Nursing Home Abuse Lawyers in Charleston, South Carolina

GIVE US YOUR PROBLEMS.
WE’LL GIVE YOU SOLUTIONS.

Call 843-284-5500

Nursing Home Abuse Attorneys in Charleston

In South Carolina, there are approximately 200 nursing homes and thousands of nursing home residents. When you hire one of these nursing homes, you want peace of mind knowing that your loved one is getting a higher quality of life than they could if they struggled on their own. Tragically, nursing home facilities don’t take care of their patients, and your family, as they should. In fact, each year a quarter of all nursing homes in the U.S. are responsible for causing a resident’s death or injury. That’s when you need the nursing home attorneys of Futeral & Nelson, LLC.

If you suspect that a nursing home in South Carolina has abused, mistreated, or neglected your loved one, then call our injury lawyers immediately for a free consultation. Our Charleston nursing home attorneys will work for you and your family to make the facility responsible for what they’ve done to your family member and to prevent the facility from victimizing others. We deal with abuse and neglect claims against facilities in Charleston, Dorchester, and Berkeley counties and throughout South Carolina.

Our South Carolina nursing home lawyers, Stephan Futeral and Thomas Nelson, have over 35 years of combined experience handling tough cases anywhere in the state. We’re top-rated (AV) by Martindale-Hubbell,  Stephan Futeral is rated 10 (Superb) by AVVO, Thomas Nelson is one of Super Lawyers Rising Stars, and clients endorse us with 5 stars ★★★★★ on Google Reviews.

Types of Nursing Home Abuse in South Carolina

South Carolina’s nursing home residents can suffer in a facility’s care either by intentional acts (physical abuse, emotional abuse, sexual abuse, and financial exploitation) or by sheer neglect:

 

  1. Physical Abuse – The South Carolina Omnibus Adult Protection Act (OAPA) provides that physical abuse includes slapping, hitting, kicking, biting, choking, pinching, and burning. Physical abuse also includes using of drugs to “chemically restrain” a patient or nursing home resident.
  2. Emotional Abuse – The OAPA defines emotional abuse as “deliberately subjecting a vulnerable adult to threats or harassment or other forms of intimidating behavior causing fear, humiliation, degradation, agitation, confusion, or other forms of emotional distress.”
  3. Sexual Abuse – As awful as it sounds, some nursing home residents have been sexually abused by staff who has control over them. This type of abuse can include actual sex acts, forcing a resident to view pornography or other people’s sexual acts, or forcing the resident to undress for no legitimate purpose.
  4. Financial Exploitation – Nursing home residents can easily fall prey to a malicious nursing home staff member who sees the resident as an easy target to exploit financially either by theft, manipulating them into giving away their money, health care fraud (charging for services that weren’t given), or by stealing their identity.
  5. Neglect of Nursing Home Residents – In many cases, the nursing home patient isn’t intentionally abused. Instead, the patient suffers simply because the facility fails to: (a) give the resident proper hydration and nutrition; (b) assist with bathing, permits dirty clothing, or fails to change soiled bedding and linens; (c) administer medicines or treatment illnesses or injuries; or (d) reposition the patient to prevent the development of bed sores.

Look for Signs of Nursing Home Abuse and Neglect in South Carolina

Many nursing home abuse claims in South Carolina aren’t reported because residents are unable or willing to speak up for themselves. It is very important that you be on a constant look-out for any signs of nursing home abuse or neglect.  Visit your family members often, visit them at different times so the home can’t figure out your schedule, and look for warning signs of abuse and neglect such as:

  1. Dehydration or malnutrition
  2. Bed sores or frozen joints
  3. Poor hygiene
  4. soiled clothes or bedding
  5. Sudden behavioral changes
  6. unexplained weight or hair loss
  7. fearfulness or withdrawal from activities
  1. bruises, cuts, burns, sprains, or fractures
  2. venereal disease or vaginal or anal bleeding
  3. over-sedation
  4. fear of a staff member
  5. staff controls or monitors visits
  6. unusual financial transactions
  7. missing possessions
  1. Dehydration or malnutrition
  2. Bed sores or frozen joints
  3. Poor hygiene
  4. Poor hygiene
  5. soiled clothes or bedding
  6. Sudden behavioral changes
  7. unexplained weight or hair loss
  8. fearfulness or withdrawal from activities
  9. bruises, cuts, burns, sprains, or fractures
  10. venereal disease or vaginal or anal bleeding
  11. over-sedation
  12. fear of a staff member
  13. staff controls or monitors visits
  14. unusual financial transactions
  15. missing possessions

What to Do If You Suspect Nursing Home Abuse or Neglect

If your loved one is in immediate danger, call 911. Otherwise, take these steps to protect your family member and preserve the evidence:

