Nursing Home Neglect Case In Pennsylvania
I recently read an article appearing in the March 2013 AARP Magazine which reported about the tragic death of an elderly 94 year old nursing home resident who had been found severely dehydrated and malnourished in her room. This, despite the fact that she was living in a nursing home facility that was supposed to be watching her around the clock. Her family had been paying for that service.
Given that Pennsylvania’s regulatory enforcement is, to say the least, less than adequate, to protect nursing home residents from nursing home abuse and neglect, it is imperative that the elderly be able to file claims in court. This enables the trial lawyers to represent them with the hope that jury verdicts against such neglectful facilities will force these facilities to clean up their acts.
Negligence Lawyer’s Successful Lawsuit Against Nursing Home
The plaintiffs sued both the facility and, in this case, its parent corporation claiming that both companies had knowingly understaffed the facility to save money and had altered records to hide the substandard care they had rendered.
In November 2012, both the nursing facility and the management company were held liable for “corporate negligence.” This was the first time that the Pennsylvania Supreme Court explicitly extended such liability beyond nursing homes to also cover their parent companies.
Nursing homes and their parent corporations have a high duty of care to protect the elderly who have contracted with them for such protection. Senior citizens in any nursing or assisted living facilities need to be cared for and not abused and neglected. Family members should remain proactive to evaluate the level of care given, and if anything becomes questionable, consult with an experience nursing home abuse and neglect attorney.
