There are many options for long-term care in the 63141 zip code and surrounding areas of St. Louis County. Whether your parent or loved one is under the care of Delmar Gardens, Creve Coeur Manor, or another facility, you want them to be safe, healthy, and happy. Unfortunately, even reputable nursing homes can be the location of neglect, abuse, and resulting injuries to residents.
If your loved one suffered negligence in a nursing home in Creve Coeur, they deserve justice. Their damages may include pain and suffering, medical costs, relocation expenses, and more. A Creve Coeur Nursing Home Negligence Attorney from The Bruning Law Firm will work to hold the liable nursing home responsible for its negligence.
Our firm has an office in Creve Coeur, and we know the facilities in the area. We will prioritize your loved one’s financial recovery, safety, and justice.
Why Victims of Elder Abuse and Neglect Choose The Bruning Law Firm to Represent Them?
The attorneys at The Bruning Law Firm have a compassionate approach to the law. We put ourselves in your shoes, asking: What would we do if our loved one suffered neglect in a nursing home?
We would feel outraged, and we’d do everything possible to hold liable parties accountable. That is what we will do for you.
When you review our firm’s testimonials, you’ll find that our clients choose us because:
- We have impressive case results: Our firm has secured several multi-million-dollar recoveries. While each case involves different damages, we work hard in every case to get the money the client deserves. Nursing home neglect and abuse can cause serious injuries, which may require a significant financial recovery.
- We are local: We have an office in Creve Coeur, which is not something every law firm serving the area can say. Our proximity to your loved one will allow us to handle the case seamlessly and provide in-person legal service.
- We offer a team of experienced, capable attorneys: Our attorneys are dedicated to their craft and our clients. We handle cases in our own unique way, providing an unrivaled level of client service. Put simply, we will handle your loved one’s nursing home negligence case correctly.
- We serve the client’s best interests: Every decision we make will be in your best interests. We’ll consult you if there is a question about how to proceed or what you want us to do. While we are your advisors providing guidance and advice, it is your case.
- We make it easy to hire us: Our team asks for no upfront compensation when it comes time to hire The Bruning Law Firm. Our firm will cover every case-related expense, and you will only provide us with a fee if we win your case.
Should we get a settlement or judgment for you, our firm will receive a reasonable percentage of the financial recovery. You won’t pay us anything if we don’t get the compensation you deserve. This way, you have complete financial protection when you hire The Bruning Law Firm.
What Qualifies as Neglect in a Nursing Home Setting?
Unfortunately, our attorneys have seen how nursing homes fall short of their duty to residents. These facilities must provide the best possible care, but too often, care is neglectful or even abusive.
There are several forms of elder mistreatment, one or more of which may be relevant to your loved one’s case.
This mistreatment includes:
Emotional and Psychological Abuse
The abuse that distresses the victim intentionally can include:
- Verbally threatening
- Name-calling and other forms of degradation
- Ignoring a victim
- Humiliating acts
Caregivers should be compassionate, consistent, and always working to improve the client’s well-being. Emotional and psychological abuse clearly violate the caregiver’s duty of care to their patient.
Physical Abuse
Any unwanted physical contact can qualify as abuse, especially if the physical abuse is tangibly harmful.
Examples of physical abuse include:
- Slapping
- Punching
- Pinching
- Burning
- Shoving
- Kicking
Even pretending to strike an elderly person may qualify as physical abuse. This is a particularly insidious form of mistreatment, as it inflicts both physical and psychological harm upon the victim.
Neglect
Neglect is perhaps the most common type of elder mistreatment. A caregiver or facility is neglectful if it fails to meet the patient’s basic care needs.
This can mean failing to:
- Feed your loved one regularly and help them consume their food and liquids
- Administer medications regularly and appropriately
- Rotate the patient in their bed, ensuring that pressure sores don’t develop
- Help the patient bathe, use the bathroom, and be hygienic
- Meet any other of the patient’s needs
Understaffing is a common problem in nursing homes and other elder care facilities. Understaffing puts caregivers under unreasonable pressure, leading to serious, potentially fatal health outcomes.
Financial Exploitation
Financial predators may view the elderly as vulnerable targets and steal from or otherwise exploit them. Nursing homes may also engage in fraudulent billing practices that constitute financial exploitation.
Our firm can review all relevant records and determine if you or your loved one have experienced financial exploitation.
The Bruning Law Firm Will Help Diagnose Any Mistreatment Your Loved One Suffered in a Creve Coeur Nursing Home
We take a comprehensive view of your loved one’s care in a nursing home, and we’ll spot any mistreatment that has occurred.
We will review your loved one’s case and identify mistreatment by:
- Collecting any evidence of wrongdoing that you already possess
- Getting any relevant records from the nursing home in question
- Working with experts in elder mistreatment issues
- Working with doctors who are familiar with any injuries your loved one has suffered
- Working with mental health professionals who diagnose psychological and emotional mistreatment of the elderly
Once we have determined that your loved one suffered abuse, neglect, or exploitation, we will fight for justice. Our duties in nursing home negligence cases typically include:
Diagnosing the Victim’s Damages
Damages are the central focus of every civil case, including elder mistreatment cases.