  1. Report it promptly. South Carolina’s Omnibus Adult Protection Act requires listed professionals, caregivers, and facility staff and volunteers who have reason to believe a vulnerable adult has been or is likely to be abused, neglected, or exploited to report it. Anyone else with actual knowledge of abuse, neglect, or exploitation must also report it; others who have reason to believe it has occurred or may occur may report it. A required report must be made within 24 hours or the next working day. For an incident in an ordinary nursing home, report to the Long-Term Care Ombudsman Program. For an incident in a facility operated or contracted for operation by the Department of Mental Health, Department of Veterans’ Affairs, or Department of Disabilities and Special Needs, report instead to the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division’s Vulnerable Adults Investigations Unit. You may also complain to the South Carolina Department of Public Health, which regulates nursing homes. In an emergency, or if there is a serious injury or suspected sexual assault, contact law enforcement immediately; doing so does not replace a required report to the designated agency. 
  2. Document what you see. Take dated photographs of injuries, pressure sores, and living conditions when you can do so lawfully and without compromising the resident’s care or privacy. Write down what your loved one tells you, the names of staff members involved, and the dates of your visits. Keep relevant communications and records.
  3. Ask for the resident’s records. A resident may request access to personal and medical records, and a legally authorized representative may exercise that right within the scope of the representative’s authority. In a Medicare- or Medicaid-participating nursing facility, the resident must be given access within 24 hours of an oral or written request, excluding weekends and holidays. The resident may obtain copies upon request and two working days’ advance notice; a reasonable, cost-based copying fee may apply. 
  4. Talk to a lawyer before signing anything. Before signing documents from the facility or giving a recorded statement to its insurer, seek legal advice. Do not delay reporting suspected abuse or obtaining urgent medical care while you look for counsel.

Legal Claims Against a South Carolina Nursing Home

Federal standards of care apply to nursing homes participating in Medicare or Medicaid. South Carolina’s Bill of Rights for Residents of Long-Term Care Facilities protects residents’ dignity and privacy and their freedom from mental and physical abuse. State law protects residents against chemical and physical restraints except those ordered by a physician; federal rules prohibit restraints used for discipline or convenience rather than to treat medical symptoms. 

Depending on the facts, a harmed resident may have a negligence claim, a medical malpractice claim, or both. Potential failures include understaffing; negligent hiring, training, or supervision; and substandard medical or nursing care. If the resident dies, the estate’s personal representative may pursue a survival claim for losses belonging to the resident and, if wrongful conduct caused the death, a wrongful death claim for the beneficiaries specified by law. 

Not every nursing home case is a medical malpractice case. The nature of the alleged failure and whether it involves professional medical judgment or care matter. A claim alleging medical malpractice generally requires a Notice of Intent to File Suit and an expert affidavit to be filed together, service of the notice on the named defendants, and pre-suit mediation before a summons and complaint is filed. The expert-affidavit statute provides limited exceptions. Filing the notice tolls applicable limitations periods, and if mediation does not resolve the matter the complaint must be filed within the period specified by statute. Claims involving only nonmedical or routine care do not automatically follow that procedure. 

Many nursing homes include arbitration agreements in admission paperwork. An agreement is neither automatically binding nor automatically invalid because a family member signed it. The signer’s legal authority and the actual documents matter. Authority merely to make health care decisions does not, by itself, authorize a separate, voluntary pre-dispute arbitration agreement. Federal rules prohibit participating nursing facilities from requiring arbitration as a condition of admission or continued care and require agreements they offer to provide a right to rescind within 30 calendar days of signing. Bring all admission and power-of-attorney documents to your consultation so we can review them.

How Long Do You Have to File a Nursing Home Abuse Claim?

Deadlines depend on the type of claim and the defendant. Many ordinary personal-injury claims must be brought within three years, with accrual governed by South Carolina’s discovery rule. A medical malpractice action generally must be commenced within three years of the treatment or omission, or within three years after the injury was or reasonably should have been discovered, subject to a general six-year outside limit and statutory exceptions. A wrongful death action generally must be filed within three years of death. 

Claims governed by the South Carolina Tort Claims Act generally must be filed within two years after the loss was or should have been discovered. If the claimant first files a claim under that Act, the time to bring suit is generally three years from discovery of the loss. Whether the Act governs depends on the defendant and the claim; do not assume that a facility’s receipt of public funding makes it a governmental entity. Because evidence can be lost and deadlines can pass quickly, contact a lawyer as soon as you suspect abuse or neglect.

Compensation in Nursing Home Abuse and Neglect Cases

Recoverable compensation depends on the claim and the losses proved. It may include medical expenses, the reasonable cost of moving a resident to a safer facility when attributable to the wrongdoing, and compensation for the resident’s injuries and suffering. If the resident dies, a survival claim addresses losses belonging to the resident, while a wrongful death claim addresses the statutory beneficiaries’ loss. Reasonable funeral expenses may be sought in either the survival or wrongful death action, but only once. 

Punitive damages may be available in a claim against a private defendant if willful, wanton, or reckless conduct causing the harm is proved by clear and convincing evidence, subject to applicable statutory limits and exceptions. South Carolina separately limits noneconomic damages in qualifying medical malpractice claims, with statutory exceptions and periodic adjustments to the dollar limits; that cap does not limit proven economic damages. Claims governed by the Tort Claims Act have their own liability limits and do not allow punitive damages. Our attorneys will explain how these rules apply to your family’s case.