When a relative moves into a nursing home, we expect that they are entering a safe and caring environment. Unfortunately, that is not always the case.
Elder abuse – whether physical, emotional, sexual or neglect – has been called epidemic in the United States, with an estimated five million cases occurring annually and 10 percent of people older than 60 having been victimized. Many of those cases occur in nursing homes.
If you or a loved one has been abused in a nursing home, you may have grounds for a lawsuit. The more than 50 lawyers at Kline & Specter, including five who are also medical doctors – the most in the nation – have the experience and expertise to investigate cases of potential nursing home abuse. All case reviews are free and highly confidential.
In a recent case, in January 2023, our attorneys Colin Burke and Lorraine Donnelly, who heads the firm’s elder abuse litigation, won a $19 million jury verdict against a nursing home and its management companies for the family of a woman who died after falling and suffering a broken hip, severe malnutrition and a stage IV bedsore. The verdict in the neglect case was the largest in Pennsylvania since 1994, when recording began of these cases.
Kline & Specter has won billions in verdicts and settlements in personal injury cases. We have won the most large verdicts of any Pennsylvania law firm over the past five years, 10 years, 15 years and 20 years.
The types of nursing home abuse vary. They include:
- Physical abuse.
- Sexual abuse.
- Emotional and psychological abuse.
- Financial exploitation.
- Neglect and self-neglect.
- Abandonment.
Studies show that most cases of abuse are never reported to authorities. Underreporting may occur for a variety of reasons, among them an older person’s fear of retaliation by an offender, reluctance to disclose an incident because of shame or embarrassment, dependency on an offender or their own physical or cognitive limitations.
But abuse or neglect should be reported and exposed. Kline & Specter, with its vast expertise and resources, stands ready to help. We handle cases in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware and New York. For cases outside those states, Kline & Specter works with local attorneys in each state as applicable.