Nursing homes are a necessity in today’s busy society. With so many dual-income households, and the advancement of complex medical technology, it becomes difficult if not impossible to care for aging loved ones as they require more and more assistance. When aging loved ones reach a point in their lives at…
Earlier this month, the South Carolina Supreme Court issued a written opinion illustrating how a party’s failure to be upfront with its intention to compel mediation may prevent that party from later compelling mediation. In the case, Johnson v. Heritage Healthcare of Estill, the court determined that the defendant nursing…
Earlier this month, the West Virginia Supreme Court issued an opinion in a case requiring the court to decide whether a person’s mental incompetence can toll a statute of limitations. In other words, the question was whether a person’s inability to understand that they may have a viable case can…
Earlier this month, the Supreme Court of Washington issued a groundbreaking opinion extending potential liability in a nursing home abuse lawsuit to nurses who were required to report discovered instances of nursing home abuse but failed to do so. In the case, Kim v. Lakeside Adult Family Home, the court…
Nursing homes should be places where people can feel at ease placing their aging parents to help them get the medical care and attention that they need in their final years. However, the reality of what nursing homes have come to become in our society is far from that. Partly…
Nursing homes that care for the elderly have an affirmative duty to provide for the basic needs of the residents for whom the home is charged with caring. This duty goes beyond a moral one, and it is actually legally imposed and enforceable by the courts. In fact, if a…
Nursing home abuse is a tragic phenomenon, and everything should be done to curb it. Whether it be an overworked nurse who snaps at a difficult resident, or an angry employee who takes out their own aggression on those who cannot fight back, there is no excuse for engaging in…
Earlier this month, an appellate court in California issued an opinion in a case brought by the family of a man who died while in the care of a hospital, holding that the lower court’s dismissal of the complaint was in error. In the case, Fenimore v. Regents of the…
Earlier this month, the Arkansas Supreme Court issued an opinion dismissing what may have been a meritorious wrongful death case based on the fact that the document giving the plaintiff power of attorney was not validly executed. In the case, Quarles v. Courtyard Gardens Health & Rehab, the lower court…
The thought of a nurse who is charged with the care of elderly individuals engaging in a pattern of abuse against his or her patients is bad enough, but lately there has been a rash of cases in which abusive nurses are filming the abuse and posting the videos on social…