Nursing Home Injuries/Abuse

 

Residents of nursing homes are some of society’s most vulnerable individuals. Injuries sustained by nursing home residents are an unfortunate reality. Still, not all injuries sustained within the walls of a nursing home are preventable, and not all injuries involve fault or wrongdoing on the part of the facility or its staff. But some absolutely do. And still others may involve particularly egregious neglect or willful abuse of a resident.

Wagstaff & Cartmell attorneys have seen both sides of the argument, having had the opportunity to represent nursing home facilities and more recently residents, along with surviving heirs of deceased residents in nursing home lawsuits.  In 1997, shortly after the firm’s inception, Wagstaff and Cartmell began representing nursing homes in Kansas and Missouri.  Wagstaff and Cartmell more recently though has devoted much of its resources in this practice group toward successfully litigating cases for nursing home residents and their families in such states as Kansas, Missouri, Arkansas, Arizona, and Alabama.  Notably, in 2007, Tom Cartmell obtained a $3 million verdict, including over $2.5 million in punitive damages, against a nursing home on behalf of the estate of a 73-year-old resident who developed pressure sores on both his right and left heels from inadequate care and positioning, and the sores progressed and became severely infected, which led to the amputation of both of the resident’s legs. In addition, Tom Wagstaff, Jr., in 2010, on behalf of the heirs of a long term care resident, successfully resolved a long term care case involving a fall and death, as well as significant claims involving staffing and training, against an assisted living facility for policy limits.  Wagstaff and Cartmell attorneys have also successfully litigated many other cases on behalf of nursing home residents to resolution including a choking case of an elderly resident that resolved for $195,000; a fall case and subsequent fracture to the right distal humerus of an elderly home health patient for $450,000; a pressure ulcer case for $850,000; and numerous confidential results against both local and national nursing home companies some of which exceeded the then existing state statutory damage cap.

Nursing home cases litigated by attorneys at Wagstaff & Cartmell are not limited to, but have involved issues such as:

  • Abuse
  • Amputations
  • Decubitus Ulcers
  • Diet & Nutritional Errors
  • Falls
  • Medication Errors
  • Infection
  • Staffing
  • Training

Through these experiences, what has been learned is the art of evaluating and prosecuting these types of cases.  It takes knowledge and know-how to evaluate the oftentimes voluminous nursing home charts, the nursing home polices, and the staffing records, along with the state and federal regulations and reports pertaining to the facility.  These cases also require aggressive investigation that includes speaking with treating healthcare providers, speaking with former employees, speaking with governmental regulators, deposing key nursing home personnel at both the clinical level as well as at the management level, and working with the right expert witnesses.  Wagstaff & Cartmell is proud to have had the opportunity to represent both plaintiffs and defendants in nursing home litigation, and we believe our balanced perspective lends weight and credibility to the positions we advance on behalf of our clients. We also believe that is another reason why our firm’s lawyers are frequent speakers at educational and trial seminars on the subject of nursing home litigation and long term care.