South Carolina Nursing Home Abuse Lawyers – Common Nursing Home Defense Tactics
Nursing homes are entitled to assert the sorts of defenses that are available in most negligence cases, such as the contributory negligence of the injured party, and assumption of a known risk. However, in some cases, such as where a person has placed him or herself into a nursing home specifically because he or she needed to be protected from the effects of certain medical conditions, the defense of contributory negligence may not be allowed.
A common nursing home defense tactic employed by defendants in cases brought against nursing homes is to attack causation, and argue that a resident’s underlying disease(s) and physical condition caused the alleged injury, or at least make the issue of causation unclear.
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Says Complied with the Minimum Licensing Standards
Many states have enacted statutes or regulations that establish certain minimum standards of care for private nursing homes. Even if a nursing home can show it complied with minimum licensing standards, however, it may still be liable for a resident’s injuries. For these reasons, it is important to have an attorney research the applicable standard of care, licensing requirements, and other regulations in your area. We offer a free consultation with one of our nursing home lawyers customized to your specific situation to see how we can help.
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Blames Pre-existing Condition
An issue that comes up frequently in nursing home litigation is whether the resident’s injury was inevitable due to his or her preexisting poor health, medical complications, mental condition, or advanced age. Patient care facilities often argue that a resident’s preexisting health condition, and not any negligence on the part of the nursing home, was the true cause of an injury alleged in a lawsuit.
Don’t let these claims deter you. There is a well established rule of law that a defendant (such as a nursing home) takes its victim as it finds him/her, preexisting conditions and all. Thus, the fact that a resident’s injury may have been made worse or harder to treat because of a preexisting physical or mental condition does not relieve the defendant of liability.
If you or a loved one has been the victim of abuse, neglect or exploitation by your nursing home or patient care facility, contact us today. Come in for a free consultation with one of our nursing home abuse and neglect lawyers to discuss your situation and hear how we can help.
