that family's case on contingency. This means that they only get paid on the condition that they actually win a claim in the form of a jury award or a settlement offer from the plaintiff that provides adequate compensation to satisfy the family. This is a good way to protect yourself from paying legal fees for a losing case.