Advanced stages of bedsores are often a tell-tale sign of neglect in nursing homes or care facilities. Elderly or immobile patients are left lying in bed for days/weeks at a time without being moved, leading to horrific wounds that are excruciating. In many cases, these wounds are not only painful, but can lead to infections and even death.
Our nursing abuse lawyers aggressively expose nursing home neglect and often discover a pattern and practice of abuse by facilities, who understaff and cut corners in an effort to increase profit margins – at the expense of the very people they are supposed to be caring for. When we bring a lawsuit on behalf of a bed sore victim, we conduct detailed investigations, collaborate with regulatory agencies, and leverage California elder abuse laws to hold wrongdoers accountable.
Our Comprehensive, Aggressive Approach to Bedsore Litigation
1. Immediate, In-Depth Investigations and Evidence Collection
Facilities often attempt to conceal their negligence and wrongdoing. We counteract this by immediately securing records such as:
Internal Documents and Staffing Records:
- Facility budgets and internal communications often prove deliberate understaffing and cost-cutting at residents' expense.
- Staffing and shift logs that highlight chronic understaffing, insufficient training, or high turnover rates, contributing directly to neglect.
2. Electronic Medical Records and Metadata Analysis
- We thoroughly examine electronic medical records (EMRs), scrutinizing metadata to detect alterations, deletions, or fabricated documentation. This advanced technique allows us to expose attempts by facilities to rewrite or falsify records after the fact.
- EMR audits often reveal deliberate attempts by nursing homes to conceal neglectful practices or medical mismanagement.
3. Whistleblower Testimonies and Insider Evidence
- Our team proactively identifies and interviews former or current employees who are willing to speak out against neglectful practices and intentional cover-ups. This direct testimony provides powerful and persuasive evidence of systemic neglect and abuse.
4. Leveraging Regulatory Investigations and Citations
- We collaborate closely with regulatory agencies, using past inspections and citation histories documented by the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) and other oversight agencies to demonstrate persistent patterns of neglect.
- Prior citations and enforcement actions against a facility strengthen our arguments for punitive damages, as they illustrate an ongoing disregard for resident safety and compliance.
5. Accelerating Your Case with Trial Preference Motions
- California law provides a mechanism (Code of Civil Procedure Section 36) to prioritize elder abuse cases due to the advanced age or health status of the victim. Our firm regularly files motions for trial preference to significantly shorten the timeframe of litigation. Cases that normally take two years can be fast tracked to four months. This not only speeds up the process but creates tremendous leverage against the defendant facilities, because while we are prepared to go to trial and have assembled the evidence and our expert team, they are not. This often forces defendants to pay extremely favorable settlements on bedsore claims.
How Our Approach Puts Pressure on Nursing Homes
- Our meticulous documentation and aggressive evidence-gathering make it difficult for facilities to deny accountability.
- By uncovering evidence of deliberate cover-ups and profit-driven negligence—particularly prevalent in corporate-owned, publicly traded nursing home chains—we position our cases strongly for significant punitive damage awards.
- Our reputation for securing substantial verdicts and our willingness to go to trial puts tremendous pressure on facilities, often forcing early, high-dollar settlements.
Choose an Nursing Home Abuse Law Firm that Fights Aggressively For Your Bedsore Case
At The Elder Justice Firm, we know exactly how nursing homes attempt to hide abuse, neglect, and misconduct—and more importantly, we know how to catch them in their lies. With our firm, you'll receive focused attention from lawyers experienced in aggressively litigating and winning bedsore cases and other elder abuse cases.
If you or a loved one have questions and would like to discuss your options, please contact us today for a confidential, no-obligation consultation. While we pursue claims aggressively against defendants, we treat our clients with the utmost compassion and are here to help guide you through the process and help you secure justice.
