[Music] Welcome to the Millennial Lawyer Podcast. I’m Evan Mack and I’m here with personal injury attorney Mark Shirian. Today we’re exploring how families can hold nursing homes accountable for serious and often tragic acts of neglect like falls, bed sores, and even drowning incidents. How are you doing today, Mark? 

I’m doing great. How are you? 

I’m here. I’m here. Let’s chop it up. Let’s talk about it. What are the most serious signs of neglect or abuse in nursing homes that often lead to litigation? You hear a bunch of different things. You see a bunch of different movies. You see all the like those tropes, but what do you see? What are those serious signs that come across your desk? 

So, unexplained bruises, bed sores, sudden weight loss or emotional withdrawals are definitely red flags. These types of things signal neglect or abuse like staff failing to reposition residents or withholding care which could be the beginning of a lawsuit. 

Do you see, because based on what you’re saying, is it something that a family member has to see? Why do you feel elderly people are less inclined to say something or maybe they are? 

I just find that you have to be mindful of the signs in order for something to be done. I don’t think the elderly, a lot of times elderly don’t even have the capacity to complain. They don’t even know how to complain. So it’s important for the family or the friends who are responsible for that resident to make sure that they are looking at all the warning signs and that they’re complaining about anything that just doesn’t seem right to them. 

And you kind of touched on it before, but why are bed sores, falls, you know, dehydration considered, you know, critical like red flags. Why is that the most common in your opinion? 

I would say bed sores, falls, and dehydration are preventable with proper care. So, they’re proof of neglect. Staff not turning residents, ignoring fall risks, or failing to hydrate. These injuries scream systematic failure. 

So, how is liability shared between individual caregivers and the facility itself? 

Well, caregivers can be liable for direct neglect, like ignoring a resident’s needs, but facilities often bear the brunt for understaffing, poor training, or cutting corners to save costs, which sets the stage for harm. 

So, let’s talk about documentation which is most helpful in proving negligence. How can you get on top of that? Because it literally could be someone’s word against their word even though the signs are there. you know, what documentation would someone need? 

Medical records, care plans, and staff logs are important. Uh, but photos of the injuries, family complaints, state inspection reports also build a case by showing patterns of neglect or violations. You know, especially when you’re talking about a nursing home, a lot of information is already out there. So, those are some big things to look out for when you’re talking about proving negligence in elder care cases. 

As a lawyer, are you ever concerned with a case that may be harder to prove than another case? Is there something that’s harder to prove in a negligence type case? 

You know, we had a case where an elderly resident had bruises all over her face and no one had any idea how this occurred. Now, the nursing home was saying, “Well, she may have had a history of hitting herself, and that’s what happened.” Oh, okay. So, it’s difficult because when you’re talking about a nursing home case, your client may not have the capacity to communicate and express what exactly happened. So, it’s up to you as the attorney to put the pieces together and figure out what may have occurred. And a lot of times, it’s a shot in the dark. I mean, you have enough to bring a claim, but as far as proving what happened, it’s hard. Uh, it’s not impossible, but it’s difficult. So going back to what I said before, the medical records, who was responsible for treating them, obtaining depositions of these critical employees who were responsible and speaking to family members to see if there’s been a change in behavior, change in mood, if they had a history of scratching themselves or not, if that’s something they’ve ever heard before. That’s what makes it difficult that your client may not have the capacity to even describe what had occurred. 

How much does empathy play a role in what you and your firm does? How much is caring caring about a person as opposed to just knowing the law helps you, you know, solve these cases? 

Great question. Empathy is our cornerstone. We have to have empathy for all our clients because when clients come to us, they’re not in the best mood. Obviously, something wrong happened for them to seek out an attorney to bring a case. But when you’re talking about a nursing home case, it’s also having empathy for the family as well. A lot of times this is an aging parent and their children are forced to see their parent in that sort of state. So it’s not just having empathy for the client but having empathy for the family and guiding them through this type of case which is challenging. So yes, empathy is crucial in these types of cases for sure. 

We talk about the protections in New York. You know what, you know, what legal protections exist, you know, for residents and their families? 

I will say so when you’re dealing with a nursing home, not a hospital, but a nursing home. New York’s public health law sets strict standards for nursing homes. And the Elder Abuse Prevention Act empowers families to sue for neglect. Medicaid fraud laws also target facilities that skimp on care as well. So, there are plenty of protections when you’re talking about abuse, specifically at a nursing home for sure. 

Does any case come to mind? You know, you touched on one, but does any case come to mind that was, you know, any one that could you be most proud of, you know, that you maybe didn’t know would go a certain way? Is there one that you’re most proud of that happened as far as a nursing home or or negligence? 

We had a case where a fellow was built as a high-risk high fall, you know, a high-risk patient that was susceptible to falls and he fell while he was at this facility and he unfortunately had issues with one of his eyes as a result of the fall. Um but the other problem was that this was an elderly individual in his 80s and you know when you retain an attorney to go after a nursing home or a hospital for negligence you’re suing for money at the end of the day. And the issue becomes a lot of these clients are elderly as you know and how much time do they really have to even enjoy the money that you’re trying to obtain for them. So it becomes a race with respect to litigating the case to a point where you can resolve it but also kind of want to make sure that you’re doing this in a timely fashion so they could even enjoy the money that you’re obtaining for them. So, in that case, we were able to get a really good result and my client didn’t have to wait around for a trial. He was able to enjoy the money and you know, so those are some considerations that you realize it’s not your typical case. You think, you know, in other cases when you’re dealing with younger clients, um that’s not a consideration that even goes through your mind. You just hope to litigate the case as best as you could and whenever the case resolves, whether that’s through a settlement or through trial, that’s when the case is going to resolve. So, that’s an extra consideration that you have to have with these cases. But you don’t want to sell your clients out short just because you’re trying to get them money before it’s too late. So, those are some things I definitely think about. If we could settle a case on the earlier side when you’re dealing with an elderly client against a nursing home, that’s something that we have to consider. 

So, how can families proactively advocate for loved ones and prevent this abuse if it escalates? 

So, when you’re talking about nursing homes, visit them often, ask questions, watch for care changes, request care plans, check state inspection ratings, and report concerns to the state health department immediately. So, you know, document as much as you can, take photos, but visit often because if you’re not visiting often, you’re not going to be privy to a lot of this stuff and things could change quickly as you would know. 

Thank you for the time, Mark. I appreciate the information. 

Thank you so much. 

Thank you all for joining us. If you suspect elder care neglect, visit shirianpc.com to explore your legal options. This has been the Millennial Lawyer Podcast. Please subscribe and review and share it with someone who needs to hear this. Thank you so much. Thanks for watching. Be sure to hit that like and subscribe button and leave us a review in the comments.