Maryland Nursing Home Lawyer Blog
When a Maryland nursing home accepts a resident into its care, the nursing home takes on a responsibility to provide a certain level of care for the resident. In most cases, this duty requires that nursing home staff provide the resident with any care, including medical care, needed by the resident. However, in certain situations, a nursing home’s duty expands, depending on the circumstances.
A good example of when a nursing home’s duty can expand is detailed in a recent article discussing a tragic situation in which eight nursing home residents died in the wake of Hurricane Irma, due to a power failure in a nursing home. According to the recent report, despite ample notice of the storm’s severity and the potential for upcoming disaster, the nursing home did not secure any back-up power source.
Thus, when the nursing home lost power a day into the storm, residents were left without the electricity necessary to power medical devices as well as the home’s air conditioning system. By some accounts, temperatures reached up to 106 degrees. Several residents were able to be moved to a hospital that was across the street that had secured back-up generators in anticipation of power loss. However, eight residents died as a result of the power outage in the nursing home.
A spokesperson for the nursing home told reporters that employees did all that they could to find alternative power sources, or in the alternative, places to transport residents. However, the state department of health condemned the nursing home’s actions, stating that it was “100 percent the responsibility of health care professionals to preserve life by acting in the best interest of the health and well-being of their patients.”
A family member of one of the deceased residents recently filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the nursing home, claiming that its failure to take the necessary precautions in the event of a power loss showed “negligence and reckless indifference” to the residents’ wellbeing. Since the lawsuit was so recently filed, it will not be resolved for some time. However, it is likely that the families of the other residents who died as a result of the power outage will file similar lawsuits.
Has Your Loved One Suffered in a Maryland Nursing Home?
If you have a loved one in a Maryland nursing home, and you believe that they have suffered due to some lapse in care, you may be entitled to monetary compensation. The dedicated Maryland personal injury and wrongful death attorneys at the law firm of Lebowitz & Mzhen Personal Injury Lawyers have extensive experience assisting the families of nursing home residents who have suffered abuse or neglect. To learn more, and to speak with a dedicated Maryland nursing home abuse attorney, call 410-654-3600 to schedule a free consultation. Calling is free, and we will not send you a bill for the time we spend on your case unless we are able to successfully help you obtain compensation for your loved one’s suffering.
More Blog Posts:
Nursing Home Abuse Frequently Goes Unreported, According to Recent Government Report, Maryland Nursing Home Lawyer Blog, published September 21, 2017.
Proving Abuse or Neglect in Maryland Nursing Home Cases, Maryland Nursing Home Lawyer Blog, published September 7, 2017.