Can I file a lawsuit against an alcohol or drug rehab center?
If the insurance company doesn’t agree to pay fair compensation for your injuries and pain and suffering, your attorney can file a lawsuit against the negligent alcohol or drug rehabilitation center. Don’t worry about affording an attorney.
Can negligent drug rehab centers cause serious injuries?
Negligent alcohol and drug rehab centers can cause serious injuries. Here’s how to get the compensation you or your loved one deserve. Drug abuse and addiction are a major health care problem.
Can a personal injury lawyer take my mental health malpractice case?
It is important to note, however, that not all personal injury lawyers will be able to take your case, but LegalMatch’s platform can help you find one who specializes in mental health malpractice lawsuits.
Do I need a lawyer for nursing home abuse?
Such a lawyer can help you navigate the complex laws surrounding nursing home abuse, win you a strong compensation package, and help you get justice against those who wronged you. Our experienced legal partners are ready to help you find out if you may be entitled to compensation for nursing home abuse.
What is a residential treatment center?
Residential treatment centers (RTCs) help people struggling with behavioral, chemical, and other issues. Millions of people have entrusted RTCs to provide top-quality service and to take care of loved ones. Unfortunately, RTCs also have a long history of abuse and other wrongful conduct. Residents suffer physically, mentally, and emotionally, ...
What should a treatment center investigate?
A treatment center should fully investigate an applicant’s background, including job history, and criminal record. If an RTC fails to perform an adequate check, they might hire someone who is a clear danger to the residents. Inadequate staffing. The staff on duty might be insufficient to fully care for residents.
Can you see abuse in the RTC?
Abuse is often difficult to see. Many caretakers do not visit their loved ones regularly in the RTC. And when they do stop by, it is often for only short periods of time. Furthermore, the fact that your loved one is receiving treatment might account for any “odd” behavior that you notice.
Why are care facilities required to maintain living conditions that are adequately clean and sanitary in resident rooms and common areas?
Care facilities are required to maintain living conditions that are adequately clean and sanitary in resident rooms and common areas to prevent the injury or illness of patients in their care. They can be held liable in a civil lawsuit if a person in their care becomes sick or dies because they failed to maintain a clean facility.
What happens if you don't honor your duty to care?
If the people tasked with this duty, primarily medical professionals, don’t honor their duty to care, significant negative consequences can result. This is especially true for seniors who require higher levels of care. Many older Americans and their families trust care facilities and their staffs to keep them safe and healthy.
What happens when a facility follows a medical standard of care?
When sub-standard medical care results in harm to a resident, it may be appropriate to bring a medical malpractice case against the facility, or against the medical professional who treated the resident.
Who can be held vicariously liable?
Facilities which hire an employee who ends up neglecting, abusing or otherwise harming a patient or resident can be held vicariously liable. An employer who fails to properly train and supervise its employees can also be held liable in these cases.
What are the physical injuries of a rehab patient?
Rehab patients may also be injured by inappropriate sedation, as well as straps, belts, or other physical restraints.
How to get a personal injury attorney?
Your personal injury attorney can: 1 Stop the facility from destroying important records (known as “spoliation of evidence”) 2 Subpoena the rehab center’s records, including internal emails and memos between staff members about dangerous conditions 3 Question staff members under oath who may know the injury’s cause 4 Secure a court order permitting your attorney access inside the center to photograph or video the dangerous condition 5 Uncover proof of prior health and safety violations at the rehab center
What are the standards for rehab patients?
Mental abuse: Rehab patient care standards don’t include shaming, humiliation, blaming, intimidation, or ignoring a patient’s emotional and physical needs. Sexual abuse: Patients should not be forced to undress in front of others or to hear suggestive or sexually explicit comments.
What was Dawn's addiction?
Dawn was a nineteen-year diabetic who was admitted to a drug rehab center for treatment of her heroin addiction. During the admitting process, Dawn’s mother provided copies of her daughter’s prescription for insulin and reminded the nurse of her daughter’s Type 1 diabetes.
What happens if you slip and fall in rehab?
Slip and falls: Patients and visitors in rehab centers can suffer broken bones, head injuries, or joint injuries after a slip, trip, and fall on uneven flooring, unmarked steps, torn carpeting, loose scatter rugs or icy walkways around the facility.
What are the damages of mental health?
Damages can include the cost of medical care and mental health treatment, out-of-pocket expenses, lost wages, and emotional distress. Because of the fragility of most patients, treatment centers must do everything reasonably possible to make the environment safe from dangerous conditions.
Do you need medical records before rehab?
Medical records: Your medical and mental health records before rehab will help establish the level of care you needed, and your injury treatment records will help link your new injuries or worsened condition to the negligence of the rehab facility. However, to collect the most compelling evidence, you’ll need an attorney.
How long does a nursing home abuse lawsuit last?
From the time a lawsuit is filed to the time a jury makes a verdict, both a civil lawsuit and a criminal lawsuit may last one year or more.
What is a plaintiff in a civil lawsuit?
This is because criminal court is about a defendant breaking the law — not the individual victim’s suffering. Civil lawsuits name the victim as a plaintiff and serve to compensate the individual.
What is nursing home abuse?
A nursing home abuse lawsuit is a legal dispute by one party against another in a civil or criminal court of law. Civil lawsuits award financial compensation to wronged individuals, while criminal lawsuits focus more on punishing a guilty party for breaking the law. Pursuing a lawsuit may lead to compensation that can help undo ...
How does a plaintiff receive compensation?
A plaintiff may receive lawsuit compensation through: A verdict: A trial jury decides if the defendant is at fault. If the defendant is found liable, the jury determines how much compensation the defendant must pay the plaintiff. In criminal cases, a jury decides if a defendant is guilty or innocent of the crimes they were accused of.
