Nursing Home Negligence
When understaffing and cost-cutting lead to substandard care, injured residents and their families have legal options.
Free Case ReviewNursing home negligence occurs when a facility fails to provide the standard of care that its residents are entitled to, resulting in harm. Unlike abuse, which involves intentional acts, negligence is about failures — failure to staff adequately, failure to train properly, failure to monitor residents, and failure to follow established care protocols.
At Maples, Connick & Brendel, we hold negligent nursing homes accountable for the harm their failures cause.
Common Forms of Nursing Home Negligence
Inadequate staffing is the root cause of most nursing home negligence. When facilities do not hire enough qualified staff to care for their residents, the consequences ripple across every aspect of care. Medications are administered late or incorrectly. Call lights go unanswered. Residents are not repositioned regularly, leading to pressure sores. Fall prevention protocols are not followed. Infections go undetected or untreated. Nutritional and hydration needs are not met.
Other common forms of negligence include failure to properly assess residents upon admission and develop appropriate care plans, failure to follow physician orders, inadequate supervision of staff, failure to maintain a safe and clean environment, delayed response to medical emergencies, and failure to properly communicate between shifts about resident conditions.
The Corporate Problem
Many nursing homes are operated by large corporate chains that manage dozens or hundreds of facilities. These corporate operators often set staffing levels, budgets, and operational policies that prioritize financial performance over resident care. When corporate cost-cutting leads to understaffing and substandard care, the corporate entity — not just the individual facility — should be held accountable.
We investigate the corporate structure behind the facility to identify all responsible entities and all available sources of compensation.
Proving Negligence
Establishing negligence requires showing that the facility owed a duty of care to the resident, that it breached that duty by failing to meet accepted standards, and that the breach caused the resident’s injuries. We build this case through detailed analysis of medical records and care plans, expert testimony from geriatric care specialists and nursing professionals, facility staffing records and payroll data, state inspection reports and deficiency citations, and the facility’s own policies and procedures compared to their actual practices.
If your loved one has been harmed by nursing home negligence, contact us for a free case review.
Frequently Asked Questions
Negligence is established through medical records showing the resident’s condition deteriorated under the facility’s care, expert testimony about what proper care should have looked like, staffing records showing inadequate coverage, and facility inspection reports. An experienced attorney can guide this investigation.
Arbitration agreements in nursing home admissions contracts are increasingly scrutinized by courts. Depending on the state and circumstances, these agreements may be unenforceable. Do not assume an arbitration clause prevents you from pursuing a claim — consult an attorney.
Negligence involves failures in care — things that should have been done but were not. Abuse involves intentional harmful acts. Both are grounds for legal action, and in many cases, a pattern of negligence can enable or conceal abuse.