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New Orleans Lawyers Handling Claims of Elder Neglect
Strong advocacy for Louisiana seniors who are harmed due to neglect
The abuse of the elderly includes two types of misconduct. The first is physical, sexual, and emotional abuse. The second includes neglect, which is the failure of an individual or institutional caregiver to provide competent quality care for that senior. Elder care neglect has three essential parts: Owing a duty of care to someone, breaching that duty, and causing physical or emotional harm due to the breach. At-home caretakers, nursing homes, and other caretakers should know what challenges seniors in New Orleans have and take proper steps to prevent or reduce the severity of those challenges. When harm does occur, immediate medical care is essential.
At Garcia & Artigliere, our Louisiana elder abuse lawyers have more than 150 years of combined experience fighting for the elderly. Since 1993, we’ve helped thousands of seniors and families obtain strong settlements and verdicts, including many results for more than one million dollars. Our record of success is based on our understanding of the type of elder care and health care each caretaker must provide according to federal law, Louisiana law, any contracts, and the standards of care in New Orleans. We’re skilled at showing that caretakers failed to follow common-sense steps that would have prevented an elderly person from suffering harm.
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What acts are considered neglectful care of the elderly in New Orleans?
At Garcia & Artigliere, our New Orleans elder care neglect attorneys represent the elderly who suffer harm for many types of preventable reasons. Some of the types of neglect cases we handle include:
- A lack of essential needs. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) identifies food, clothing, shelter, water, cleanliness, and competent medical care as essential needs. These requirements should also be humane. Food should be nutritious and tasty. The beds and chairs should be comfortable. The senior should be able to choose his/her own clothes. Seniors should be well-groomed, bathe regularly, and look their best.
- Fall prevention care. Long-term care facilities, adult daycare centers, and other locations should be inspected for the factors that can cause a senior to fall. The floors should be dry and free of debris. There should be railings and guides that seniors can grab to keep their balance. The facilities should be designed to minimize the use of steps and anything such as accent rugs that could cause a senior to fall. The caregivers should be skilled at working with seniors who use assistive devices such as wheelchairs, walkers, and canes.
- Medical neglect . Any caretaker, such as a nursing home, should be able to promptly provide or arrange for quality medical care. Examples of medical neglect in New Orleans include:
- Failure to give the senior the correct medicines at the correct times in the proper dosages.
- Not understanding any dangerous drug interactions or reactions
- Failing to maintain accurate medical records
- The use of chemical restraints to keep a senior “calm” when the use of restraints is not medically advised
- Failure to identify, prevent, and treat various common senior maladies including bed sores, infections, scabies, bowel and bladder disorders, and other medical problems
- Emotional and social neglect. Private caregivers, elder care agencies, nursing homes, and other senior caretakers in New Orleans must help the elderly stay in communication with family, friends, and other residents – and engage in various social activities.
Caretakers of the elderly need to be extra careful when the senior they’re caring for has cognitive impairments such as Alzheimer’s or Alzheimer’s, physical disabilities, and emotional challenges.
Elder care neglect in Louisiana may cause:
- Bladder and bowel disorders
- Infections and infection complications
- Malnutrition
- Dehydration
- Broken bones
- Choking
- Flu and other contagious diseases
- Skin disorders
- Medication mistakes
- Wandering/elopement
- Withdrawal
- Anxiety
- Depression
Elder care neglect, tragically, may also be fatal.
Why do caretakers in New Orleans neglect the elderly?
Taking care of the elderly requires a lot of advance planning and daily monitoring. Nursing homes, home-healthcare agencies, and other elder care providers should work with engineers, architect, nursing home professionals, and other professionals to properly design and secure their facilities. Caretakers should employ or work with gerontologists, family doctors, and other care providers to anticipate, monitor, and treat the common healthcare conditions seniors have – along with their unique health problems.
