Nursing Homes Fail to Provide a Modified Diet

Thursday, November 14, 2013

Nursing Homes Fail to Provide a Modified Diet

Written by Malman Law, reviewed by Steve J. Malman.

Nursing homes are expected to provide for the individual needs of each resident, and that includes providing meals that adhere to them. Certain residents may require a specified diet that helps alleviate health problems and doesn’t agitate conditions. If a nursing home caregiver is aware of the meal requirements of a resident and fails to meet them out of negligence, nursing home negligence lawyers can help residents recover compensation if the caregivers’ actions resulted in injury.

Filing a Negligence Lawsuit

If a resident requires a unique diet, either the resident or his or her family should inform caregivers and administrators. If nursing homes fail to provide the meal, causing preventative injury such as allergic reactions or gastrointestinal problems, this counts as nursing home negligence. Nursing home attorneys can help victims by determining both the value of the injuries as well as whether or not the injuries were caused by negligence.

If caregivers are found to be negligent in their actions, the nursing home may be held liable for any medical expenses as well as any additional physical and emotional distress caused by injuries.

Making Changes to Nursing Facilities

Along with recovering compensation for victims of negligence, successful lawsuits can bring attention to nursing homes, calling for reform. Nursing homes are rated by Medicare on a scale ranging from “much below average” to “much above average”, and the ratings are made public online for anyone to view. Homes with negligent staff will often have all past deficiencies listed on Medicare’s website, meaning that when a facility is sued for negligence it’s usually much less likely to reoccur.

Victims of nursing staff negligence and their families can seek legal representation with nursing home attorneys, helping ease their pain and pushing for optimal nursing home conditions.