Has someone you care about been the victim of nursing abuse or neglect at a long-term care facility in Palm Beach Gardens, FL? Contact the Kibbey Wagner Injury & Car Accident Lawyers team, or call (561) 944-4000, for a free consultation. Our experienced Palm Beach Gardens nursing home abuse lawyers can help you pursue maximum damages.
For over a decade, we have been a fierce and loyal advocate for injury victims and their families in Florida. Backed by over 80 years of combined legal experience, our top-rated legal team has helped clients win $500 million (and counting) for severely injured clients. Now, we’re ready to help your family stand up to a nursing facility and demand justice for the harm your family member has suffered, too.
Why Choose Kibbey Wagner to Handle My Family’s Nursing Home Abuse Lawsuit in Palm Beach Gardens, FL?
At Kibbey Wagner, we understand the immense challenges your family faces in holding a nursing home accountable for your loved one’s injuries. Your family may have a limited window to seek justice under Florida law, and we are here to help you navigate that difficult path.
Hiring our Palm Beach Gardens personal injury lawyers to handle your family’s nursing home abuse lawsuit can help you make the most of your fight for damages.
Members of our team have received the following recognitions and awards:
- Board Certified Civil Trial Attorney
- The National Trial Lawyers Top 100
- The National Trial Lawyers Top 40 Under 40
- Florida Super Lawyers
We’ve been five-star rated by hundreds of former clients on Google, which speaks volumes about the types of relationships we build and the life-changing case results we achieve on a daily basis.
Contact our law office serving Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, to arrange a free consultation.
How Is Nursing Home Abuse Defined in Florida?
Nursing home abuse occurs when a caretaker mistreats a nursing home resident. It happens more than you might think. In fact, when surveyed, two-thirds of nursing home caretakers admitted to abusing a resident in some way.
Nursing abuse can manifest in different ways. There are five primary classifications: physical, emotional/psychological, sexual, financial, and neglect.
Physical Abuse
Physical abuse occurs whenever a caretaker intentionally or willfully inflicts bodily harm upon a nursing home resident. Common examples of physical abuse include hitting, pushing, using unnecessarily tight restraints, shaking, grabbing, and pinching.
Signs that a nursing home resident is being physically abused can include unexplained bruising and broken bones, complaints of pain, and red marks on wrists or ankles.
Emotional Abuse
Emotional abuse is the most common type of nursing home abuse. This occurs whenever a caretaker intentionally and maliciously causes a resident to suffer emotional distress.
Emotional abuse can often involve name-calling, isolating a resident from family and other residents, humiliating a resident in front of others, belittling a resident, ignoring a resident’s needs or requests, intimidation tactics, treating a resident like a child, or blaming them for problems.
Sexual Abuse
Sexual abuse of nursing home residents can occur whenever a resident is forced to engage in or watch sexually explicit activity without their consent. Residents who are sexually abused by their caretakers at a nursing home might develop unexplained infections or diseases, exhibit signs of emotional abuse, or show signs of excessive restraints on their bodies.
Financial Abuse
The elderly are often targets of financial abuse, especially when they’re in nursing homes and assisted living facilities. Having earned the trust of residents, caretakers have a unique opportunity to exploit those residents financially by stealing their identities, using their credit cards for personal purchases, misappropriating resident funds, or stealing personal property.
Nursing Home Neglect
Residents aren’t just abused in nursing homes; they can be neglected, too. Neglect involves failing to fulfill a resident’s needs for food, water, medication, medical care, personal care assistance, and socialization.
Signs of neglect in a nursing home facility can include dehydration, malnutrition, worsening medical conditions, bed sores and pressure ulcers, infections, and unexplained changes in mood or behavior.
What Is My Family’s Nursing Home Abuse Case Worth?
A lot of factors will impact the potential monetary value of a nursing home abuse lawsuit in Palm Beach Gardens, FL.
- What physical injuries has your loved one suffered?
- Will your loved one suffer lifelong consequences because of the abuse?
- Did your loved one have to be hospitalized?
- Will your loved one need to transfer to a different nursing facility?
- Has your loved one been the victim of financial abuse?
- If so, what is the extent of their financial losses?
- How has the abuse affected your loved one’s day-to-day quality of life?
The more severe the injuries and trauma, and the greater the related financial costs, the more a personal injury claim for damages might be worth.
What Damages Can Be Awarded to Victims of Nursing Home Abuse in Palm Beach Gardens?
In a Florida nursing home abuse lawsuit, your family may be able to pursue compensatory damages and request compensation from a nursing home, certified nursing assistant, medical professional, or anyone else who might be liable for a resident’s injuries.
Compensatory damages can include both economic and non-economic damages for:
- Current and future medical expenses
- Physical therapy and rehabilitation
- Personal care assistance
- Out-of-pocket expenses
- Loss of enjoyment of life
- Pain and suffering
- Post-traumatic stress disorder
- Mental anguish
- Emotional distress
- Chronic physical pain
- Disfigurement and scarring
- Embarrassment
- Restitution for financial losses
Punitive damages can also be awarded to victims of nursing abuse if there’s clear and convincing evidence that a nursing facility was grossly negligent or malicious.
How Much Does It Cost to Hire a Nursing Home Abuse Attorney in Palm Beach Gardens?
Your family won’t pay anything out-of-pocket to hire our nursing home abuse attorneys in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. We represent families on a contingency fee basis.
You only have to pay us if we secure compensation for your family’s nursing home abuse case. Our fees will be deducted from the financial award we obtain on your loved one’s behalf.
We Handle a Wide Range of Nursing Home Abuse Cases
We have extensive experience representing clients and families in cases involving:
- Bed sores and pressure ulcers
- Slip and fall accidents
- Elopement
- Abandonment
- Malnourishment
- Dehydration
- Medical negligence
- Medication errors
- Sexual abuse
- Financial exploitation
- Burn injuries
- Catastrophic injuries
When a nursing home cuts corners to save costs and fails to put its residents’ best interests front and center, serious, even life-threatening injuries can occur. Our personal injury law firm is dedicated to righting these wrongs by helping the victims and their families seek justice.
How Long Does My Family Have to File a Nursing Home Abuse Lawsuit in Florida?
Most nursing home abuse lawsuits in Florida are subject to a two-year statute of limitations. This means your family will have two years from the last known date of nursing abuse to formally seek damages in a civil lawsuit.
If your loved one has died because of nursing abuse or neglect at a Palm Beach Gardens nursing home, your family will typically have two years from their passing to file for wrongful death.
Don’t let too much time go by before you take action. When the filing deadline passes, the nursing facility and other liable parties will no longer be financially responsible for their harmful actions.
Schedule a Free Consultation With an Experienced Palm Beach Gardens Nursing Home Abuse Lawyer
If someone you love has been abused at a nursing home in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, we are here to help. The nursing home should be held accountable, and our top-rated legal team is equipped to help your family fight for compensation.
Our Palm Beach Gardens nursing home abuse attorneys have over 80 years of combined experience and have recovered hundreds of millions of dollars. When you hire our law firm, you make it clear that you won’t back down until things have been made right.
We offer a free case review, so reach out to Kibbey Wagner today to schedule a free consultation.
