Nursing Home Abuse Lawyer in Chicago

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If your loved one suffered a nursing home injury due to neglect or abuse, The Rooth Law Firm can fight for justice on your behalf. We are wholeheartedly committed to protecting the rights of nursing home injury clients, and our legal team offers the personalized legal strategies and dedicated service that you deserve.

Give The Rooth Law Firm a call today to find out how our Chicago nursing home abuse lawyer can help you with your case. We have helped countless clients in and around Chicago with their nursing home abuse cases and are ready to assess your case for free.

Can You Sue a Nursing Home?

If a nursing home has been negligent, you may certainly sue them, although many cases end in a pretrial settlement instead of litigation and a courtroom trial.

Our personal injury law firm has over 40 years of experience in dealing with nursing home abuse, so we understand how to research each individual case. The Rooth Law Firm can:

• Tell you what the merits of your case are
• Identify the liable party or parties, which may be the nursing home itself, an individual working for the home, or another company working with or contracted by the home
• Determine what kinds of damages you and your loved one are entitled to
• Fight hard for the compensation you deserve

Our personal injury attorney is driven by a strong sense of fairness: it is not fair that your loved one was subjected to nursing home abuse, and it is not fair for your family to have to shoulder the resulting financial burden alone. The nursing home should pay for what they have done, and we can hold them accountable.

Let us work with your family to make things right.

How Long Does it Take to Settle a Nursing Home Lawsuit?

Any lawsuit is a time-consuming process. How long your case takes depends on how complex it is, the availability of evidence, and the home’s willingness to cooperate with your case, among other factors.

There are several steps to any lawsuit:

• First, you can call us for a confidential consultation. An assistant will ask you a few questions about your case.
• You will then speak with an attorney. The attorney will evaluate the details of your case.
• Once you are a client, we will sign an agreement with you and begin to investigate your claim. We will look at what happened in your particular case and collect evidence to establish that the nursing home was negligent. We will then prepare the lawsuit to file in court.
• If the nursing home had you sign an arbitration agreement, we may have to assess whether we can strike down the arbitration agreement to allow us to proceed with filing a lawsuit.
• After the lawsuit is filed and proceeds through litigation, we may be able to negotiate a settlement with the nursing home, or we may have to go to take the case to trial. In either setting, we will fiercely advocate for your rights and seek just compensation.

It will take considerably longer to resolve your case if we have to go to court, but we never back down from a challenge: Robert Rooth has extensive trial experience and is not afraid to confront abusive nursing homes in the courtroom.

What Is the Statute of Limitations for Nursing Home Abuse?

A statute of limitations is the amount of time a person has to file a lawsuit. Statutes of limitations are set to protect the defendant from unfair or frivolous lawsuits and to protect the plaintiff so that critical evidence does not get old, lost, or thrown away before they have their day in court.

If a person has been abused or injured in a nursing home in Illinois, they generally have two years from the time the abuse took place to sue the nursing home.  There are exceptions to this rule and each case must be considered based upon its own particular circumstances. If you are suing for the wrongful death of a loved one, you will have two years from the time of death to sue. If the abuse took place in a government-run facility, the time limit may be shorter.

Our attorney can tell you which deadline applies in your case. Then, if you hire us, we can take swift action to meet that deadline and protect your family’s rights.

How Much Can You Sue a Chicago Nursing Home For?

The answer to this question is different for every plaintiff. The amount you ask for depends on factors like what kind(s) of abuse your loved one was subjected to, how long the abuse went on for, and what the short- and long-term effects of the abuse are.

Common types of damages that our legal team can pursue for clients include but are not limited to:

• Past and future medical expenses
• Your loved one’s pain and suffering, lost quality of life, and new or worsened disabilities
• The cost of relocating your loved one to a new nursing home

If your loved one passed away from abuse-related injuries, please accept our condolences for your loss. We can hold the at-fault parties accountable by seeking damages like funeral expenses, loss of companionship, and final medical bills.

Be aware that the nursing home may offer you a fast settlement soon after learning about your case. This offer will not necessarily reflect all of your losses. Do not sign any documents or accept any settlements until The Rooth Law Firm has had a chance to review the offer and any conditions attached to it.

What Rights Do Nursing Home Residents Have?

Under the Nursing Home Reform Act (NHRA), patient rights include:

• The right to privacy
• The right to participate in the review of their care plans
• The right to welcome or refuse visitors
• The right to necessary medical care, including psychological and social care
• The right to choose a physician
• The right to voice grievances without discrimination or retaliation
• The right to be fully informed in advance about any changes in care
• The right to communicate freely

What to Do if You Suspect Nursing Home Abuse

It is critical for family members to know about residents’ rights and to recognize the signs of nursing home abuse and neglect. If you notice that a loved one or any other nursing home resident appears unwell, injured, anxious, or fearful, file an elder abuse report with the appropriate authorities. This could include:

• The Chicago Police Department
• Adult Protective Services (APS)
• The Illinois Department of Public Health (DPH)

Your first priority is your loved one’s health and wellbeing. Once you are sure they are safe, call The Rooth Law Firm for a free consultation regarding your family’s rights. We are available 24/7 to provide legal support and guidance.

