Has a family member been abused or neglected at a nursing facility in Charleston, West Virginia? If so, the time to call Mani, Ellis & Layne, PLLC is now. Nursing homes have a duty to protect their residents. When they don’t, they must be held accountable. Our Charleston nursing home abuse lawyers are here to help you make things right.
Since 2007, injury victims and families in Charleston have turned to Mani, Ellis & Layne, PLLC for help taking on nursing homes, corporations, insurance agencies, and government corporations. Collectively, our team of award-winning West Virginia trial attorneys has over 71 years of experience handling complex personal injury cases. Our case results speak volumes, with hundreds of millions in damages won.
Don’t let the nursing home off the hook for how it’s treated your aging or disabled family member. Trust our law firm to force them to take accountability for the harm they’ve caused. Contact our law office in Charleston at (304) 720-1000 today to set up a free consultation to learn more.
How Mani, Ellis & Layne, PLLC Can Help If a Loved One Has Been Abused in a Nursing Home in Charleston, WV
Nursing homes have grown from places you can trust to take care of an aging family member to profit-driven corporations that don’t put resident needs first. When this happens, residents can suffer serious consequences, including physical injuries, emotional trauma, financial losses, and even death.
If a nursing home you trusted has put a family member in harm’s way, Mani, Ellis & Layne, PLLC will be there to help you fight for justice.
Our Charleston personal injury lawyers are recognized as Super Lawyers and AV Preeminent litigators. We care deeply about the people we represent, their struggles, and their futures. Our results are a testament to our hard work and determination, with hundreds of millions in damages recovered.
Take this opportunity to help your loved one get better, and let our top-rated personal injury law firm handle the rest.
We will:
- Conduct a timely and independent investigation into your nursing home abuse case
- Gather evidence to support a legal claim for damages
- Enlist experts in elder care, forensics, accounting, medicine, and psychology to consult on your case
- Calculate what your nursing home abuse case is worth
- Build a case that complies with standards and procedures established by West Virginia law
- Represent you and your family during conversations and negotiations with the nursing home and its insurance company
- Fight your nursing home abuse lawsuit at trial in front of a compassionate jury in Kanawha County, if necessary
Between medical bills and the cost of a new nursing facility, it’s easy to understand how you could be in a really tight financial situation right now. Hiring an attorney to help you right a wrong shouldn’t make matters worse. That’s why we proudly advocate for victims of nursing home abuse on a contingency fee basis.
You pay nothing unless our Charleston personal injury attorneys win compensation for your nursing home abuse case.
Ready to get started? Give us a call at our law office in Charleston today. We’re here to help you set up a time for a free consultation right now.
How Common is Nursing Home Abuse?
Unfortunately, nursing home abuse happens way more often than you might think. According to the National Center on Elder Abuse (NCEA), one out of 10 nursing home residents (age 60 and over) is abused every year.
West Virginia has about 8,780 residents in nursing homes in Charleston and other cities across the state. Based on the NCEA data, about 878 of these nursing home residents likely experienced some form of abuse in the last year.
Reports of nursing home abuse may be vastly underreported, at least according to data released by the World Health Organization (WHO). When surveyed, two out of three staff and nurses in long-term care facilities admitted to abusing a resident in the past year.
What Counts as Nursing Home Abuse?
Nursing home abuse, quite simply, refers to caretaker actions that cause a resident’s injury or death.
Nursing home abuse can be further defined to include physical abuse, emotional or psychological abuse, financial abuse, sexual abuse, and neglect.
Physical Abuse
Physical abuse occurs when a resident suffers physical harm or injuries because of a caretaker’s intentionally harmful conduct. This can include pushing, hitting, shoving, pulling hair, or even using unnecessarily tight restraints.
Emotional Abuse
Residents don’t have to be physically harmed to suffer from abuse. When caretakers yell, threaten, isolate, or taunt residents, they can suffer debilitating psychological issues like depression, anxiety, and other mood disorders.
