Nursing Home Malpractice Legal Funding

Nursing home malpractice suits tend to be long and involved as well as emotionally heartbreaking. To convert your settled nursing malpractice cases into immediate cash, attorneys or plaintiffs are urged to contact RD Legal Funding about their post-settlement Fee Acceleration program. Fill out the short application to the right to qualify for a free consultation with a legal funding specialist. Or, call 1-800-565-5177 to speak with a Fee Acceleration expert today.Nursing Home ViolationsNursing home neglect and abuse cases are considered medical malpractice cases. In these lawsuits, the patient as plaintiff must prove that his or her nursing home, residential care facility, or caretaker — the defendant — deviated so far from what is accepted as "standard" care and treatment that the law considers them negligent.

A 2010 study by the Special Investigations Division of the House Government Reform Committee found that between January 1999 and January 2001, 30 percent of nursing homes in the United States — 5,283 facilities — were cited for almost 9,000 instances of maltreatment including serious physical, sexual, and verbal abuse.

The American Association for Justice reported on the staggering scope of abuse and neglect suffered by the 1.4 million people currently living in U.S. nursing homes:

   
• 90% of U.S. nursing homes had staffing levels too low to provide adequate care
   
• In 2003 alone, there were 20,673 complaints of abuse, gross neglect, and exploitation on behalf of nursing home and board and care residents
   
• Abuse to 1 in 14 elders was reported
   
• The recommended minimum hours of direct nursing care per resident per day is 4.55 hours; the actual hours received are 3.7

Meanwhile, nursing home operators and healthcare corporate CEOs pay themselves million-dollar-salaries while the median annual salary of a Certified Nurse Assistant in 2008 was $23,193.

Common indicators that abuse or neglect of nursing home residents may be occurring include:

   
• Physical abuse. Signs include unexplained bruises, cuts, and sores
   
• Neglect. Common signs are dehydration, malnutrition, and poor hygienic conditions
   
• Emotional/mental abuse. Signs may be very difficult to discern, especially in patients with decreased cognition, but often include changes in behavior such as trembling, crying, or other indicators of fear and anxiety

Nursing homes are big business. State and federal financing in 2006 amounted to $75 billion. In 2001, the residents themselves and their families contributed an additional $34 billion.

Significant lawsuits have taken on nursing home malpractice, achieving significant settlements and raising the bar for the level of care provided by the nursing home and home-care industry. Nurses Vanessa Absher and Lynda Mitchell lodged a qui tam suit against their former employer, Momence Meadows Nursing Center, a 140-bed skilled nursing facility in Illinois housing disabled and elderly patients, most of whom receive Medicare and Medicaid benefits. The nurses charged that the nursing home was providing grossly substandard care; directed the nurses to falsify patient and medication records to reflect that care and medication had been given; and falsifying staffing records to show minimum staffing levels were reached. After complaining to management, the women were subjected to verbal abuse and false charges were lodged against them with the Illinois Department of Professional Regulation. In February 2013, a jury returned a verdict in favor of the nurses and the government, fining the nursing home $28 million, over $7 million of which will go to the whistleblowers.Let RD Legal Expedite Your Nursing Home Malpractice Related Legal Receivables. RD Legal Funding is positioned to provide nursing home malpractice plaintiffs and their attorneys with post-settlement plaintiff funding and attorney fee financing. To start accelerating your legal receivables today, please fill out the brief online application located at the upper right corner of this page. Or you can call RD Legal toll-free at 1-800-565-5177 to speak with one of our legal funding experts.