How to Value a Nursing Home Abuse Claim

Nursing home negligence or nursing home abuse occurs when nursing home administrators, personnel, nurses, physicians, physician aids and other medical providers harm a nursing home resident or long-term care resident. The effects of nursing home abuse and negligence can be subtle or catastrophic. The families and loved ones of nursing home residents who have been injured or have died because of nursing home abuse or negligence should know what the value of a potential case might be.

In nursing home abuse and injury cases, Illinois is guided by the Illinois Nursing Home Care Act and federal law. Where a nursing home resident is a victim of nursing home abuse, he or she or the family of a nursing home abuse resident is entitled to pursue damages. Many nursing home abuse cases are caused by understaffing, neglect, medication errors, unprotected falls, pressure sores, dehydration, poor nutrition and general abuse. Injuries suffered by a resident of a nursing home can only be compensated because the damage has already taken place only further medical care can correct the problem of injury, but death is irreversible.

Another important consideration by lawyers who handle these cases is who the nursing home owner is and who should be held responsible for the damages? Many times private investment companies and groups are the replacement for the small family owned nursing home facility. Experienced nursing home abuse lawyers, like Kreisman Law Offices will need to dig through the complex web of ownership in many cases.

The value of any nursing home abuse case is dependent on the injury or the level and severity of the abuse that caused the injury or death. It can be said that the value of a nursing home case is based on two things: economic damages, both past and future and noneconomic damages for past and future as well. One of the better ways to evaluate a nursing home abuse case and a potential for compensation is to relate this case to other known jury verdicts and settlements. That can be done simply by researching the verdicts and settlements in similar cases in Cook County and surrounding areas of Illinois. It is also useful to research the kind of injury that a nursing home resident has suffered.

Economic damages are the past and future medical and therapeutic expenses which may include surgeries, hospitalizations, medical devices and past and future medication.

Noneconomic damages are those that cannot be exactly calculated. I have always said that noneconomic damages fall below the imagined “blackline”, whereas economic damages are easy to write because they are known and are above the imaginary blackline. In Illinois, noneconomic damages include past and future pain and suffering; mental anguish, grief and sorrow, disfigurement, loss of normal life and wrongful death are recoverable and are not capped by any state law. In Illinois there are no noneconomic damage caps as that piece of legislation has been many times found to be unconstitutional.

In any nursing home abuse or negligence case, it is vitally important that the family or resident contact an experienced nursing home abuse attorney.

Importantly, Kreisman Law Offices has 40 years of experience handling, trying and settling nursing home abuse and negligence cases and wrongful death cases associated with nursing home abuse or negligence. Our cases have been successfully handled in Cook County, Illinois, California, Missouri, South Carolina, Ohio, Tennessee, Wisconsin and many other jurisdictions.

Robert Kreisman of Kreisman Law Offices has been handling nursing home abuse cases and wrongful death cases for more than 40 years. Kreisman Law Offices has prevailed in trials and settlements in Chicago, Illinois and surrounding communities and has successfully resolved cases for those injured or killed by nursing home abuse.

With our 40+ years of experience in trying and settling nursing home abuse and malpractice cases, Kreisman Law Offices provides the best possible services to our clients and have achieved unsurpassed results. Our service is unmatched. Please call us 24 hours a day at 312.346.0045 or toll free 800.583.8002 for a free and immediate consultation, or complete a contact form online. There is no charge for a consultation that will include an evaluation of your case, assessment of damages such as lost income, lost wages, medical and hospital bills, past and future pain and suffering, loss of normal life and wrongful death.

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