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Belleville Nursing Home Lawyers

At The Cates Law Firm, LLC, we believe that family is important. When a family member is placed in the care of health care facility, be it for rehabilitation or assisted living or nursing care, we are relying on that facility to show the same compassion, care, and devotion that we would to our own loved ones. Unfortunately, too often, these facilities focus more on the bottom-line numbers, than on the care they provide. This can lead to the understaffing of facilities which results in a lack of adequate care being provided, or can lead to the hiring of inadequately trained staff, which can lead to dangerous and life-threatening errors being made in the care of patients or residents.

If your loved one was injured while at a nursing home or other long-term care or rehabilitation facility, contact the Belleville personal injury lawyers at The Cates Law Firm, LLC today at 618-277-3644.

Types of Nursing Home Neglect and Elder Abuse

Nursing home neglect and elder abuse are catch-all terms which we use to describe a number of different injuries which can occur at a nursing home, rehabilitation center, or assisted living center. The reality is, a family member at a nursing home can be exposed to many of the same kinds of negligence and abuse which occur in normal, everyday life. By way of example, nursing home residents are often the victims of:

This list illustrates just a few of the many ways a nursing home resident can be harmed. Documented cases exist of staff at nursing homes and rehabilitation centers leaving victims in their beds for days without turning them, which can lead to deadly bed sores. Staff has been caught failing to administer medicine, administering the wrong medicine, and failing to properly assist residents, which can cause serious injury and death.

Residents have also been subjected to being restrained, physically abused, emotionally abused, food and water deprivation, left to lay in squalid conditions, or forced to remain soiled in urine or feces without being cleaned, or other forms of general negligence.

Residents have also been injured in ways that many would not consider. Often times, the residents, or their families, sign contracts with nursing homes which provide for certain privileges to be granted to the residents. If these are not given, residents experience financial loss. Additionally, in some cases the nursing home, rehabilitation center, or assisted living center will overcharge for services, or charge for services it did not perform. This financial abuse can result in serious losses as well.

Obtaining Compensation for Your Loved One

When nursing home abuse and neglect occurs, someone suffers a loss. Losses may include physical or mental injury or financial damages. Our Belleville nursing home abuse lawyers can help you obtain compensation if your loved one suffered at the hands of care facility staff. You may be able to obtain compensation for:

  • Disability
  • Disfigurement
  • Emotional distress
  • Loss of quality of life or loss of normal life
  • Medical expenses
  • Pain and suffering
  • Punitive damages

In most instances, the standards and regulations for properly providing care at nursing homes, rehabilitation centers, and assisted living centers are provided for in laws the legislature enacted to govern their conduct. These laws may also provide for financial penalties for conduct that falls below the applicable standard of care or rises to the level of outright abuse. In some cases, depending on the injuries complained of, punitive damages may be available. Punitive damages are those damages awarded not as mere compensation, but to deter future misconduct of those individuals or corporations who maliciously, intentionally, willfully, or wantonly cause harm to another.

Our Belleville Nursing Home Lawyers From The Cates Law Firm, LLC Can Help

An attorney can help you sort through these issues and assist you in determining if you or a loved one has a cause of action against the responsible wrongdoers. If you or a friend or loved one has been injured or died as a result of negligent or abusive care in a nursing home, rehabilitation center, or assisted living center, we may be able to help.

Call our Belleville personal injury lawyers today at 618-277-3644 or contact us online to let us know how we can help you.

Our office is conveniently located in Swansea, and we provide experienced representation throughout Illinois, including the communities of Carbondale, Chester, East St. Louis, Edwardsville, Granite City, Waterloo and Madison County, Monroe County and Randolph County.