Have you or someone you love been abused at a nursing home in Houston, Texas? Call Attorney Brian White Personal Injury Lawyers at (713) 500-5000 for a free consultation. You can take legal action against the caretakers and the nursing facility. Our Houston nursing home abuse lawyers can help you fight for the financial justice you deserve.
Attorney Brian White Personal Injury Lawyers fights for the rights of the injured. Backed by 45+ years of combined experience handling delicate and high-stakes personal injury cases, we’ve helped our clients recover tens of millions of dollars in settlements and jury awards. Contact our Houston, TX, law office to get started. There’s no charge for an initial case review.
Table of Contents
Why Trust Attorney Brian White Personal Injury Lawyers for Help With a Nursing Abuse Claim in Houston, TX?
Accusing a respected nursing home or caretaker of abuse can be intimidating. The legal process can seem overwhelming. You’ll only have one opportunity to recover compensation through a nursing abuse lawsuit, so it’ll be important to make the most of it. That’s why it’s important to turn to an experienced Houston personal injury lawyer for help.
Victims of abuse and neglect turn to Attorney Brian White Personal Injury Lawyers during these challenging times because we’re a team of compassionate, skilled, and respected legal advocates with a multi-million-dollar track record of victory.
Our team is led by a Board Certified Civil Trial Lawyer and includes attorneys who’ve been recognized as:
- The National Trial Lawyers Top 100
- Expertise Best Personal Injury Attorneys in Houston
- Members of the Multi-Million Dollar Advocates Forum
- Super Lawyers
We’re honored to have received Avvo’s Client Choice Award, which reflects the top-tier legal services we provide to injury victims and families in the greater Houston, TX, metropolitan area.
We have the resources and experience needed to force the nursing facility to do the right thing and extend a life-changing settlement offer. If they don’t, our award-winning litigators won’t hesitate to take your nursing home abuse lawsuit to trial.
We offer a free consultation, so contact our Texas nursing home abuse attorneys in Houston to discuss your situation today.
What Is Nursing Home Abuse?
Nursing home abuse broadly refers to the mistreatment of a nursing home resident by the facility or its caretakers. It happens more often and affects more people than you might think, too. Surveys indicate that two out of three caretakers have admitted to abusing a nursing home resident.
Abuse can include physical abuse, emotional/psychological abuse, sexual abuse, neglect, financial abuse, or some combination of these things.
Physical Abuse
Physical nursing home abuse occurs when a caretaker intentionally causes a resident to suffer bodily injury or harm.
Some common examples include:
- Hitting
- Pushing
- Shoving
- Using unnecessarily tight restraints
- Hair pulling
Signs of physical nursing home abuse can include unexplained bruising, cuts and lacerations, broken bones, and sudden changes in behavior – such as fearfulness or wincing around a caretaker.
Emotional Abuse
Emotional nursing home abuse occurs when a caretaker intentionally causes a resident to suffer from significant mental distress through non-physical actions.
This can include:
- Taunting, teasing, or embarrassing a resident in front of others
- Isolating a resident and not allowing them to interact with other residents or their family members
- Name calling
- Yelling at a resident
- Making threats of physical violence
- Blaming residents for problems they haven’t caused
- Gaslighting
- Emotional manipulation
Signs of emotional or psychological abuse can include sudden changes in mood or behavior, an unwillingness to see or communicate with family, depression, and anxiety.
Sexual Abuse
Nursing home residents are often at an increased risk of being sexually abused by their caretakers. Abuse can involve forcing a resident to engage in sexual activity with a caretaker or another resident, or forcing the resident to observe sexual activity.
Neglect
Neglect refers to an intentional or careless failure to provide the level of care required to keep a patient safe.
Neglect can involve:
- Failing to provide adequate food and water
- Failing to seek or provide necessary medical treatment
- Withholding medication
- Abandonment
- Isolation
- Failing to protect a resident from physical harm or threats to their safety
Signs of neglect can include unexpected physical injuries, withdrawal, confusion, fearfulness, bedsores, weight loss, malnourishment, and dehydration.
Financial Abuse
Some caretakers may take advantage of residents by stealing their identity, misappropriating funds, taking physical property, or using a resident’s credit card without their consent or knowledge.
