Earlier this year in a Maryland nursing home, the family of an 85-year-old woman who died in an nursing home filed suit against the facility that was supposed to be caring for their loved one. According to one local news report, the family claims that their loved one died without any staff member at her side, despite hours of complaints of pain and requests for help from family members.
Evidently, the family of the woman was at the nursing home just 30 hours before her death, and they recorded their loved one in agony, moaning and crying for help. Allegedly, despite the woman’s efforts, as well as those of her family members, no nursing home staff member came to attend to or to assist the woman. Eventually, her family left her side, and 30 hours later she died.
The woman’s family filed a case against the nursing home, alleging that the home’s negligence was the cause of the woman’s early death. The woman’s daughter-in-law told reporters that she was pleading with the nursing staff, “Why can’t you help her? Why you gotta get somebody? Why can’t you just help her?”
The lawsuit filed by the family also claims that the nursing home provided inadequate care, resulting in an unexplained fracture in the woman’s right arm and an unexplained dislocated left arm. The family submitted the case to the State Department of Health, which determined that there was no evidence of wrongdoing on the part of the nursing home. However, the family has since sent in the video showing the woman in agonizing pain and has asked the Department to reconsider its earlier determination.
Proving a Nursing Home Negligence Case in Maryland
While nursing homes have an affirmative duty to provide a certain level of care to all their patients, when something goes wrong they rarely step up to the plate and admit liability. Therefore, it is usually only after a lengthy investigation that a nursing home’s culpability can be established.
The ways to prove a that a nursing home was negligent and responsible for a loved one’s death vary, but they generally require some kind of evidence of neglect. For example, video evidence and eyewitness testimony are common. However, if neither of these forms of evidence exists, cases can proceed on circumstantial evidence alone.
Circumstantial evidence is evidence that doesn’t directly prove the alleged fact (i.e., that the nursing home was negligent) but gives rise to an inference. Depending on the situation, circumstantial evidence can be just as convincing as direct evidence. To learn more about nursing home negligence cases, speak with a dedicated Maryland nursing home attorney.
Has Your Loved One Suffered in a Maryland Nursing Home?
If you have a loved one who you believe suffered inexplicably in a Maryland nursing home, you may have a case against the facility for nursing home negligence. Cases arising out of nursing home negligence are almost always unique and depend heavily on the surrounding facts. However, a successful plaintiff may be entitled to a substantial monetary award. To learn more, call one of the dedicated Maryland personal injury attorneys at Lebowitz & Mzhen Personal Injury Lawyers at 410-654-3600 today to set up a free consultation.
See More Blog Posts:
Nursing Home Pays $1.4 Million to Settle Lawsuit, Maryland Nursing Home Lawyer Blog, published June 16, 2015.
Nursing Home Charged with Covering Up Alleged Patient Abuses, Maryland Nursing Home Lawyer Blog, published May 21, 2015.