Don’t Confuse Nursing Home Negligence with Medical Malpractice

While complications from nursing home negligence may also be considered medical malpractice, these two areas of the law are not the same thing.

• Medical malpractice usually concerns negligent behavior such as wrong site amputation, failure to diagnosis a condition or actions that caused birth injury. Clearly, these few examples would not be considered nursing home negligence
• Nursing home negligence cases generally involve a pattern of sub-standard care. They are usually not “moments in time” or particular acts. Nursing home neglect is the ongoing failure of nursing home employees to do their jobs.

Here’s a good example: Bedsores do not develop overnight. Nursing home workers are supposed to turn immobile patients constantly – every two hours is suggested. If the floor gets busy, someone calls out, there is an emergency – whatever the circumstance – and the worker fail to adjust your loved one’s position once or twice, it won’t cause a bedsore to develop. However, repeated negligence of this important task will cause painful bedsores that can have extremely serious side effects for your relative. Similarly, dehydration is the result of longer term negligence. Not responding to a patient’s call for a cup of water, while still unacceptable, won’t cause dehydration.

On the other hand, if a nurse in an elder care facility doesn’t administer required medication on schedule, that may very well be a case of medical malpractice.

Also worth noting is the fact that nursing home abuse can, in fact, happen in the blink of an eye and cause significant harm. Examples of nursing home abuse may be hitting a patient causing bruising or humiliating a patient by yelling at them, etc.

The nursing home sector is big business. As with any business, owners try to cut financial corners sometimes to pad the bottom line. However, if a nursing home’s decision to put profits before people is hurting your loved one, don’t stand for it. Contact experienced nursing home abuse lawyer Barry Sugarman. He will hold the nursing home liable for negligence suffered by your elderly relative.