Nursing Home Wrongful Death Lawyers
Nursing home residents are often elderly, fragile, disabled and have a variety of health problems and special needs. At times, residents die because the nursing home has not properly cared for them or has failed to prevent or remove a risk to the patient’s health and safety. When these unfortunate deaths do occur, the resident’s survivors may be able to take legal action.
Wrongful Death Lawsuits in New York
Generally, wrongful death lawsuits are based on a claim that the nursing home facility has been negligent. As NYC nursing home neglect lawyers, we have seen this many times. Most often, these claims are brought against the defendant nursing home by the family of the deceased. We can represent the family even if they do not live in the NYC area. The survivors of the nursing home wrongful death victim may be entitled to monetary damages due to the improper conduct of the facility.
Determining if A Nursing Home Death of an Elder was Wrongful Death
A wrongful death lawsuit has four basic elements:
1. The conduct of the defendant caused the resident’s death, in whole or in part.
2. The defendant facility’s negligence makes it liable for the resident’s death.
3. The resident has a surviving spouse, children, beneficiaries or other dependents.
4. The resident’s death has resulted in monetary damages.
An action for wrongful death must be filed within a certain length of time, known as a statute of limitations. In New York, for example, the statute of limitations for a wrongful death lawsuit is 2 years from the date of death.
Negligence Resulting in Wrongful Death in NYC, Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan and The Bronx
There are, unfortunately, many ways in which an assisted living facility’s improper care can contribute to the death of an elderly resident. Some of the more common forms of nursing home negligence that can cause a patient’s death are:
- Bedsores and pressure sores
- Untreated infections
- Doctor’s errors
- Medication mistakes
- Dehydration and malnutrition
- Falls from beds, chairs, and toilets
- Choking and asphyxiation
- Strangulation and bed rail entanglement
- Wandering away from the nursing home
- Burn injuries and scalding burn injuries.
Investigation and Reporting a Death in a NYC Nursing Home
It is sometimes difficult to determine whether a resident’s death occurred because of the nursing home’s negligence. Many suspicious nursing home deaths are not reported to or investigated by the authorities. In the general population, as many as 80% of deceased elderly people don’t even receive an autopsy, mostly because coroners’ and medical examiners’ offices are understaffed and underfunded. In conducting an autopsy on a nursing home resident, a professional might look for signs of negligence such as dehydration and malnutrition or multiple, untreated pressure sores to see whether a wrongful death might have occurred.
Free Attorneys Consultation about Death in a Nursing Home in Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens. The Bronx or Anywhere Else In New York
If your loved one died in a nursing home in New York City and you suspect the death was caused by the facility’s negligence, speaking to a qualified attorney can help you to determine an appropriate course of action. Our New York City nursing home injury attorneys will provide a free consultation regarding the death of a loved one in a new York Area nursing home.