Bridgeport Nursing Home Wrongful Death Attorneys

Lawyers for Fatal Injuries at Nursing Homes in Bridgeport, Connecticut

Families trust nursing homes with the care of vulnerable loved ones. They expect that facilities will provide safe, attentive care during a person's final years. When negligent practices, inadequate staffing, or abusive conduct have led to a preventable death, a family can take steps to hold a nursing home accountable. No amount of compensation can restore a lost life, but a wrongful death claim can help to obtain justice for a victim, provide financial support for a family, and force a facility to avoid practices that would endanger other residents.

Wrongful deaths may occur due to patterns of nursing home neglect or other forms of negligence. By taking steps to understand the failures that led to a person's death, a family can make sure the nursing home will be held accountable. At Tremont Sheldon P.C., our attorneys have the experience needed to help ensure that a family will be properly compensated for a loved one's wrongful death in a nursing home.

How Nursing Home Negligence Can Lead to Wrongful Death

Multiple forms of neglect and abuse can contribute to or directly cause the death of nursing home residents. These issues may include:

• Malnutrition and Dehydration: When residents do not receive adequate food and fluids over extended periods, they may experience health issues that can lead to death. Weight loss can weaken a person's body and affect their immune system. Dehydration can lead to organ failure. When nursing homes fail to ensure that residents eat and drink adequately, these preventable conditions can prove fatal, particularly for elderly people.
• Infections: Untreated or improperly treated infections can kill nursing home residents. Elderly people's immune systems are less effective at fighting infections, making timely medical intervention critical. Urinary tract infections, pneumonia, infected bedsores, sepsis, and other infections can be fatal when staff members do not recognize symptoms, provide prompt treatment, or monitor residents properly.
• Medication Errors: Overdoses, missed doses of critical medications, and dangerous drug interactions can lead to fatal injuries. Overdoses of heart medications, blood thinners, or diabetes drugs can be lethal. Missing doses of antibiotics may allow infections to progress. These preventable errors may occur due to inadequate medication management systems and insufficient staffing.
• Falls: Inadequate safety measures, poor supervision, or improper use of restraints may lead to falls that could cause fatal injuries. Head trauma from falls can cause brain bleeding that may be fatal for elderly nursing home residents, particularly those who are taking blood thinners. Hip fractures or other injuries from falls may trigger cascading health problems, including blood clots or infections that may ultimately lead to death.
• Choking: When residents with swallowing difficulties do not receive appropriate supervision during meals, or when food intake is not modified as needed, fatal choking incidents may occur. Aspiration of food into the lungs can cause pneumonia that can be fatal. Choking on food can cause immediate death if staff members do not intervene quickly or do not have the proper emergency response training.
• Delays in Providing Medical Care: When nursing homes do not recognize medical emergencies, delay in calling ambulances, or fail to send residents to hospitals for needed care, conditions such as heart attacks, strokes, or acute infections may progress beyond the point where treatment can save a person's life.
• Physical Abuse: Assaults of nursing home residents may cause fatal injuries. Residents who are beaten, suffocated, or otherwise violently attacked may die from their injuries.
• Wandering and Elopement: Residents with dementia may wander outside of a nursing home or into areas with hazardous conditions if a facility does not implement the proper security measures. Residents who leave facilities unsupervised may die from exposure, traffic accidents, or other dangers. Facilities should have systems to prevent confused residents from wandering into harm.

Investigating Wrongful Death in Nursing Homes

Determining whether negligence caused or contributed to a nursing home resident's death will require a thorough investigation and analysis. Our attorneys can review medical records, which will provide essential information about the care a person received and the circumstances surrounding their death. These records may document vital signs, treatments provided, medications administered, and staff responses to changes in condition. Gaps in documentation or evidence that warning signs were ignored may support claims of negligence.

Autopsy reports may reveal the cause of death and provide evidence of neglect or abuse. Findings of severe malnutrition, dehydration, untreated infections, or other preventable injuries may raise questions about a nursing home's quality of care.

