If you or someone you love has been the victim of abuse at a nursing home in Clearwater, Florida, contact Catania & Catania Injury Lawyers at (813) 536-3437 for a free consultation. Your family has rights, including the ability to demand financial justice for resulting injuries and trauma. Our experienced Clearwater nursing home abuse lawyers can help you maximize your recovery.
Our firm provides powerful legal representation to injury victims and grieving families in Clearwater. We’re a team of award-winning Florida trial attorneys with over 120 years of combined experience taking on insurance companies and winning life-changing case results. We’ve forced insurance companies and powerful defendants to pay hundreds of millions of dollars to our clients in settlements and hard-fought jury awards.
Now, we’re ready to help your family make the most of its fight for compensation in the wake of inexcusable nursing home abuse.
Why Choose Catania & Catania Injury Lawyers for Help With a Nursing Home Abuse Lawsuit in Clearwater, FL
When you trust a nursing facility with a loved one’s care, you expect safe, compassionate treatment. If that trust is broken and your family member is harmed, you have the right to seek accountability. Catania & Catania Injury Lawyers can handle the legal process while you focus on your loved one’s recovery and pursue the compensation you deserve.
Clients in Clearwater, FL, trust us consistently because:
- Our Clearwater personal injury lawyers have been trusted by victims of nursing abuse and their families for decades.
- We provide honest, approachable, and personalized legal representation designed to make a positive impact on each client’s life. We’re established leaders in personal injury litigation and recognized as Best Attorneys of America, Martindale-Hubbell Silver Client Champions, and Martindale-Hubbell AV-rated litigators.
- Our team understands that every instance of nursing abuse is different. We know that every case will require a unique approach and benefit from different legal strategies.
- We’re equipped with an in-depth knowledge of the complex laws and regulations that might affect your specific nursing abuse case, know which evidence can move the needle in your family’s favor, and can anticipate which strategies the nursing home and its insurer might use to limit their liability for the harm they’ve caused.
If you ask for our help, you can count on us to fight for you as if you were family. We offer a free consultation, so contact us to schedule a free consultation with a Clearwater personal injury attorney today.
Types of Nursing Home Abuse
Two out of three nursing home caretakers admit to having abused a resident in their care. Abuse can manifest in many different ways – physical, psychological, sexual, financial, and neglect. Often, victims of nursing home abuse in Clearwater experience more than one type of abuse.
Physical Abuse
Physical abuse involves causing a nursing home resident to suffer bodily injury or harm. It’s often the result of pushing, hitting, hair pulling, or using unnecessarily tight restraints. Residents who are physically abused at Clearwater nursing homes often deal with broken bones, soft tissue injuries, head injuries, fall-related injuries, and spinal cord injuries.
Signs of physical abuse can include unexplained bruising and swelling, cuts and lacerations, tenderness, and a sudden fear of caretakers.
Emotional Abuse
Emotional abuse is the most common type of abuse in nursing homes. Victims of emotional abuse may be teased, taunted, gaslit, threatened, isolated from their peers, or yelled at by their caretakers. Ultimately, any intentional attempt to harm a resident’s emotional well-being or stability can be considered psychological abuse.
Residents who are emotionally abused may exhibit signs of depression, anxiety, fear, agitation, and an unwillingness to spend time with peers or family.
Sexual Abuse
Sexual abuse can also occur in nursing homes in Clearwater. Often, sexual abuse occurs when a resident is forced to engage in or watch sexually explicit activities with caretakers or other residents. Victims may suffer from physical injuries, contract STDs, and experience emotional trauma.
Financial Abuse
The elderly, especially those in Florida nursing homes, are popular targets for financial abuse. Residents can be victims of financial abuse when their identities are stolen, credit cards are used for unauthorized purchases, or property is stolen or misappropriated.
Neglect
Abuse doesn’t always have to involve causing direct harm. It can also arise from intentional or inadvertent neglect. Neglect might involve failing to provide a resident with adequate food and water, failing to secure necessary medical care or treatment in a timely manner, withholding medication, abandonment, or leaving a resident bed-bound or wheelchair-bound.
