Basic Needs Neglect

Nursing home residents are often frail and dependent upon others to satisfy their basic needs, including the requirements for appropriate food, adequate water, regular hygiene, and physical safety. Unfortunately, the nursing homes, assisted living centers, and long term care facilities charged with this task all too often violate their duty to those whose vital care has been entrusted to them. Serious medical conditions, including bedsores and malnutrition can result, leading to declining health or even death in an elderly nursing home patient. Rockland County nursing home negligence attorney Valerie J. Crown is a strong advocate for those who have been neglected or abused in a nursing home environment, including those who have suffered due to basic needs neglect.

The simple fact is, if a nursing home resident was capable of providing for his or her own basic needs, he or she would likely choose to be at home, rather than in an institutionalized setting. While some residents may be able to feed themselves or see to some of their personal hygiene needs, help with basic needs is often the primary driving force behind the decision to place a family member in a nursing home. Thus, reasonable attention to such matters is both necessary and expected. When basic needs neglect is occurring, legal action is appropriate.

Nursing home negligence lawsuits are usually founded upon the principals of negligence law. When one party owes a legal duty – such as the duty of due care that a nursing home owes a patient – and this duty is breached, the individual or business that breached the duty may be held monetarily liable for damages that proximately resulted. This includes pain and suffering, medical costs, and other losses incurred by the patient due to the nursing home’s failure to act in a reasonably prudent manner under the circumstances. When a patient is no longer competent to make legal decisions for himself or herself, a family member may step in and assert a formal claim in court on the resident’s behalf.

If a nursing home patient passes away due to basic needs neglect, the patient’s family or estate should consult with a knowledgeable nursing home abuse and negligence attorney about the possibility of filing a wrongful death lawsuit on the deceased resident’s behalf. While this cannot bring the neglected individual back, it can help offset expenses associated with his or her death and send a powerful message to nursing home and other facilities charged with the care of the elderly. Nursing home residents should be treated with dignity and respect. They should be fed a proper diet that provides for their nutritional needs, they should receive an adequate amount of hydration, they should be kept clean, and they should be physically safe in their bed or chair.

Knowing that a loved one who cannot care for himself or herself is suffering or has passed away due to a nursing home’s neglect of his or her basic needs can be both heartbreaking and infuriating. If you have found yourself in this situation and are ready to talk to a New York nursing home attorney, the Law Firm of Valerie J. Crown, Attorney at Law, P.C., is here to take your call. Just phone us at 845.708.5900, contact us online, or call Valerie’s cell phone 24/7 at 845.598.8253. We represent nursing home negligence and abuse victims in Rockland County and Greater New York, including in Dutchess, Westchester, Orange, and Ulster Counties. We also handle emotional and psychological abuse cases, as well as enforced isolation claims on behalf of New York residents confined to a nursing home or long-term care facility. There is no charge for the consultation, so there is no reason to put off this important call.