Let the Law Bear Down on Medical Malpractice
Let the Law Bear Down on Medical Malpractice
Foulke Law Firm in Goshen, New York represents individuals throughout the metropolitan area suffering from personal injury due to physician error, surgical mistake, hospital negligence, or other medical negligence.
Medical malpractice injuries can be challenging for victims and their families. While physical recovery is a priority, the legal rights of the injured person are also an important consideration.
Liabilities for Negligence
Evan M. Foulke advocates for injured individuals and their families in medical malpractice litigation throughout metropolitan New York, including communities across Orange, Sullivan, Greene, and Delaware Counties.
Mr. Foulke has extensive experience obtaining compensation for people with injuries suffered as a result of doctor and healthcare provider negligence.
With considerable practice and trial experience in medical malpractice claims, Mr. Foulke is a strong advocate for men and women against insurance companies, hospitals, and other defendants.
He provides personal attention to each client, focuses on their unique needs, and helps them get full and fair compensation for their injuries. We handle most types of medical malpractice claims, including:
All medical malpractice claims are handled on a contingent fee basis. If the firm is unable to obtain compensation for your injuries, you will not be charged any attorneys’ fees.
Nursing Home Negligence
Nursing Homes have huge responsibilities to protect the lives of their residents, providing medical care, dispensing important medications to control illness, and making sure every individual is nourished, hygienic, comfortable, safe, and reasonably happy.
However, sometimes bad things happen. While the nursing home itself is usually the prime suspect, errors often occur because of staff oversights.
Injuries can result from malfunctioning or misused equipment. Or, someone may violate residents through abuse or robbery. Financial theft has been a prevalent form of elder exploitation.
None of these things can be excused and should be examined fully to reveal what happened and who is to blame.
Nursing home residents may be subjected to several dangerous circumstances stemming from neglect, such as:
While there can be many explanations for physical injuries to a nursing home resident, some injuries may be suspicious nonetheless.
Since it is easy to accept that elderly people tend to frequently lose their balance and fall, this is not a preferable situation in a nursing home setting.
Unquestionably, every resident should be continually protected from falling daily, especially those with osteoporosis, which can pose the risk of very painful and/or paralyzing fractures of the spine as well as other vulnerable bones.
Some nursing homes require that such high-risk residents use mobility apparatus, like wheelchairs, walkers, canes, etc.
Beyond falls, some nursing home residents are accidentally dropped by nursing home staff while trying to assist with moving residents to mobility devices.
As a result, such residents suffer large bruises, cuts, scrapes, and sprains, as well as serious injuries like fractures, internal organ wounds, concussions, spinal cord trauma, and brain damage, some of which can be fatal.
The presence of infections or pressure/bed sores indicates the failure of medical staff to provide the care needed to prevent such problems, which can progress to a lethal condition.
While a nursing home is responsible for the safe, clean, and healthful care of every resident which includes feeding, bathing, and disinfecting their rooms and the overall environment, sometimes it is third-party contractors who fail to perform their duties.
Finally, errors in prescribing medications fall on the shoulders of the doctors, and improper administration of those medications is the responsibility of the nursing staff.
Failure of either can lead to overdose, deleterious interactions with other medications, or the risk of death.
Nursing Home Abuse
Besides the instances above, the following list provides some examples of other types of nursing home abuse:
Since robbery usually leaves no easily recognizable evidence, especially within financial records, family members need to be vigilant in monitoring the resident’s accounts and monetary affairs.
Residents can also be preyed upon by outside visitors as well as unauthorized intruders. Sexual victimization is unfortunately a risk of residing within a nursing home. This type of abuse leaves few obvious indications other than changes in behavior.
A physical exam may reveal telltale bruising or perhaps evidence of semen. But sexual exploitation can take many forms other than that which leaves physical proof. While this is a common form of abuse, it is usually very difficult to prove.
If a resident is repeatedly humiliated, alienated, or threatened, the resident may be afraid to disclose why they feel despondent for fear of retaliation or further similar punishment.
Because advanced age contributes to a variety of physical, psychological, emotional, and cognitive disabilities, it may be difficult to ascertain exactly what your loved one is suffering from.
Depending on what happened, you may see signs of depression, shame, guilt, or sadness in the nursing home resident which have no obvious explanation.
The reason for this is often because the resident blames themselves for an incident that was not their fault.
They also have no intention of discussing or revealing any details possibly out of embarrassment. Some residents may suffer from a form of dementia and cannot verbalize or even remember exactly what happened.
That means it is up to experts to come to some conclusions based on evidence and/or testing to determine how to proceed.
Who Else May Be Liable?
It is commonly assumed that nursing homes alone are responsible for the total protection of every resident. The list below shows that many other agents can bear exclusive or shared liability:
Is it fair to blame the people who have been hired by the nursing home to take care of the resident if their performance is less than optimal?
