Nursing Home Abuse and Negligence During COVID-19 in Austin

The COVID-19 pandemic has left many of us in Austin concerned for the health of our elderly relatives, who are especially susceptible to serious cases of the illness. Nursing homes have shown to be a particular hotspot for spreading the virus, and it is incumbent on their owners and faculty to do all they can to protect the health of their residents, as well as their own health.

If you believe that a relative’s nursing home has been negligent in any way about protecting their residents from the virus, you might consider contacting Austin medical malpractice lawyers to help you pursue a legal claim. Reach out to Carabin Shaw today at (512) 832-1101 to see how we can help you.

Nursing homes can be hotbeds for the spread of COVID-19, and the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services has released specific guidelines on what nursing homes should be doing to stop the spread. These guidelines include:

• Restricting or disallowing visitors and nonessential medical personnel
• Letting families of residents know in advance to postpone any planned visits
• Ensuring that visitors and personnel who are allowed in take the proper hygienic precautions
• Ensuring that residents follow social distancing guidelines
• Screening residents and staff for signs of fever and respiratory illness at the beginning of every shift

If your loved one’s nursing home in Austin is not taking the above precautions, they are noncompliant with a governmental health agency and are putting everyone’s health at risk. This can be construed as negligent or even abusive. Residents suffering from cognitive decline may not be able to internalize necessary measures for social distancing and hygiene, and it is incumbent upon staff and ownership to ensure that these necessary measures are still taken. Allowing residents to socialize or not assisting them with handwashing and other hygienic procedures can have disastrous consequences. If you believe that this is the case, contact Austin medical malpractice lawyers to help you proceed with a personal injury claim.

There are many reasons why you may want to pursue a claim related to nursing home abuse and negligence during COVID-19 in Austin:

• If your loved one gets sick due to lax standards at their nursing home, you will have to cover medical expenses.
• The effects of the illness may cause difficulty breathing and pain in the respiratory tract, which constitutes pain and suffering.
• A patient can lose mobility as a result of COVID-19, which can hugely affect their quality of life.
• Your own anxiety and emotional stress over the prospect of their infection due to negligence may even be actionable.

In order to retain financial stability during a potentially costly medical process, or to see your noneconomic issues addressed, a malpractice claim is your best option. All of the above can be addressed either by damages awarded in a court of law, or a settlement agreed upon out-of-court.

You may feel that you have an open-and-shut case and that legal assistance would not be worth the fees. However, your case is not likely to get far without an attorney, especially in the current climate with COVID-19. The legal process is complicated, and something as simple as missing a deadline or forgetting a piece of paperwork can invalidate your case. Further, a nursing home will take a claim coming from an attorney more seriously, and will be more willing to settle out of court to avoid a lawsuit.

Carabin Shaw can help you file a coronavirus claim in Austin. We have several lawyers on our team with years of experience pursuing medical malpractice cases. Though COVID-19 claims are a new field, we are no strangers to the ways that nursing homes fail to uphold an expected standard of care, and do everything we can to see that the victims of such negligence are properly compensated. Call us today at (512) 832-1101 to begin your legal process.