Los Angeles & San Diego Nursing Home Abuse Is On The Rise

Nursing home abuse has been a topic of much discussion throughout the United States for several decades, but California is by far home to some of the most serious cases. The cities of San Diego and Los Angeles are particularly prone to nursing home abuse, although the problem is becoming more serious throughout the state every single year. If you suspect or are sure that your loved one has been abused or neglected in a nursing home in Los Angeles or San Diego, you should contact a personal injury lawyer immediately. Both neglect and abuse can result in the lasting physical and emotional wounds of your loved one, potentially requiring months or even years and hundreds of thousands of dollars to completely recover, if recovery is even possible.

There are different types of abuse one may be subject to endure while living in an ethically questionable nursing home. The first, and perhaps most common type of abuse evident in these types of environments, is neglect. Neglect is an indirect form of abuse in that a resident of a nursing home is perhaps being ignored or not receiving the care he or she wants and needs to be happy and comfortable. Neglect can cause both physical and emotional problems. There have been cases in which residents of nursing homes have been denied any reasonable amount of human contact for days and even weeks on end. Other forms of neglect could include not cleaning a resident properly when that resident is unable to adequately clean him or herself.

Direct abuse is also evident in nursing homes. Many nursing home employees have been convicted of hitting, kicking, punching, and attacking the residents for which they are hired to care and protect. Many residents are physically unable to inform their loved ones of this abuse. Others are threatened by the abusive staff, will result in more injuries, abuse and more pain. If you suspect at all that your loved one is the victim of nursing home abuse, do not hesitate to contact a personal injury lawyer right away.

Unfortunately, every year there is a substantial number of nursing home abuse victims who are unable to recover from the wounds they’ve received from either the direct abuse or intentional neglect of the staff supposedly dedicated to helping them. Many nursing home employees are taken to court and criminally convicted of these crimes each year. Although criminal charges may provide relief and justification to family members of the lost victim, criminal claims do not typically provide any sort of financial compensation to a victim’s loved one. Financial compensation is often necessary to cover medical fees incurred while the victim remained alive or the costly funeral arrangements to lay your loved one to rest. In order to receive financial compensation to help cover these costs and others, personal injury lawyers help thousands of people each year in filing civil charges in addition to criminal charges. The civil charges for a personal injury claim will likely offer you and your relatives the financial support you’ll require to carry on through the difficult mourning process.