DELAND ELDER ABUSE ATTORNEYS

At the heart of every personal injury case is discovering the cause of an incident or series of events that caused the victim harm. The attorney that you hire from Morgan and Morgan completes an exhaustive investigation into your case to determine the cause of the elder abuse committed by a facility or an individual responsible for the welfare of a senior citizen. During our more than three decades of providing highly-rated legal services, the personal injury lawyers at Morgan and Morgan have come across four of the most common causes of elder abuse in Florida, as well as across the United States.

Lack of Workers

The lack of workers in the healthcare industry remains one of the most common causes of elder abuse. Stretched thin at properly credentialed facilities, professionals responsible for taking care of the welfare of seniors assume more caretaking duties during already incredibly busy daily schedules. The result can lead to accidental caretaking errors such as forgetting to provide proper nutrition and/or failing to follow correct hygiene strategies. In addition, overworked professionals tasked with the care of dependent senior citizens often miss the obvious signs of elder abuse. 

Poor Screening Methods

Florida has enacted a long list of criteria a facility or an individual must meet to provide elder care in the Sunshine State. This includes obtaining the proper licensing credentials, as well as following numerous protocols that ensure the well-being of the most vulnerable seniors. Facilities and individuals that provide elder care services should undergo extensive background checks to prevent the hiring of someone who has a criminal record, especially if the criminal record includes instances of elder abuse. Unfortunately, far too many elder care facilities either do not take the time and/or do not have sufficient financial resources to conduct comprehensive background checks.

Not Enough Training

The labor shortage in the healthcare industry also has negatively impacted the training elder care professionals receive before assuming the duties required for taking care of dependent seniors. Because of a lack of elder care professionals, many facilities cut corners to get new hires up to speed as quickly as possible. Lack of training frequently causes elder care issues like not knowing the proper procedure for responding to medical emergencies. Although hiring the right personality remains an important employee recruitment criterion, possessing knowledge on how to care for seniors is just as important to ensure the safety of nursing home residents.

Medication Errors

Eldercare facilities and the individuals that provide healthcare services for seniors oversee the dispensing of prescription medications that address a wide variety of health concerns. Whether it is prescribing the wrong drugs or issuing a prescription for the wrong dosage, medication errors remain one of the most common causes of elder abuse cases in Florida. The key to proving negligence when it comes to prescription medications involves gathering copies of prescription records and then comparing the information to the recommended type and quantity of drug approved for an elderly resident of a state-certified facility.

Because of the reasons listed above, elder care professionals might miss the signs that indicate elder abuse. This means loved ones must assume the role of a detective when uncovering elder abuse, which involves knowing the signs to look for that might indicate abusive behavior.

Physical Signs

Physical signs, such as bruises and bedsores, indicate the most obvious signs of elder abuse. Other physical signs that should raise an alarm of elder abuse include cuts, lacerations, and pressure ulcers. A caretaker who loses patience with an elderly resident might commit an act that produces a fractured bone. Less obvious, yet just as serious signs, include constant fatigue and acute malnutrition. Since most elderly residents of nursing homes do not have the ability to defend themselves, physical abuse can be a recurring event that quickly deteriorates the health status of a senior citizen.

Emotional Signs

The emotional signs of abuse are much more difficult to detect than the physical signs of elder abuse. This is especially true for a nursing home patient who lives with some degree of dementia. Emotional abuse signs typically develop slowly over an extended period, such as a resident showing signs of depression and/or anxiety. Physical abuse can generate the symptoms of an emotional condition called Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), which is a common affliction endured by members of the military and victims of violent crimes. If you are not sure whether a loved one suffers from emotional abuse, contact one of the elder abuse attorneys in DeLand, Florida to discuss your case.

Financial Abuse

Not every sign of elder abuse concerns the mental and physical well-being of a nursing home resident. Seniors are particularly vulnerable to falling victim to financial scams, such as unknowingly participating in a Ponzi scheme or allowing a caretaker to control personal finances. If you discover unusual activity in a loved one’s financial records, that should raise a red flag that your loved one might be a victim of financial abuse. A recently opened bank account or suspicious credit card transactions represent two common signs of elder financial abuse conducted by a caretaker.

Although you have many reasons to hire one of the experienced elder abuse attorneys in DeLand, Florida, one of the most compelling reasons concerns filing a civil lawsuit that seeks monetary damages before the expiration of the statute of limitations. Each state sets a deadline for filing a personal injury lawsuit. Most states have mandated a statute of limitations for personal injury cases between two and four years, with a few states allowing up to six years for plaintiffs to take legal action. Florida has established a statute of limitations for personal injury cases of two years for most types of cases. However, plaintiffs filing elder abuse lawsuits have just two years to take legal action. The clock starts ticking on the filing of an elder abuse lawsuit in Florida on the date of the first elder abuse. However, you might receive an extension of up to two more years if you did not immediately detect elder abuse.

Although four years appears to be plenty of time to file a civil lawsuit that seeks monetary damages, you should act with a sense of urgency by taking legal action as soon as possible after the discovery of elder abuse. You are responsible for taking care of every financial obligation connected to the elder abuse case until you receive compensation in the form of a settlement or the favorable judgment issued by the judge hearing your case. Filing a civil lawsuit quickly after discovering elder abuse helps you receive compensation sooner than if you wait to file close to the expiration of the statute of limitations. Your attorney also wants the expedient filing of a civil lawsuit to receive the most accurate version of events from witnesses such as family members and healthcare professionals. 

If you fail to meet the statute of limitations for filing a personal injury lawsuit in Florida, expect the court clerk processing your case to remove it from the judicial docket.

The objective of any lawyer that you hire for legal representation during an elder abuse case is to get your loved one just compensation for enduring pain and suffering. You have three options for receiving compensation that includes economic, non-economic, and punitive damages. The key to receiving the compensation that your loved one deserves involves submitting overwhelmingly persuasive physical evidence, as well as the statements provided by witnesses.

Get the compensation your loved one deserves by scheduling a free case evaluation today with one of the elder abuse attorneys in DeLand, Florida from Morgan and Morgan.