Residents who are neglected may exhibit malnutrition, dehydration, unexplained illness or disease, bed sores, or suffer from frequent and unexplained falls.
How Much Is My Nursing Home Abuse Case Worth?
Every instance of nursing abuse is different. When valuing a claim, it’s important to consider several factors, including:
- What type of nursing abuse did the resident experience?
- Was the abuse ongoing? If so, for how long?
- What physical injuries – if any – did the resident suffer?
- Was the resident a victim of financial abuse?
- Will the resident require long-term medical care or treatment?
- How has the resident’s quality of life been impacted by the nursing abuse or neglect?
The more a victim of nursing home abuse suffers physically, the more the abuse causes financial stress, and the more the abuse changes their overall quality of life, the more compensation they may be able to recover through an insurance settlement or win at trial.
What Damages Can Be Awarded to Victims of Nursing Abuse in Clearwater?
The plaintiff in a nursing home abuse lawsuit in Clearwater can pursue compensatory damages from the nursing home, their caretaker, and anyone else who might be liable for their injuries and suffering.
Compensatory damages can include economic awards for:
- Current and future medical bills
- Restitution for lost property and assets
- Nursing care
- Rehabilitation
- Out-of-pocket costs
Non-economic awards can also be paid to compensate for harder-to-value life changes and struggles, such as:
- Pain and suffering
- Loss of enjoyment of life
- Loss of consortium
- Embarrassment
- Post-traumatic stress disorder
- Emotional distress
If a nursing home abuse lawsuit moves to trial, a Pinellas County jury can potentially award punitive damages, too. Punitive damages are intended to punish a nursing facility or another defendant for actions that were clearly malicious, fraudulent, or grossly negligent.
What Should I Do if I Suspect Abuse at a Nursing Facility in Clearwater?
Take the following steps if you believe or know that someone is being abused or neglected at a nursing facility in Clearwater, Florida:
- Call the nursing home to report the suspected abuse
- Contact the local Clearwater Police Department if you believe that your family member is in imminent harm
- Call Florida’s nursing home abuse hotline at 1-800-962-2873 or 1-800-96-ABUSE
- Report the abuse to the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration
Once you’ve reported the abuse and protected your loved one from further harm, call Catania & Catania Injury Lawyers to explore your legal rights and options.
How Much Does It Cost To Pursue a Nursing Abuse Case?
Our Florida nursing home abuse lawyers in Clearwater represent clients on a contingency basis. We front the costs of pursuing your claim and won’t be paid a fee until we recover compensation for you. Our fees are a pre-established percentage of your financial recovery, and if we don’t win your case, you pay absolutely nothing.
There’s no risk to ask for our help, so call our nursing home abuse attorneys in Clearwater, FL, for assistance today.
Is There a Time Limit for Filing a Nursing Home Abuse Lawsuit in Florida?
Most nursing home abuse lawsuits filed in Florida will be subject to a two-year statute of limitations. This gives a resident or family two years from the last known date of abuse to put a claim into action. If nursing abuse is fatal, a family will have two years from the date of a resident’s passing to pursue compensation with a wrongful death lawsuit.
Missing the deadline that’s set by the statute of limitations isn’t an option. Once time runs out, you lose the right to sue the nursing facility and hold it accountable for your loved one’s injuries and struggles.
Schedule a Free Consultation With an Experienced Clearwater Nursing Home Abuse Lawyer
Call Catania & Catania Injury Lawyers for help if someone you love has been the victim of abuse or neglect in Clearwater, Florida. Abuse is never okay, and our Clearwater nursing home abuse attorneys want to help your family fight for justice.
Since our opening, we’ve been fierce advocates for injury victims and families in Florida. We stand up to powerful corporations and don’t back down until our clients have been made whole. The result: over $500 million in monetary awards.
We offer a complimentary case evaluation. Contact our office to set a time to discuss your nursing abuse case with our team today.
Visit Our Personal Injury Law Firm in Clearwater, FL
Catania & Catania Injury Lawyers – Clearwater
600 Cleveland Street Ste. 329, Clearwater, FL 33755
(813) 773-8254
Open 24 hours
