Advocating for Victims of Nursing Home Abuse: Giroux & Associates’ Approach to Defending Your Rights
If you have a loved one who has been injured or became ill due to poor treatment from nursing home staff, a Florida nursing home abuse attorney may be able to ensure that the responsible parties are held accountable. The “poor us” defense is commonly used by nursing homes to claim that they provide the highest quality of care that they could afford due to their financial circumstances. In cases of severe neglect, the only concern that needs to be addressed is whether the nursing home failed to provide the standard of care. Whether or not the facility lacked resources does not excuse it from meeting this standard.
Punitive Damages
If you are seeking punitive damages based on the argument that the staffing was reduced in order to maximize profit for the nursing home, the defense may argue that poor staffing was the cause of financial distress rather than greed. If this is the case, your Florida nursing home abuse attorney may examine the facility’s budgetary decisions, including administrative and executive salaries. If your attorney is able to establish that administrative salaries are disproportionate when compared to the unmet staffing needs of the nursing home, you may be able to seek punitive damages.
“Old People Just Get Sick and Die”
This defense is one of the most controversial used by nursing homes and is generally made during a wrongful death case. The nursing home may argue that all elderly people eventually die due to their advanced age or age-related causes, and that the negligent staff was not directly at fault. In this case, the burden is on your attorney to produce evidence that it was not your loved one’s time to pass and that the nursing home was at least significantly responsible for contributing to the circumstances that led to his or her death.
“The Nursing Home Met the Standard of Care”
The defendant facility may hire an expert witness to testify on its behalf that the nursing home met the basic standard of care under the circumstances. The most effective counter to this defense is to hire an expert witness who can testify that the standard of care was not met in your loved one’s case. This may include an examination of federal and state regulations that were not met during the provision of your loved one’s end-of-life care.
Contact a Florida Nursing Home Abuse Attorney
Call Giroux & Associates Inc today at (727) 895-5399 to work with a Florida nursing home abuse attorney you can trust.