Nursing Home Abuse & Neglect Attorney
Birmingham & Throughout Alabama

How Negligent Nursing Homes Try to Avoid Responsibility

An elderly woman sits in wheelchair in hallway of nursing home.

Nursing homes have a legal responsibility to provide high-quality care to their residents. They must ensure that residents’ basic needs are met and that they are safe throughout their stay. Facilities are also responsible for quickly intervening with appropriate medical care whenever a resident has an illness or injury.

Our law firm works to hold facilities accountable

Unfortunately, in far too many cases, nursing homes don’t meet that responsibility, and then they try to avoid accountability for the harm they cause. That’s why you need an experienced nursing home neglect lawyer to hold them responsible. We are familiar with the tactics nursing homes use to try to avoid liability, including:

Blaming the resident’s poor health or pre-existing conditions

By definition, anyone who resides in a nursing home has pre-existing health issues. When a resident becomes seriously ill or dies, the facility may blame their existing health condition and claim there was nothing they could do.

However, a resident’s pre-existing condition is not an excuse for a nursing home to fail to take proper care. Often, a resident’s existing health conditions are worsened by the facility’s negligence. An attorney may also be able to show that, while the resident did have existing health issues, the nursing home created a new issue that ultimately caused harm to the resident.

Blaming the resident’s own actions

Nursing homes may also argue that the resident refused to take their medication, got out of bed unassisted, or did something else that resulted in harm. Again, this is a weak excuse for the nursing home. It’s the facility’s responsibility to anticipate their residents’ behaviors and take appropriate precautions to keep them safe.

Compliance with minimum standards

Federal and state laws set minimum standards for nursing homes to operate in Alabama. Sometimes, a nursing home will argue that because they met the bare minimum required for licensing, they are not responsible for injuries or complications suffered by residents; after all, they did what they were supposed to do.

The reality is that licensing standards are the bare minimum, not a guarantee of competent care. Nursing homes are responsible for their residents’ health and safety, and meeting that responsibility usually requires doing more than the bare minimum. An experienced nursing home negligence attorney can prove that the nursing facility should reasonably have done more to protect the resident’s health.

Unreasonably delaying claims

Nursing homes and their insurance companies know that victims of abuse and neglect often don’t have much time. They may drag out the process in hopes that the victim and their family will accept a reduced settlement just to get the case over with, especially if the resident is still alive but doesn’t have many years left. Delays can also cause issues with legal deadlines, such as the statute of limitations.

That’s why it’s important to have an experienced nursing home neglect attorney who knows how to push your case forward rather than letting the negligent facility run out the clock. Our law firm has litigated numerous nursing home negligence cases in Birmingham and throughout Alabama, and our knowledge of the process puts our clients in a better position to win in a timely manner.

Talk to an experienced nursing home abuse and neglect attorney today

Holding nursing homes accountable for harm to residents is a difficult task. The facilities and their insurance companies deal with these claims all the time, and they have well-practiced tactics to avoid accountability. That’s why you need a law firm with a proven track record of results in nursing home abuse and neglect cases, including a $1 million settlement for the family of a nursing home resident who died because of neglect.

When nursing homes allow residents to be harmed, they often try to avoid accountability. We know their tactics and how to beat them. Schedule your free consultation with Shuttlesworth Law Firm, P.C. today. We're located in Birmingham and proudly serve families throughout Alabama.

"Perry Shuttlesworth and team represented our family against a nursing facility where our mother was neglected and eventually died from injury that occurred in the nursing home. Their attorneys did their best to low-ball us into settling for penny-ante offer. Perry persisted in not allowing their lawyers to intimidate us. With his recommendations and guidance, our family received a fair settlement for our loss and some justice. Thank you, Perry Shuttlesworth." — James J., ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

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