Or is it the fault of the nursing home’s hiring, training, and supervisory staff who have placed the caretakers in this vital role?
These are the questions asked by the investigators and lawyers to determine liability.
If a resident is sickened by the food served, it could be the fault of unsanitary kitchen conditions, a tainted food supply, or other errors in storage or preparation.
All fingers point at the kitchen staff which may be a third-party contractor who is responsible. Yet, perhaps the nursing home should have been more careful in their hiring of staff or choice of contractors. Again, many questions need to be answered.
If a trespasser or intruder steals from the nursing home resident, who is liable: the nursing home security staff or a third-party security company hired to handle that job?
Again, questions arise about hiring, training, and supervisory practices by the nursing home itself.
If a resident is injured using physical therapy equipment or mobility apparatus or exhibits injuries indicating excessive use of restraints, for example, investigators will examine several participants.
The nursing home and its professional staff responsible for use, training, and supervision played a major role.
However, the equipment manufacturers and designers cannot be absolved if defects in the equipment or its operation cause injuries.
Has medical malpractice by doctors, nurses, or other medical personnel been committed in the resident’s medication errors?
Finally, are the government licensing and regulatory authorities implicated in their role?
Seek Legal Assistance
Probable Remedies and Compensation
Foulke Law Firm has extensive experience in helping clients address nursing home neglect including assistance with protecting the resident from further immediate harm, as well as financial compensation for a variety of factors, such as:
If your loved one has truly been neglected, you should allow your lawyer to help you move the resident out of a dangerous environment as soon as possible.
Since nursing home neglect cases often include crimes, there may be very limited opportunities to file your case within the time allowed.
While you must contact a lawyer as soon as you suspect nursing home neglect, there are very important reasons to do so.
In addition to the Statute of Limitations for this type of case, which specifies a very limited time in which to file your case, lawyers and investigators need the chance to examine evidence and interview witnesses promptly.
Not only do memories fade with time, but proof of the neglect is sometimes camouflaged or removed to protect those responsible. Your swift action can have a big impact on the success of your case.
Dental Malpractice
Anesthesia Error
Surgery carries inherent risks, no matter how qualified the doctors are. However, patients have the right to expect that accepted standards of care will be adhered to when they submit to surgery.
Surgeons, nurses, hospital staff, and anesthesiologists all have important roles to play during an operation.
If you or a loved one has been harmed or if your family member died during surgery from an apparent anesthesia mistake, you are advised to discuss the facts and circumstances as you know them with an experienced attorney.
You may have been harmed or your loved one may have lost his or her life during surgery as a result of anesthesia mistakes such as the following:
Discuss the anesthesia-related injury that you experienced or the death of your family member during surgery with an experienced attorney. The Foulke Law Firm is ready to evaluate your potential medical malpractice attorney.
Surgical Error
Medical malpractice cases can be expensive and challenging to investigate and prosecute. Medical experts’ time is valuable. Hospital and doctor records can be tedious to obtain and evaluate.
A medical malpractice lawyer and a victim cannot and should not enter into a medical malpractice case without clear and convincing evidence that a violation of the standards of care resulted in grievous harm to a patient.
Surgery does not always have its intended results. A patient’s body may not respond as expected to a surgical procedure such as spinal fusion or knee replacement.
In some cases, complications may leave a patient believing that a surgeon was careless or unqualified. However, it may be very difficult to determine and prove that a surgical error took place.
On the other hand, some surgery mistakes are blatantly obvious:
Birth Injury
A pregnant woman places her trust in medical professionals through some of the most critical phases of human life: prenatal care, labor, and delivery.
She and her family rightfully expect that doctors, nurses, hospitals, and other responsible healthcare professionals will adhere to accepted standards of care.
The stakes are high: a healthy baby has a head start toward a long, healthy life. A child that suffers a birth injury, however, may face a lifetime of disability and disadvantage.
If you have reason to believe that your baby was injured before, during, or immediately after birth, possibly because of a mistake on the part of your obstetrician or caregivers, discuss the matter with a lawyer with experience handling malpractice cases.
Your child may suffer from cerebral palsy or disability resulting from shoulder dystocia because of a doctor’s error such as the following:
Your child may require special medical treatments, therapy, special education, and/or adaptive equipment as a result of a healthcare provider’s error.
You owe it to your baby or child to explore every avenue of help and hope — including the possibility of legal action. The Foulke Law Firm skillfully and compassionately represents victims of medical malpractice including preventable birth injuries.
Explore Legal Options
Your child may require special medical treatments, therapy, special education, and/or adaptive equipment as a result of a healthcare provider’s error.
You owe it to your baby or child to explore every avenue of help and hope, including the possibility of legal action. The Foulke Law Firm skillfully and compassionately represents victims of medical malpractice including preventable birth injuries.