When a Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, family makes the painful decision to put an aging or disabled loved one in a nursing home so that their relative can get the care he or she needs, the family is quite literally putting the life of the loved one in the nursing home’s hands. After all, poor care in a nursing home can both directly lead to death and, indirectly, hasten death by ruining a patient’s health.
Thankfully, most nursing homes in the Pittsburgh area are reputable and do their best for their patients. However, there are other not-so-good nursing homes that willingly cut corners to save money. Furthermore, even the good nursing homes are not perfect, and mistakes or even patterns of negligence can and do happen in these facilities.
Nursing home negligence can take many different forms. On one hand it can be an understandable but inexcusable professional error, like giving the wrong medication or administering the wrong dose of the right medication. In the more extreme cases, an out-of-control employee could fail to feed a patient, leading to malnutrition, or even hit or otherwise abuse the patient.
When a family suspects that a nursing home has breached their trust by harming their loved one, the family should realize that they have options. In this respect, attorney John A. Caputo has decades of experience representing victims of nursing home abuse and their families. While our staff understands that lawsuits and compensation cannot undo a family’s loss altogether, they can help bring closure to the family and compensate them for financial expenses that are, in reality, the responsibility of the negligent nursing home.