If someone you love has been abused or neglected at a nursing facility in Columbus, Georgia, call the Mark Casto Personal Injury Law Firm. You trusted the nursing home to keep your disabled or aging family member safe. Our Columbus nursing home abuse lawyer is here to help you hold them accountable for the devastating injuries and harm they’ve inflicted.
Since 2016, the Mark Casto Personal Injury Law Firm has been a trusted advocate for injured nursing home residents and their families. Our top-rated Georgia trial attorney, whose experience spans more than 26 years, isn’t afraid to take on tough cases and go toe-to-toe with powerful corporations. Our results speak volumes, with tens of millions in damages recovered.
Don’t let the nursing home and your loved one’s caretakers off the hook without consequence. Let our award-winning legal team fight for you. Contact our Columbus, GA, law office today by calling (706) 940-4030. Your first case evaluation is absolutely free.
How the Mark Casto Personal Injury Law Firm Can Help Victims of Nursing Home Abuse in Columbus, GA
You need to spend time helping your family member recover from the traumatic abuse they’ve experienced at the hands of a Columbus nursing home. You also deserve to exercise your right to hold that nursing home fully responsible for the harm it’s caused.
You can do both when you turn to our Columbus personal injury lawyer for help.
Choosing the Mark Casto Personal Injury Law Firm means having our award-winning Georgia trial attorney take charge of your nursing home abuse case. In turn, you have the opportunty you need to focus on your family.
Count on us to handle all aspects of your legal fight for damages:
- Conduct an independent investigation into your family member’s care and treatment
- Evaluate medical records, patient charts, provider notes and communication, patient living conditions, photographs and video footage, witness statements, and other key pieces of evidence
- Depose your family member’s caretakers, members of the nursing staff, and nursing home administrators
- Calculate what your nursing home abuse case is likely worth
- Enlist the services of expert witnesses and specialists who can provide insight and guidance throughout the claims process
- Force the nursing home to choose between making you a fair settlement offer or going up against our acclaimed litigators at trial
Your family has one shot at getting justice from an abusive nursing facility in Columbus. Our law firm wants to help you make the most of it. We represent clients on contingency, so there’s no cost unless we win compensation for your nursing home abuse case.
Contact our law offices in Columbus today to get started. Members of our team are available to schedule a time for your free case evaluation right now.
What Is Nursing Home Abuse?
Nursing home abuse, which refers to a caretaker’s intentional or unintentional mistreatment of a resident, can take many different forms. This includes physical abuse, psychological abuse, financial abuse, sexual abuse, and neglect.
Physical Abuse
Physical abuse is exactly what it sounds like – the physical mistreatment of a nursing home resident.
Examples of physical nursing home abuse include:
- Hitting
- Shoving
- Pushing
- Pulling a resident’s hair
- Using unnecessarily tight restraints
Residents who experience physical abuse often suffer broken bones and fractures, burn injuries, cuts and lacerations, and soft tissue injuries.
Psychological/Emotional Abuse
Caretakers don’t have to lay a finger on residents to abuse them. Many times, abuse is emotional or psychological.
Examples of psychological nursing home abuse include:
- Name-calling
- Teasing and taunting
- Isolation
- Abandonment
- Preventing a resident from spending time with peers
- Refusing to allow a resident to have visitors or take phone calls
- Making treats or causing a resident to become fearful
Residents who are subjected to emotional abuse can become depressed, develop anxiety, isolate themselves from others, and have noticeable changes in their mood and behavior.
Financial Abuse
Many financial crimes target the elderly. Aging residents in Columbus nursing facilities are no exception.
Financial abuse can occur when a caretaker or facility:
- Steals a resident’s identity
- Misappropriates resident funds
- Forges checks in the resident’s name
- Fraudulently uses a resident’s credit card
- Steals a resident’s personal property or cash
Always keep track of a nursing home resident’s finances, including their bank statements and credit card purchases. If something seems off, it’s important to investigate.
