Jacksonville Injury Attorney Blog

Florida's lawmakers are considering a bill that would cap non-economic damages for negligence or abuse cases against nursing homes to $250,000.00. Currently, a jury is allowed to determine the amount of damages to be awarded for pain and suffering for injuries or wrongful death without being restricted by the government setting the maximum amount of reasonable compensation.

This means that, even if a jury finds that a nursing home neglected a resident to the point of causing his or her wrongful death, the nursing home's worst day at trial would be $250,000.00.

Nursing home abuse and negligence cases are very expensive for a personal injury attorney to undertake. Florida law already requires an attorney to perform a good faith investigation prior to being able to file suit. If the investigation does not reveal that there is a solid basis for the claim, suit cannot be filed. This process is expensive and time consuming.

Once suit is filed, the expenses mount even further. Nursing home negligence cases are expert intensive - often requiring a plaintiff's attorney to hire one or more nurses and several medical doctors. In our experience, the cost of a handling a nursing home negligence case through trial, not including any payment for attorney fees, ranges from $25,000.00 to $100,000.00.

Attorneys handling nursing home abuse or negligence cases typically handle them only on a contingency basis - meaning they only get paid if they are sucessful. In addition, they only get repaid their out-of-pocket costs if they are sucessful. By decreasing the potential recovery, it quickly becomes not worth the attorneys while to risk thousands of dollars and years of time to take these complicated cases.

The result: fewer instances of nursing home negligence will be brought to the attention of nursing homes. The cost of providing exemplary care becomes higher than the reduced cost of verdicts. Remember the Ford Pinto? The lesson we have learned time and time again is that lawsuits often provide corporations the proper incentive to take the full impacts (as determined by a jury if necessary) of negligence into consideration.

To be certain, this bill is designed to prevent attorneys from accepting nursing home cases and has nothing to do with freeing up funds to provide better resident care as claimed by the bill's proponents.

Continue reading "Florida Legislature Considering Major Breaks for Negligent Nursing Homes" »

Medicare rates nursing homes throughout the country on a scale of one to five stars, with one being the lowest. Four nursing homes in Jacksonville received the lowest rating. They are: Glenwood Nursing Center in Arlington; West Jacksonville Health and Rehab Center on the Westside; Palm Garden of Jacksonville in Spring Park; and San Jose Health and Rehab Center in Mandarin. All of these facilities are located in Duval County, Florida.

Nursing home abuse and neglect are concerns for all nursing home residents and their families. If you are concerned, one step you should take is to look at the Medicare ratings located at www.medicare.gov/NHCompare/. The State of Florida, Agency for Heath Care Administration, also has ratings of every nursing home in the state located at http://ahcaxnet.fdhc.state.fl.us/nhcguide/

You should also tour the facility. Look for cleaniness, a lack of foul odors and polite and eager staff. Also consider the quality of a nursing home's medical director. Once your family member becomes a resident, make frequent visits, ask questions, request meetings with the staff and medical director if you have concerns and do not hesitate to have your loved one transferred if you sense a problem.

As Jacksonville nursing home lawyers, we have seen many types of nursing home abuse and neglect including: failing to provide adequate nutrition; undiagnosed infections; clostridium difficile infections (c. diff.); sepsis; failing to provide proper medication; failing to timely transfer a resident when serious complications arise; and neglected bedsores.

Continue reading "Four Jacksonville, Florida, Nursing Homes Get Lowest Grades" »

As Jacksonville nursing home attorneys and medical malpractice attorneys, from time to time, we review cases on behalf of clients who signed an arbitration agreement prior to being admitted to a hospital, nursing home or assisted living facility.

Such agreements purport to require that any claim, dispute or lawsuit for medical malpractice, or nursing home abuse or negligence, be submitted to an arbitrator instead of a jury. In our opinion, in the event that negligence is proven, arbitrators are likely to award less than juries. In addition, such agreements often limit the damages you can recover and prevent you from being reimbursed your lawsuit costs in the event that you are sucessful. Lawsuit costs for medical malpractice cases often exceed $50,000.00.

Although such agreements can sometimes be challenged and found to be unenforceable, often they are enforceable ,and, as set forth above, greatly limit your rights. Our recommendation is to never sign such an agreement.

Continue reading "Beware of Arbitration Agreements When Being Admitted to a Hospital or Nursing Home" »

Many of the nursing homes throughout Florida including Jacksonville provide excellent care to their residents. However, some do not and nursing home abuse causes needless suffering to our most vulnerable citizens.

Florida state regulators fined a West Palm Beach Nursing Home $18,000.00 after a resident was infected by maggots from a wound inside a cast on his broken leg. The nursing home's care plan required that the wound be cared for every three days; however, the nursing home could only provide documentation that it did so once a week.

Earlier this year, the nursing home in question was placed on a watch list by the state because of its poor performance on inspections. The nursing home was rated a one out of a possible five stars on its inspection grade, including just one star for quality of care.

Prior to this incident the state warned there was “immediate jeopardy” to residents' health and safety for various care violations. To check out Florida’s watch list and get other state ratings of nursing homes, click here.

Continue reading "Florida Nursing Home Fined $18,000.00" »