Have you ever had a loved one admitted to a nursing home, be it your spouse, sibling, parent, or grandparent, and somehow they wound up injured or neglected in some way? You go to the hospital to visit your loved one who is in serious condition, or, in the worst case scenario, you attend your loved one’s funeral. It is a difficult time to get your bearings, especially when you aren’t sure what exactly happened. You deal with the repercussions of the injury or passing, and by the time you give much thought to the nursing home facility’s hand in your loved one’s care, or lack thereof, it may be months down the road. Recovering from a sudden change can be quite difficult, but you should know that in Tennessee the statute of limitations allows only one year from the date of the injury to pursue any type of legal action involving an investigation into your loved one’s care. By waiting until things calm down to contact an attorney to investigate a potential claim, you may have missed out on pursuing justice against those responsible for the injury or loss of someone you love.
Say your mother is admitted to a Tennessee nursing home following a surgical procedure to repair a broken hip. She needs the assistance of two people to transfer her from her bed to her wheelchair. A few months later, your mother somehow falls and ends up with a fracture to her skull. All of a sudden, routine rehabilitation following surgical repair turns into a loss of your mother’s awareness of who she is. She will have to remain under the constant care of a medical provider for the rest of her life. How did she fall when the nursing home was supposed to assist her from her bed? What were the circumstances surrounding the event?
If you wait to call an attorney, you may find that the nursing home had been negligent, and there is nothing you can do to hold the nursing home accountable. If you are even curious about what may have transpired while your loved one has been in a nursing home, an attorney can investigate medical records and deduce a great deal about the quality of care your loved one has received in a given facility. What can it hurt to call and get a little direction from someone who may have seen patterns of neglect in a place where you thought your loved one was safe? Unfortunately, justice in Tennessee nursing home abuse cases has a short timeline for those who may already be overwhelmed by devastation and loss. If you suspect that there may have been an issue in a loved one’s care, don’t wait to call an attorney. It’s better to find out the truth, than to overlook poor care and allow it to continue to happen to others in your position.