Sexual Abuse
Sexual abuse occurs when a resident is forced to take part in or watch sexually explicit activities without their consent. This might involve forcing a resident to have sex with a caretaker, forcing residents to have sex with each other, or forcing residents to watch sexual activities.
Neglect
Nursing homes are responsible for caring for their residents and ensuring their basic needs are met. Too often, nursing home residents suffer because their needs are either forgotten or ignored.
Some of the more common examples of nursing home neglect include:
- Depriving a resident of necessary food, water, or medical attention
- Failing to provide a resident with prescribed medication
- Failing to move a patient periodically to prevent bed sores or pressure ulcers
- Failing to help a patient with limited mobility move around their room and the premises
- Allowing a resident who suffers from dementia or memory issues to wander
Neglect can be more difficult to identify than abuse. Signs of neglect can include dehydration, malnutrition, serious medical issues, and unexplained injuries.
How Common Is Nursing Home Abuse?
Nursing homes are supposed to be a safe place for our aging and disabled family members. Unfortunately, research suggests that abuse is rampant in nursing homes across the nation and around the world.
In fact, a study conducted by the World Health Organization (WHO) revealed that two out of three nursing home caretakers surveyed admitted to abusing a resident within the past year.
In total, roughly one out of every 6 people aged 60 and over are believed to be victims of abuse. Given that nursing home abuse and neglect are likely underreported, the true rate of abuse is likely much higher.
What Types of Damages Can Be Awarded in a Columbus Nursing Home Abuse Case?
When you discover that a nursing home is responsible for abusing or neglecting someone you love, it can cause outrage. It can also give you the right to take legal action and force the nursing facility to take responsibility for the harm it’s caused.
Through a nursing home abuse lawsuit, you’ll be able to seek a recovery of compensatory damages.
Compensatory damages can include both economic and non-economic damages for:
- Current medical bills
- Future medical expenses
- Rehabilitation and physical therapy
- Costs paid out-of-pocket
- Funeral expenses following a resident’s wrongful death
- Pain and suffering
- Reduced quality of life
- Physical scarring and disfigurement
- Post-traumatic stress disorder
- Loss of consortium
- Emotional distress
- Chronic physical pain
Punitive damages may also be awarded if a nursing home abuse lawsuit goes to trial and a jury is convinced that caretakers acted intentionally or displayed gross negligence in the treatment of your family member.
Don’t worry about how to recover compensation for your loved one’s nursing home abuse injuries and trauma. Leave your fight for compensation to our nursing home abuse attorney in Columbus. You focus on what’s most important – your family member’s health and road to recovery.
Where Can I Report Nursing Home Abuse in Columbus?
If you know, believe, or suspect that a resident is being abused or neglected at a nursing facility in Columbus, Georgia, you need to report it.
You can call the Healthcare Facility Regulation at 800-878-6442 or file a report online.
It’s also important to notify the local police, especially if you believe that a resident is in imminent danger. The police can respond more swiftly, conduct an investigation, and remove a resident from harm’s way if necessary.
What Is the Statute of Limitations on Nursing Home Abuse Lawsuits in Georgia?
When you’ve discovered that a resident has been abused or neglected at a long-term nursing facility in Columbus, Georgia, it’s important to take prompt action. The statute of limitations for most nursing home abuse cases is just two years.
Once the filing deadline passes, your family will lose the right to take legal action against an abusive or negligent nursing home.
However, there are exceptions that can change the time limit for some cases. Protect your rights and increase the odds of a successful outcome by calling our Columbus nursing home abuse attorneys right away.
Schedule a Free Consultation With an Experienced Columbus Nursing Home Abuse Lawyer
When a resident at a nursing home in Columbus, Georgia, is abused, the facility has to be held accountable. Don’t try to take on a powerful nursing facility on your own. Call the Mark Casto Personal Injury Law Firm, and ask our award-winning Columbus nursing home abuse lawyer for help.
We’re ready to invest 26+ years of experience and a top-rate reputation into your family’s fight for justice.
We offer a free consultation, so call our Columbus law office to get started now.