Our New Orleans elder neglect attorneys review the policies and procedures that should have been in place to avoid neglecting the care of the elderly. We regularly work to show the caretaker:
- Was understaffed. Agencies and elder care facilities should have enough trained staff members to handle the problems that the people they care for have. Each member of the agency or facility should be properly licensed, certified, qualified, trained, and experienced. Overworked staff members are likely to make mistakes due to fatigue, stress, and lack of knowledge.
- Failed to vet its employee. Caretaker agencies and nursing homes should conduct background checks of their employees and contractors (according to federal and Louisiana law) to review if the worker might pose a danger to the elderly and whether any complaints have been filed against the worker – regarding the worker’s care of the elderly.
- Did not train and monitor the staff members. There are federal and Louisiana laws and regulations that govern the care of the elderly. Each agency and care facility should educate their workers about these rules and about the best practice guidelines for handling the various types of issues that are likely to arise when caring for seniors. The care providers should regularly monitor how well the staff members are complying with these rules and practices.
- Failed to have general written policies and procedures. Nursing homes and private elder care agencies should do more than educate their staff about their safety and care policies. The policies should be in writing so they can be quickly reviewed and understood.
- Failed to create and implement an individual care plans. Every elderly person has a unique set of health and elder care issues. Private caretakers and facilities should review with each senior, their doctors, and their families the unique concerns and needs of each senior in their care. Examples include whether the senior has cognitive challenges and the medication requirements for each senior.
According to the LA Illuminator, Louisiana does not have a strong record of investigating allegations of abuse of the elderly. The Governor’s Office of Elderly Affairs and Elderly Protective Services which helps protect people 60 and older found that the most common allegations of elder abuse and neglect (presented in 5,200 reports filed between 2017 and 2012) included “self-neglect (27%), caregiver neglect (24%), financial exploitation (18%) and emotional abuse (16%).”
What claims can seniors file if elder care in Louisiana is neglectful?
The elderly have rights. At Garcia & Artigliere, our New Orleans elder care neglect lawyers have been fighting for seniors since 1993. This fight includes helping seniors understand and assert their rights including the right to quality medical care and the right to file grievances and complaints when care is neglectful.
We help seniors who need to contact the police and register complaints with the Louisiana nursing home ombudsman.
The best course of action is to contact our New Orleans elder care attorneys as soon as possible if you suspect your loved one is not receiving quality care. We’ll explain what rights your loved one has, review the possible remedies, and file complaints to hold the responsible care providers accountable for any they cause due to Abuse or neglect.
Seniors who suffer harm due to neglect can claim damages for all their medical expenses, pain and suffering, any loss of income, the loss of quality of life, and any other harm. If your parent, grandparent, spouse, or other loved one died due to elder care neglect; we file wrongful death claims. The damages in wrongful death claims include funeral and burial expenses, any financial damages, and the loss of guidance, love, and companionship your loved one would have provided.
When the misconduct is especially unconscionable, we also seek punitive damages. We may also seek to move your loved one to a different facility.
Do you have an elder neglect lawyer near me?
Individuals, agencies, senior centers, nursing homes, and long-term care facilities all have a duty to provide competent care to the seniors they help. At Garcia & Artigliere, our New Orleans elder care neglect lawyers assert the rights of seniors to compensation for injuries that were preventable or treatable.
Talk with Garcia & Artigliere in Louisiana if a senior you care for has been neglected
At Garcia & Artigliere, our New Orleans elder abuse and neglect lawyers understand how to show caretakers violated their duty of care and all the damages that violation caused the senior. We handle all types of elder neglect cases. We’re respected by our former clients and the legal community for our impressive record of successful settlements and verdicts.
To hold caretakers accountable for elder care neglect, call or contact our offices in New Orleans today to schedule a free, case evaluation. We represent the elderly and their families across America maintain additional offices in Los Angeles, Long Beach, Louisville, and Phoenix. We handle elder care neglect claims on a contingency fee basis. Call us for help today.
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