New York Personal Injury Attorney Justin Varughese explains various investigation methods to determine whether there was abuse or neglect in a nursing home.
Watch as Justin Varughese of Leitner Varughese discusses various techniques of investigating and prosecuting cases of neglect and abuse against nursing home residents.
If you have a loved one in a nursing home and something just doesn’t seem right, you might be wondering HOW you go about determining whether they have been neglected or abused. Far too often, when a concerned family member asks a staff member about how an injury came about, answers are hard to come by. So how can we know what happened?
Well, there’s an important and time sensitive process to investigate nursing home injuries. Our first step will be to gather medical records from the nursing home and any hospitals to which the resident has been transferred around the time of the injury.
By examining and scrutinizing the nursing home records, in consultation with a geriatric expert, we can determine what types of things were done for the resident that shouldn’t have been done, and what things should have been done that weren’t done to protect the resident from injury. This comes by reviewing the assessments, care plans, orders and notes within the nursing home chart.
Reviewing hospital records is also crucial because a hospital will often be more candid about a resident’s condition than a nursing home record might since the injury likely took place at the nursing home. Along with expert physicians and nurses, we would analyze the hospital records for any transfer admissions to get a full picture of what’s happening.
Another crucial step in investigating injuries is to gather any surveillance footage including videos. This is one of those things that is time sensitive because nursing homes may not retain the footage for very long. As part of the investigation process, it is important to put the facility on notice that they must preserve and turn over a copy of the relevant surveillance footage surrounding the injury.
To investigate fully, it’s also important to speak with nursing staff members and even former employees of the facility to gather information about what happened. Gaining an understanding of how they viewed the resident helps us identify the shortcomings in the care planning and treatment that caused injury to the resident.
Finally, when there has been an injury at a nursing home, it is vitally important to get the New York State Department of Health of involved. The DOH welcomes complaints and inquiries from family members and they investigate these complaints for the public’s well being.
In fact, in some circumstances, nursing homes are required to report certain incidents to the Department of Health and when we learn that they failed to do so, it further demonstrates the nursing home’s negligent conduct.
Investigation into an injury at a nursing home can be complex, so it’s important to have someone advocating for you. Our firm is dedicated to investigating and prosecuting cases of neglect and abuse against nursing home residents.
If you or a loved one has been injured in a nursing home – whether you’ve sustained a fracture due to a fall, developed a bed sore, or been injured in any other way due to the neglect of a nursing home, we want to investigate on your behalf and hold the perpetrators accountable.
If you have any questions about injuries sustained in a nursing home, I invite you to call us at (212) 671-1110, or visit us online at www.lvlawny.com, to discuss your legal options. Visit our website where you can view more videos and media content from our law firm.
Leitner Varughese PLLC www.lvlawny.com LONG ISLAND OFFICE 425 Broadhollow Road, Suite 417 Melville, New York 11747 212.671.1110 Main NYC 631.240.4390 Main L.I. 631.240.4386 Fax 855 LV LAW NY Toll Free NEW YORK CITY 14 Penn Plaza, Suite 1718 New York, New York 10122 212.671.1110 Main