Our firm will identify and document your loved one’s damages, possibly using:
- Incident reports from the nursing home
- Financial statements that show the impropriety
- Medical records
- Medical images of your loved one’s injuries
- Your loved one’s account of events
- Any other relevant documentation
Available documentation varies from one elder mistreatment case to the next. The Bruning Law Firm team will gather all documentation to help us get justice for your loved one’s damages.
Securing All Evidence of Mistreatment
Our team will work to secure evidence of your loved one’s mistreatment. We may find video footage, witness accounts, written reports, and other evidence that proves a nursing home facility failed to properly care for your loved one.
Getting Expert Testimony
Experts can add much credibility to a nursing home negligence case. The Bruning Law Firm hires experts at no additional cost to you.
These experts may:
- Testify that your loved one suffered mistreatment
- Help us calculate the cost of your loved one’s damages
- Explain the medical and psychological damage of your loved one’s mistreatment
- Explain exactly how the nursing home failed in its duty to protect your loved one
We regularly work with experts on elder abuse and neglect cases. We’ll be ready to retain and use any experts that can benefit your loved one’s lawsuit.
Leading Settlement Negotiations
We generally try to resolve nursing home negligence cases through a settlement. If the liable facility is willing to cover your loved one’s damages without us having to go to trial, we’ll advise that you accept a fair settlement.
Your loved one likely wants to move forward from this painful chapter in their life. They will be in a better position to do so with fair compensation.
Completing Any Necessary Trial
While a settlement is generally preferable, The Bruning Law Firm always anticipates a fight from liable parties. A negligent elder care facility may be unwilling to admit wrongdoing or to cover your loved one’s damages as it should. In this case, we’ll be ready to go to trial.
Civil injury trials are rare, but nothing is off the table. The Bruning Law Firm is committed to getting the compensation your loved one deserves, whether by settlement or judgment.
Recoverable Damages in a Nursing Home Negligence Case
Every elderly client we represent has unique damages. The Administration for Community Living (ACL) reports that elders lose about $2.9 billion each year from financial exploitation alone. The cost of medical care, therapy, relocation, and other expenses from elder mistreatment presents an even greater cost.
The Bruning Law Firm will determine the exact cost of your loved one’s damages, which may include:
Medical Expenses
The cost of medical care can be immense when the patient is elderly. Your loved one may suffer more serious injuries and take longer to recover due to their age, and medical bills may reflect this.
Our team will seek compensation for:
- Emergency care
- Surgery
- Hospitalization
- Medications
- Any other medical services and items resulting from mistreatment
A liable facility should have to cover the cost of your loved one’s injuries.
Relocation-Related Costs
If your loved one has moved or plans to move from an unsafe facility, that facility may pay for moving expenses. From the cost of movers to the cost of enrolling at a new facility, we’ll seek total reimbursement for moving-related expenses.
Pain and Suffering
Compensation for pain and suffering is common in elder mistreatment cases.
We will identify all forms of pain and suffering that your loved one endured, which may include:
- Emotional and psychological distress
- Physical pain
- Depression
- Anxiety
- Fear for their life
- Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
Each person responds differently to abuse and neglect, though in most cases, the response is not good. Your loved one may have endured a harrowing experience, and we’ll make sure their case reflects that.
Treatment for Pain and Suffering
Pain and suffering stands on its own as a type of damage. We’ll also seek compensation to cover treatment for pain and suffering. This may include counseling, medications, and other treatments for psychological and emotional symptoms.
If your loved one passed away and you believe their mistreatment played a role, The Bruning Law Firm can lead a wrongful death case for you. We seek compensation for funeral expenses, pain and suffering, and other damages that result from a loved one’s tragic passing.
Nursing Home Facilities Must Surpass a High Standard of Care, But Often Fail
When a nursing home accepts a resident, they implicitly vow to protect and care for that patient. Too often, nursing homes make decisions that put residents at serious risk of harm, including injury and death.
Having represented victims of elder abuse and neglect, we see the many ways that nursing homes fail their residents.
Some common forms of negligence include:
- Understaffing, which is often an attempt to cut costs
- Failing to monitor the residents, either electronically or with an attentive and robust staff
- Hiring caregivers who are unfit, unmotivated, or otherwise unqualified
- Failing to train staffers properly
- Failing to suspend or terminate caregivers who prove inadequate
- Engaging in financial misconduct, including overbilling
The nursing home business is not an easy one. Nevertheless, the facility that housed your loved one chose to house them. Its staffers and administrators had a duty to provide your loved one excellent care or at least meet their basic needs.
If a nursing home failed your loved one in any way, The Bruning Law Firm wants to hear about it. Our team is familiar with nursing home negligence cases, and our team serving Creve Coeur is ready to start your case today.
Call The Bruning Law Firm Today for a Free Consultation About Your Nursing Home Negligence Case
Whether you suffered mistreatment or you’re representing a loved one, reach out to our personal injury law firm in Creve Coeur as soon as possible. We may face a deadline for filing your nursing home negligence case, and we want to ensure that the liable facility does not destroy evidence.
Call The Bruning Law Firm today for your free consultation. There is no fee or obligation when you contact us at (314) 266-6950 or contact us through our website.
Client Testimonial
"When other law firms failed me. Bruning Law Firm came through for me. They did a great job and were able to get me more compensation than I expected. Couldn't be more pleased. Truly glad these folks were there for me. Took care of everything. Truly pleased. Thank you Ryan and Alice." - Joseph F.
Rating: 5/5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
February 2020
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