Types of Nursing Home Abuse

There are many ways in which nursing home workers abuse residents. The most common types of abuse in nursing homes are:

Physical Abuse

Any action that causes unnecessary physical pain or distress, from pushing the resident to using chemical or physical restraints, counts as physical abuse. Signs to watch out for include:

• Excessive bleeding
• Bruises, cuts, welts, burns
• Broken or fractured bones
• Unintentional weight loss
• Depression and constant anxiety
• Dehydration and malnutrition
• Infections
• Open wounds
• Physical discomfort
• Poor hygiene
• Pressure sores
• Skin irritation
• Unexplained falls

Other signs of physical abuse include no explanation for injuries and no accountability for what happened when an injury occurred.

Financial Abuse

Staff members who financially abuse residents could be:

• Using or misusing a resident’s money or property without their knowledge or permission
• Forcing a resident to sign financial papers
• Forging the resident’s signature
• Getting the resident to sign or alter a will, power of attorney, deed, or other type of financial contract through coercion, manipulation, or undue influence

Laws regarding financial abuse can be complicated. Our nursing home abuse attorney can help determine whether you have reason for concern and a viable case.

Emotional Abuse

Emotional abuse may be harder to notice than other kinds of abuse and neglect because the signs tend to be subtle. One sign of abuse is silence and fear of speaking in front of nursing home care providers. Victims of emotional and other types of abuse may feel that the abuse is their fault when it is not and try to rationalize or deny it.

Emotional abuse may include:

• Threats
• Insults
• Mockery
• Belittlement
• Shouting or screaming

Sexual Abuse

Sexual abuse may include the staff member forcing the resident to disrobe or participate in sexual acts, the staff member exposing themselves to the victim, or staff failing to intervene when one resident harasses or assaults another.

Like many other types of abuse, this one may be very difficult to notice, and residents are often scared to report it. Some signs of sexual abuse in nursing homes may include:

• Bruising
• Emotional withdrawal
• Fearfulness
• Difficulty sitting or walking
• Sexually transmitted infections
• Recurring urinary tract infections

Neglect

While other forms of abuse involve staff actively doing something to the resident, nursing home neglect is the opposite: staff do not pay sufficient attention to the resident and ignore their needs. This can result in:

• Malnutrition
• Dehydration
• Bedsores
• Falls
• Lack of healthcare

Lack of Monitoring During Anticoagulation Therapy

Anticoagulation therapy is provided to certain nursing home residents to prevent blood clotting. If a patient’s vital statistics are not monitored when they are taking anticoagulants, the effects can be devastating.

Unfortunately, some nursing homes are understaffed, and the staff does not have enough time to monitor residents the way they should. Some employees are simply lazy and neglect to do their job.

If your loved one needs anticoagulation therapy, you should ask the home how often they monitor residents who are undergoing this treatment.

Causes of Nursing Home Neglect and Abuse

Most nursing home abuse can be traced back to the home’s administrators, owners, or managers, who all too often try to make money at the expense of the health and safety of residents. Rather than make repairs, provide essential care items, or expand their nursing team, they line their pockets.

Key reasons for nursing home abuse and neglect often include:

Poor Staff Pay

When nursing home staff is not paid fairly for the difficult yet critical work they do, the result is often staff who do not put in the effort required to fulfill residents’ needs.

In addition, low pay can lead to high turnover: with staff constantly rotating in and out, you end up with employees who do not fully know and understand the residents. A resident’s particular needs can also get “lost in the shuffle” when turnover is high.

Inadequate Staffing

Nursing homes are reimbursed by Medicare and Medicaid, but they have to abide by certain federal and state guidelines to receive this money. Managers may intentionally reduce the staffing at their facilities in order to save money, meaning there simply are not enough people to care for all of the residents.

In many nursing home abuse cases, the nursing home facility and members of the staff are jointly responsible, which could make your claim or lawsuit more complex. The Rooth Law Firm’s nursing home neglect lawyer can fight for justice by holding all liable parties accountable and pursuing the financial compensation your family needs.

Do Not Let Abusive Nursing Homes Get Away With Their Wrongdoing

At The Rooth Law Firm, we treat every client as a unique individual who requires a personalized legal strategy. At the same time, all of our clients have something in common: they have just experienced the worst day of their life and are looking for compassionate, competent, and aggressive legal representation. Our Chicago nursing home abuse lawyer can provide that representation. Call now to learn more.