What is the definition of abuse in nursing homes?
Abuse: Intentionally harmful acts such as hitting or constantly belittling a nursing home resident may fall under the broad definition of abuse. Medical malpractice: When a health care professional acts outside of the standards in their profession, and it injures a patient, the professional has committed malpractice.
What is the form of abuse in which the perpetrator fails to uphold their duties to care for someone who is
Neglect: Neglect is a form of abuse in which the perpetrator fails to uphold their duties to care for someone who is unable to care for themselves out of carelessness, indifference, or unwillingness.
How are civil and criminal cases resolved?
Most criminal cases are resolved through pleas, plea bargains, and dismissals.
What is a malpractice lawsuit?
A rapidly growing field of malpractice lawsuits stems from a category known as “mental health malpractice.”. A mental health malpractice claim may arise when a mental health practitioner (e.g., a psychiatrist) treats their patient in a negligent manner or abuses the power that they have over them as a professional.
What rights do patients have?
One of the primary rights that patients should know about is the right to refuse treatment. Regardless of whether the patient was committed to a mental health facility voluntarily or involuntarily, according to the law, a patient always has a right to refuse treatment. However, there may be some exceptions.
What is the Supreme Court case in Tarasoff v. Regents?
Regents of the University of California, held that mental health providers do have a duty to protect individuals that may be at risk of bodily harm based on information learned from their patients.
Do mental health providers have a duty to warn others?
Since then, many jurisdictions have opted to adopt this ruling and it has been generally applied in almost all states that a mental health provider does have a duty to warn someone else if their patient seeks to harm them. This is especially true if the patient intends to kill the victim.
Can a doctor be sued for medical malpractice?
For example, a doctor who fails to treat their patient properly and as a result, ends up making the patient worse, could be sued for medical malpractice .
Debra Ann Thomas
Assuming the counselor failed to follow the treatment protocol for the patient by causing the patient to recall repressed memories, there may be a claim for negligent infliction of emotional distress -- if the patient has in fact been distressed by the memories.
Daniel Paul Buttafuoco
It doesn't appear you have grounds for a medical malpractice claim. However, find a local attorney that is familiar with your states laws and call for a free consult.
Jacob Adam Regar
I am not licensed in your state. I am licensed in CA. So, just to provide my impression, I don't believe these facts give rise to a malpractice claim. In a negligence claim, the plaintiff has to prove the defendant owed a duty of care (that means a duty to act as a reasonably prudent person in the face of a...
Why was Duke University Hospital sued?
Duke University Hospital was sued in 2003 for never checking the blood type of an organ donor and the recipient before surgery. Rhode Island Hospital performed operations on the wrong part of three patients' heads in 2007. In a 1995 case, the wrong leg was amputated during surgery.
What happens if a hospital gives you the wrong treatment?
If a hospital gives you the wrong treatment, their staff makes the wrong call, or a loved one dies in their care, you may have options to sue. Although medical professionals may be the ones who actually made the mistake, the hospital is responsible for its employees and their training. If, however, the doctor who injured you is an independent ...
What happens if you sue a doctor?
When you sue the doctor or hospital, you will often be dealing with their insurance company. In rare cases, a doctor may lose their license or go to jail. Or, a hospital could be shut down. But generally, you are suing their insurance company to compensate you for your suffering.
How long do you have to sue a hospital for negligence?
Discrimination (a staff member refusing to treat you do to your race, sexual orientation, your nation of origin, etc.) You generally have between two to six years to sue for hospital negligence. This is called the statute of limitations, and it varies by state.
What is a negligent action in healthcare?
Dangerous or negligent actions by hospital staff (reusing equipment or needles, leaving floors wet, stealing or abusing medications) Wrongful death of a family member.
Can a hospital carry malpractice insurance?
They will have to carry their own malpractice insurance, so you would end up fighting their insurance company in court. It may be possible to prove the hospital is treating the contracting doctor as an employee and is therefore also responsible for your injuries.
Can a hospital keep employees that have behavior issues?
The hospital is keeping employees that have behavior issues (like substance abuse problems) The tricky part is that you may be taking action against a doctor, but actually suing the hospital where they work. In fact, it goes one level higher than that.
How to prevent malpractice lawsuits against therapy?
Implement these tips to reduce your chances of facing a malpractice lawsuit: Keep your professional boundaries in place. Don’t overshare about your personal life and never engage in a personal, physical, or sexual relationship with a client.
How much does a dismissed lawsuit cost?
A dismissed lawsuit can cost you between $2,000 and $5,000 (or more) in legal defense fees alone. Perhaps the best way to prevent these devastating claims is to heighten your awareness. Read on to learn the situations that lead to malpractice suits and what you can do to limit your exposure.
What happens if a client thinks you have overstepped your professional boundaries?
If your client thinks you have overstepped your professional boundaries, you could be sued for malpractice. As a family therapist, faith-based counselor, or mental health counselor, you handle people at their most vulnerable. Clients turn to you for guidance so they can make sense of life’s many obstacles and their own limitations.
What is malpractice in healthcare?
Malpractice (also called professional liability) is another way of saying that a healthcare professional: 1 Breached a standard of care 2 Offered wrong or negligent advice 3 Failed to coordinate treatment with other professionals (i.e., psychiatrists and social workers)
How to offer effective counsel to clients?
To offer effective counsel to your clients, you need context to make an accurate assessment. Be sure you know what your client is struggling with, their history of mental illness, prior treatment they’ve had, marital status, education, and their current medications.
Can you be sued for malpractice?
But with great trust comes great risk – and if a client thinks you overstepped your professional boundaries, you could be sued for malpractice. Malpractice (also called professional liability) is another way of saying that a healthcare professional: Breached a standard of care. Offered wrong or negligent advice.