Witness statements from family members, other residents, and staff members can describe the care a person received and provide observations about their condition before their death. Family members can testify about weight loss, behavioral changes, or concerns they raised with staff. Employees may describe understaffing or pressure to cut corners on care.

Facility records, including staffing schedules, incident reports, and care plans, can show whether adequate staff were present and whether the facility identified and addressed the resident's needs. Evidence of chronic understaffing or failure to implement care plans can demonstrate systemic problems and show that negligence was responsible for a person's death.

State inspection reports can document violations and complaints about a facility. Histories of citations for inadequate care, staffing violations, or previous resident deaths may suggest patterns of negligence. Professional opinions from medical specialists, nursing professionals, and geriatric care specialists can help determine whether care fell below accepted standards and whether negligence caused or contributed to death.

Compensation for Wrongful Death at a Nursing Home

The executor or administrator of a deceased person's estate may file a wrongful death lawsuit on behalf of the person's surviving family members. These family members may include spouses, children, parents, or next of kin. They may receive compensation through the estate for losses resulting from their loved one's death.

Damages available in nursing home wrongful death cases may address both economic and non-economic losses. Economic damages may include medical expenses incurred before the person's death, funeral and burial costs, and other losses. Non-economic damages may provide compensation for loss of companionship, emotional trauma, and pain and suffering the person endured before their death. Punitive damages may also be available if a nursing home's conduct was particularly egregious and demonstrated willful neglect or reckless disregard for resident safety.

How Our Attorneys Help Families With Wrongful Death Claims

Wrongful death cases involving nursing home negligence will require a comprehensive investigation and an understanding of the applicable laws. At Tremont Sheldon P.C., we can handle these sensitive cases while addressing the grief suffered by family members and working to hold a negligent nursing home accountable.

We will thoroughly investigate the circumstances surrounding a person's death. We can work with medical professionals and nursing specialists to identify negligence that caused or contributed to a wrongful death. We will also investigate a nursing home's practices, staffing levels, and history of violations. Our attorneys will identify all parties who may bear liability, including the nursing home corporation, individual employees whose conduct contributed to a person's death, and parent corporations.

We will calculate comprehensive damages, including all financial losses and non-economic damages. We can handle all aspects of litigation, including filing wrongful death claims, conducting discovery to obtain facility records and testimony, deposing nursing home staff and administrators, and negotiating with insurance companies or presenting cases at trial.

Throughout the process, we will provide compassionate representation focused on helping family members achieve justice and closure. We understand that no outcome can truly compensate a family for the loss of a loved one. However, we will work diligently to secure accountability and fair compensation while our clients focus on healing.

The Importance of Holding Nursing Homes Accountable for Wrongful Deaths

Pursuing a wrongful death claim can serve a purpose beyond recovering compensation. Accountability will force a nursing home to acknowledge its failures and implement changes that will protect current and future residents. Public awareness will also increase when wrongful death cases reveal dangerous conditions at nursing homes. Other families who are researching nursing homes will benefit from knowing which facilities have histories of negligence and wrongful deaths.

State agencies may investigate facilities that have been accused of negligence, and they may impose sanctions. These investigations can lead to improved oversight and enforcement of safety standards. Financial penalties may impact a nursing home's bottom line, creating incentives to invest in adequate staffing and training in order to provide quality care for residents. When facilities face substantial financial consequences for negligence, they are motivated to prioritize resident safety over cost savings.

Contact Our Bridgeport, CT Nursing Home Wrongful Death Lawyers

Losing a loved one because of negligence at a nursing home can be devastating. The knowledge that proper care could have prevented their death can add profound anger to the grief a family is experiencing. In these situations, families deserve answers about what happened and accountability from a facility that failed in its duty to protect a loved one. At Tremont Sheldon P.C., our lawyers fight to secure justice and fair compensation for families who have lost loved ones to nursing home neglect or abuse. Contact our Bridgeport nursing home fatal injury attorneys at 203-335-5145 to set up a free consultation today.