How Much Is My Nursing Home Abuse Case Worth?
Victims of nursing home abuse will have wildly different experiences. So, there’s no standard value for nursing home abuse claims. Instead, the specific circumstances of each case – and the challenges each victim endures – drive valuation.
Important things that have to be considered when assessing how much money you can potentially recover through a nursing home abuse claim include:
- What types of physical injuries you’ve suffered
- The severity of those physical wounds
- Costs of medical care and ongoing medical treatment
- The need for rehabilitative services
- Changes in your quality of life
- Financial losses due to elder financial abuse
- Your age and life expectancy
The more the abuse changes your life, the more you can potentially expect to recover in a settlement agreement or jury award. Working with an experienced Houston nursing home abuse attorney can help to ensure that you know your claim’s worth and are in a position to secure the kind of case results you deserve.
What Compensation Can Be Awarded to Victims of Nursing Home Abuse in Houston?
When you file a civil nursing home abuse lawsuit against a Houston facility, you’ll be able to request two types of compensatory damages. Each serves a distinct purpose as you work to move on with your life.
Economic damages are awarded to cover the financial costs and losses associated with the nursing abuse, which often include:
- Transfer to a new nursing facility
- Rehabilitation and therapy
- Present and future medical expenses
- Out-of-pocket expenses
- Financial restitution for theft
Non-economic damages are awarded to help you deal with the more subjective life changes and struggles you experience as the victim of nursing abuse, and can include:
- Pain and suffering
- Emotional distress
- Loss of consortium
- Reduced quality of life
- Mental anguish
- Post-traumatic stress disorder
- Loss of consortium
- Disfigurement and scarring
A Harris County jury can also award punitive damages if there’s clear and convincing proof that the caretaker or facility acted with malice or gross negligence.
What Should I Do if I Suspect a Loved One Is Being Abused at a Houston Nursing Home?
If you believe that someone you care for is being neglected or mistreated in a nursing home, assisted living facility, or rehabilitation center in Houston, Texas, it’s important to take prompt action.
Call the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS) at 1-800-252-5400 or report the abuse online.
Contact the Houston Police Department, especially if you believe that your loved one is in imminent danger. Police can be dispatched to the nursing home to ensure their safety and document any obvious evidence of abuse.
It’s also important to seek medical treatment and/or therapy outside of the nursing facility so that any physical trauma or emotional changes can be diagnosed and treated.
Once you’ve taken these steps, contact an experienced nursing home abuse lawyer in Houston, TX, to evaluate your family’s legal rights and options. There might be the opportunity to take legal action, which can help to secure compensation for your family and potentially prevent others from suffering the same type of abuse.
How Much Does It Cost to Hire a Nursing Home Abuse Attorney in Houston?
We represent clients on a contingency fee basis. There’s no cost to hire our personal injury law firm unless we win your nursing home abuse case.
When we win, our attorney fees are recovered out of the settlement agreement or jury award we’ve obtained on your behalf.
How Long Do I Have to File a Nursing Home Abuse Lawsuit in Texas?
In Texas, most nursing home abuse lawsuits, including those related to a resident’s wrongful death, are subject to a two-year statute of limitations. If you lost a loved one due to the negligence of someone else, it is important to call a Houston wrongful death lawyer near you soon.
This gives two years from the last known date of abuse or a resident’s passing to formally file a lawsuit against the nursing home, a caretaker, a healthcare provider, or another liable party.
Once time runs out, you’ll no longer have the opportunity to hold the nursing home accountable for its inexcusable actions.
Schedule a Free Consultation With an Experienced Houston Nursing Home Abuse Lawyer
Don’t let the nursing facility off the hook without consequence. Make them take responsibility for the abuse that’s changed your family’s life forever. Better yet, call Attorney Brian White Personal Injury Lawyers and let us fight for you.
Our Houston nursing home abuse attorneys are top-rated litigators with a multi-million-dollar track record of success. We fight for clients as if they’re our own family members, and we don’t rest until they’ve been made whole.
We offer a free consultation, so reach out to our law office in Houston, TX, to speak with members of our team about your nursing home abuse case today.