Nursing Home Liability For Civil Rights Violations After Patient Dies from Bed Sores, Malnutrion and Sepsis
There’s been a recent Court decision that should be a tremendous help to nursing home residents who suffer from bed sores and infections. An 80 year old woman who was in a Pennsylvania nursing home died after she developed bed sores, became malnourished, and developed sepsis. This woman’s daughter sued the nursing home in federal court. One of the daughter’s claims was that the nursing home had violated her mother’s civil rights by failing to provide the level of care that’s required under a law known as the Federal Nursing Home Reform Amendments.
In the past, if a nursing home violated the standards set by the Federal Nursing Home law, the only risk to the nursing home was that the state or federal government might take action if the violations were discovered. This hardly ever happened because inspections were few and far between. As a result, nursing homes didn’t worry too much about being caught. But now, each and every resident of a nursing home is basically keeping an eye on the nursing home and can sue the nursing home to enforce the standards whenever there’s a violation. This is like having a cop on every street corner, and so hopefully nursing homes will make a much greater effort to provide the quality of care that’s required.
If you have a loved one in a nursing home who is not receiving the quality of care they deserve, contact a Delaware attorney right away to discuss your options.
