Providing adequate fluids is one of the most basic tasks that a long-term care facility must do to residents. If they fail to do so, our Chicago nursing home dehydration lawyer can hold the wrongdoers accountable.

The cornerstone of The Rooth Law Firm is to provide aid to anyone who has suffered nursing home dehydration or another form of abuse. Every client who works with us will be represented by a Chicago nursing home abuse lawyer who has decades of experience helping clients attain fair compensation.

If you want help with your nursing home negligence case, call now.

Protect Your Family’s Rights

If you even suspect that nursing home abuse caused your loved one’s suffering, it is a good idea to reach out to our firm right away. We are available 24/7 precisely because we know how urgent these situations can be and want to provide the support you are looking for at any time of the day or night.

Our attorney can provide professional legal guidance to clients from the Chicago area by:

Assessing your situation at no cost or obligation to you
Collecting evidence to prove the facility and/or its staff were negligent
Taking the appropriate legal action, whether that means filing an insurance claim or going to trial at a venue like Cook County Law Division
Keeping you informed about your case’s progress and our actions at every step of the way
Educating you about your legal rights and obligations
Telling you when you will need to make important legal decisions and offering advice about how to handle those decisions

Many nursing homes try to deny that abuse occurred or that they are responsible for the victim’s pain. This is stressful and infuriating for families, but it does not have to mean the end of your case.

The Rooth Law Firm can take immediate action towards protecting your rights and regaining structure in your life. We have dealt with many nursing home abuse cases over the past four decades, giving our legal team a comprehensive understanding of the intricacies involved, the tactics that care facilities use to evade responsibility, and how to advocate aggressively for our clients.

Damages You Can Recover After Nursing Home Neglect or Abuse

After nursing home dehydration, you could find yourself:

Unable to work while your loved one needs your attention and care
Needing to account for unexpected medical bills and other expenses
Dealing with the emotional, traumatic aftermath of the neglect

Our personal injury lawyer can work by your side, step by step, as you pursue fair financial compensation for all abuse-related losses. This includes:

Your loved one’s suffering, including their physical pain, emotional distress, and any long-term health consequences (e.g., loss of cognitive or physical ability)
Your own suffering, including medical expenses you covered, the cost of changing nursing homes, and lost income

You trusted this facility to look after your loved one, and they failed to live up to their responsibility. Let The Rooth Law Firm provide compassionate legal representation you can rely on while your family focuses on recovery. Call now to speak with a firm that applies creative legal strategies to difficult cases.

Signs of Dehydration in Nursing Home Residents

Put simply, dehydration occurs when a person loses more fluids than they take in.

Signs of dehydration include:

Lethargy
Skin that is dry or lacks elasticity
Lack of urine
Urine that has an odd smell or color
Changes in mental state or capacity

If dehydration remains untreated, the resident may develop a fever, become increasingly confused, or be unable to keep fluids down. They may develop severe complications, including:

Low blood pressure
Kidney failure
Seizures
Loss of consciousness

In a worst-case scenario, dehydration can prove fatal.

Causes of Dehydration in Nursing Home Residents

A nursing home resident may become dehydrated if the staff fails to ensure they have access to fluids, check in regularly, and address any medical conditions that could lead to dehydration. These risk factors may be more likely to occur in homes that:

Do not hire sufficient staff
Do not train staff to look for and recognize symptoms of dehydration
Allow neglectful or abusive conditions to go unchecked or unpunished

What to Do if Your Loved One Is Dehydrated

If your loved one exhibits any of the above symptoms, or if you have another reason to suspect they are not getting the care they need (e.g., the staff never seems to be around), get help right away. The steps you take should include:

Speaking to the nursing home staff and asking about your loved one’s health and treatment plan
Taking your loved one to a doctor or hospital right away, if you are concerned about their immediate health
Following the doctor’s orders regarding how to safely rehydrate your loved one
Filing a complaint against the nursing home with the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) and/or another body

Dehydration is a potentially life-threatening condition, so you do not want to delay getting the care your loved one needs. Once they are stable, you can start thinking about your legal rights and discuss the situation with our law firm.

Why Do Nursing Home Residents Get Dehydrated?

For most people in good health, dehydration is not a serious problem: they are capable of recognizing when they are thirsty, and they have the physical and mental ability to get themselves a drink.

By contrast, nursing home residents are often elderly and/or disabled, so they are at much higher risk of:

Being physically incapable of getting water when they need it
Suffering from mental conditions, like advanced Alzheimer’s, that prevent them from recognizing when they need fluids
Having conditions or taking medications that may increase the likelihood of their becoming dehydrated
Having trouble swallowing, which makes it difficult to take in enough fluids

Nursing homes are required to conduct risk assessments that evaluate all of the above factors and determine how likely it is that any given resident is or will become dehydrated. If they fail to conduct the assessment or to act on the assessment results, The Rooth Law Firm can take swift and decisive action to hold them accountable.

Rooth Gets Results for Nursing Home Abuse Victims

The Rooth Law Firm understands that coping with nursing home neglect and abuse is often difficult for all parties involved. We work closely with victims and their families to ensure that you get the compensation you deserve and that no liable party gets away with their actions. Call now for a free consultation and find out what our Chicago nursing home dehydration attorney can do for you.

Frequently Asked Questions

How Hard Is It to Sue a Nursing Home?

Every case is different. Some are very straightforward and may not even go to trial. Others require extensive preparation and a full courtroom trial.

For us, the focus is not on how hard a case is but on how we can get justice for victims of nursing home negligence. Trust us to honestly tell you how complex your case might be and what we can do to advocate for you and make your life easier.

What Is Considered Negligence in a Nursing Home?

“Negligence” is any careless or reckless action or inaction that puts others at unnecessary risk of harm. In nursing home neglect cases, negligence could include failure to ensure residents receive adequate and appropriate food and drink, not performing regular check-ins, or not providing necessary medical care.

Negligence could also refer to nursing homes that ignore or refuse to investigate allegations of abuse or neglect.

How Long Do You Have to Sue a Nursing Home in Illinois?

Illinois law states that you have a two-year time limit for suing a nursing home. This countdown starts either:

From the moment the abuse happened
From the moment you knew or should reasonably have known about the abuse

Determining when this deadline begins and ends can be difficult, especially if you did not learn about the neglect right away or if the home’s neglectful actions took place over an extended period of time. The sooner you contact The Rooth Law Firm, the sooner we can tell you how much time you have to act.

How Do You Prove the Nursing Home Caused Your Loved One’s Dehydration?

We can collect many different kinds of evidence, including medical records that establish your loved one was dehydrated and testimony from the home’s staff or other residents that confirm the home did not take proper care of its residents. If there are any relevant prior complaints—from you or anyone else—filed against the facility, we can also include these in our casefile.

Nursing Home Dehydration Lawyer in Chicago, IL

ILLINOIS NURSING HOME ABUSE & PERSONAL INJURY LAWYER