When loved ones become incapacitated, many Maryland families select a skilled facility to provide care for them. Personnel at the facilities are expected to see to patients’ everyday needs, such as feeding and hygiene, as well as medical needs, like administering medication, therapy or diagnostic tests. When a facility fails to do this, the results can be devastating. A woman in another state filed a civil lawsuit for nursing home negligence against a facility, which also faced criminal charges for the same incidents.
The woman’s husband had entered a facility in 2011 due to symptoms from Huntington’s chorea, a neurological disease that is a combination of Lou Gehrig’s disease and Parkinson’s disease. When that facility closed, he was transferred to a new nursing home. However, she began seeing many signs of neglect during her frequent visits to see her husband. He indicated he was hungry and was also left in soiled clothing and linens on several occasions.
Although the man was unable to move or communicate, he was aware of what was going on around him. Food and water would be left by his bed, despite the wife’s insistence that she would come to feed him if the home was short-staffed. He lost roughly 75 pounds while he was a resident there. The woman installed a camera to determine exactly what was going on after no improvements were made. The New York Attorney General’s Office became involved after watching the video footage.
In 2014, 17 employees of the facility were arrested four months after the man’s death on charges of endangering the welfare of a physically disabled person, falsifying business records and willful violation of public health laws. There were no fines levied against the facility by the state of New York, according to records. The man’s widow is pursuing a civil lawsuit against the nursing home.
Losing a loved one is always painful, no matter what the circumstances. However, when the loss has been caused by the gross negligence of people or a company, it seems all the more tragic. Many families may choose to pursue litigation for nursing home negligence against the parties believed responsible for the loss. A Maryland personal injury attorney can help families seek an award that would provide compensation for medical expenses and any additional damages that are applicable.