Financial Abuse
The elderly are at an increased risk of being targeted by financial crimes. This is even more evident in elderly nursing home residents who are not protected or surrounded by family. Caretakers abuse residents financially by stealing physical property, misappropriating funds, or even stealing their identities.
Sexual Abuse
Sexual abuse occurs whenever a caretaker forces a resident to engage in or watch sexually explicit activities without their consent.
Neglect
Nursing home residents rely on consistent, continuous care to help them thrive. Residents can get bedsores, become malnourished or dehydrated, or suffer from other crippling issues when their basic needs and medical care are ignored.
Who Do I Call If I Suspect My Family Member is Being Abused in a Charleston Nursing Home?
If you see signs of nursing home abuse or suspect that a family member is being abused or neglected at a Charleston nursing facility, call the West Virginia Department of Health & Human Resources at 1-800-352-6513. You can also call the local police and bring up the issue with the nursing home itself.
Do not hesitate to contact an experienced personal injury attorney near you in Charleston once you’ve notified the authorities. Mani, Ellis & Layne, PLLC is available to answer your call 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Fighting For Victims in All Types of Nursing Home Abuse Cases
At Mani, Ellis & Layne, PLLC, we have extensive experience handling all types of nursing home abuse cases, including those involving:
- Elopement
- Isolation
- Bedsores
- Abandonment
- Neglect
- Financial exploitation
- Forced confinement
- Dehydration
- Malnourishment
- Septic shock
- Choking
- Medical malpractice
- Burn injuries
- Catastrophic injuries
- Wrongful death
Experience can make a huge difference when you accuse a nursing home of abuse. Choosing the right law firm to represent your family can be the difference between a small settlement and a seven-figure financial recovery. Trust the experienced team at Mani, Ellis & Layne, PLLC to fight for you.
What Types of Damages Can Victims of Nursing Home Abuse Recover in Charleston, West Virginia?
Victims of nursing home abuse and neglect can sue their facility and caretakers for compensatory damages. This can include awards for both economic and non-economic losses.
Economic damages are designed to help victims of nursing home abuse deal with the financial losses they experience, such as:
- Present and future medical bills
- Costs related to transferring to a new nursing facility
- Rehabilitation
- Therapy
- Medical devices and equipment
- Out-of-pocket expenses
- Restitution for stolen funds or property
Non-economic damages are intended to help victims of abuse deal with trauma, suffering, and life changes that are much more subjective, including:
- Pain and suffering
- Emotional distress
- Loss of enjoyment of life
- Mental anguish
- Post-traumatic stress disorder
- Chronic physical pain
- Physical disfigurement and scarring
Punitive damages, which are intended as a punishment when there’s evidence of intentional misconduct, fraud, or gross negligence, can also be awarded in some nursing home abuse cases.
The nursing facility will try to shift blame and downplay the true extent of your family member’s injuries and suffering. Our nursing home abuse attorneys in Charleston won’t let them control your case or stand between you and a rightful financial recovery.
Working with experts, we’ll build a case that demonstrates your losses and forces a meaningful conversation with the other side. If they refuse to make a fair offer, they’ll have to risk going up against our award-winning West Virginia litigators at trial.
How Long Do I Have to File a Nursing Home Abuse Lawsuit in West Virginia?
Once you discover that your family member has been abused at a nursing home, assisted living facility, or long-term care center in Charleston, you’ll typically have one year to file a lawsuit.
West Virginia’s one-year statute of limitations has few exceptions. If you miss the deadline, you lose the ability to seek damages for your loved one’s pain, suffering, and bills.
Schedule a Free Consultation With an Experienced Charleston Nursing Home Abuse Lawyer
Don’t let a nursing home or caretaker off the hook for mistreating your aging family member. Call Mani, Ellis & Layne, PLLC, and let our team of Charleston nursing home abuse attorneys fight to hold them accountable.
When you choose Mani, Ellis & Layne, PLLC, you work with a top-rated team of litigators with more than 71 years of combined experience and a proven ability to win. We’ve helped our clients recover hundreds of millions in damages. Today, we’ll fight for you.
Contact our law office serving Charleston, WV, today to set up a time for your free case evaluation.
