Articles Posted in Nursing Home Litigation

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The day your loved one enters a nursing facility is not a great day. Aside from your own emotional strain you will try valiantly to let your loved one know that you will stay close and advocate for his or her needs.

And then there’s the paperwork. Lots of it.

Should you sign the nursing home agreement right then? Do you understand what it all means and that if you’re not careful, you could end up in nursing home litigation?

Consider this story…

Robert, a family man in his fifties, agreed to bring his wife’s Uncle Jack to the nursing facility and to get him settled in.

When they arrived, Jack was brought to his room and Robert was shepherded to the admissions office where he sat down in front of the admissions coordinator.  Sitting in front of Robert, stacked a couple of inches thick, were admissions documents Continue reading

By Carmine Perri

iStock_000016746886SmallImagine yourself in this situation: As a favor, you agree to help your spouse’s parent get settled into a nursing home.

If you’re like most people, you’d be emotionally stressed and feeling a bit guilty. Not exactly the best mindset for absorbing complex information nor for making legally-binding decisions.

But that’s exactly what some nursing home admission coordinators encourage people to do when they ask them to sign an admissions agreement while they’re at the nursing home for the first time.

This often ends up being a painful mistake. If you don’t completely understand Continue reading

grandfather-on-the-porch-519288-mBy Carmine Perri

“Can they do that?”

“I don’t think that’s appropriate.”

“Can we do something about it?”

For some time now, I have been receiving calls from residents in long-term care facilities, and their family members, asking these types of questions.  Ultimately, interested parties want to know if there are any legal requirements imposed upon these facilities.

Oftentimes, I swivel my chair to one of the bookcases in my office and look at the two bottom rows, both of which are fully stacked with treatise, legal publications, and other relevant documents that exclusively address resident rights and responsibility party liability.

Although I certainly welcome your calls, I wanted to share with you one place that you could begin your research to determine whether you or a family member is being properly treated in a facility. Continue reading

By Carmine Perri

Litigator_cartoonIf you or your loved one is in a nursing home, you need to know your rights! Once you understand what they are, you can better stand up for them.

Just as you are protected in your own home by a set of laws, residents of nursing homes are protected by a Code of Federal Regulations. The “Code” ensures that residents’ right are promoted and protected.

Unfortunately, there are times when this does not happen. And when this is the case, you need to make your voice heard.

But first, you must know your rights. Take a look below at some key resident rights that are often challenged. And let us know if you think they are being violated, we can help you. Continue reading

By Carmine Perri

iStock_000005817728SmallAbout once a week the topic of spousal liability creeps its way into a client meeting or a telephone conference.  Despite the question being posed to me in various different ways, the issue simply boils down to whether one spouse is liable for another spouse’s debt.  I, oftentimes, respond to the question with a question of my own, “what is the debt for?”

Our law provides that, “any purchase made by either a husband or wife in his or her own name shall be presumed, in the absence of notice to the contrary, to be made by him or her as an individual and he or she shall be liable for the purchase.”

So, the general rule is that when one spouse purchases something, only he or she is liable for that purchase.

Exceptions to the rule

There are, not surprisingly, exceptions to the general rule.  There is a Connecticut General Statute providing that spouses are jointly liable for the following: Continue reading

By Attorney Carmine Perri

Close up of eviction noticeGoing to a nursing home is hard enough, imagine being evicted? Good news. There are laws in place to prevent that from happening.

Within a nursing home, just like any other place you call home, you are entitled to certain rights. These rights include not being able to be evicted for any reason beyond the six listed in the United States’ Code:

  1. The discharge is necessary for the resident’s welfare and his or her needs cannot be met in the facility.
  2. The resident’s health has improved and no longer needs the facility’s services.
  3. The resident is endangering the safety of others.
  4. The resident is endangering the health of others.
  5. The resident has failed to pay for (or to have paid under Medicare or Medicaid) a stay at the facility.
  6. The facility ceases to operate.

Continue reading

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