Nursing Home Settlements

Article Updated:  March 30, 2024

 
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Nursing Home Settlements

Using private, attorney access resources, I searched far and wide for a national sampling of nursing home settlements.

Free of charge, you’ll find on this page a nice volume of summaries for nursing home settlements that I prepared based on my review of those results.

The results are organized into the following 4 categories:

◊   Nursing Home Abuse Compensation

◊   Nursing Home Negligence Compensation

◊   Nursing Abuse Neglect Compensation

◊   Nursing Home Malpractice Compensation

I also provide average results for different categories based on my review of an even larger sampling of nursing home settlements that are not included on this page.

If you’d liked to get an assessment for the value of your nursing home abuse, neglect, negligence, or malpractice claim, contact me today.  You can also read my nursing home bio.

Care Home Neglect Compensation

Compensation for care home neglect is intended to reimburse the victim for the damages they suffered due to poor medical care.

Neglect happens in many care home around the country. Sometimes the neglect flies under the radar or is not reported which is why the problem festers for so long.

Identifying Neglect

Nursing home settlements result from cases that are noticed and brought to the attention of authorities or nursing home advocates such as myself.

There have been many  documented cases of death from neglect and serious illness in care homes.

If neglect is common, then it should be easy to prove a case and average nursing home neglect settlements will be high, right?

The answer is no because nursing home abuse compensation is not always easy to achieve because evidence is not easy to collect and the nursing home will try and shift blame away from themselves and make injuries seem like they were inevitable due to the victim’s advanced age.

Neglect & Abuse Causes Worse Health

Neglect of any sort can lead to a snowball effect where more and more serious illnesses can develop because of the original injury.

Care home neglect compensation should take this into account, but many nursing home cases are undervalued because the nursing home attempts to make illness and death look like they were caused because of the age of the resident.

While natural decline may be the norm for some people in care homes, this does not mean that settlements for nursing abuse should apply a blanket assumption to all cases.

Major Nursing Abuse Challenges

The biggest issue faced in many nursing homes is that proper care for both chronic and other illnesses are not being given in an adequate manner.  This leads to rapid decline once a person is admitted to a care home and is neglected for prolonged periods of time.

Just by being in a care home, the chances for mortality from neglect increases.

Nursing home settlement amounts for neglect can take a considerable amount of time neglect by its nature is a chronic, prolonged state of not caring, as opposed to a singular event like a fall.

Neglect & Settlement Values

The extent of the neglect involved will impact your compensation.

Documentation of the neglect is a component of many nursing home settlements and verdicts because if the records corroborate the poor care, the liability position is more winnable.

With neglect cases specifically, this requires a deep dive into months and months of records to find patters on things such as lack of adequate feeding and hydration.

Nursing Home Neglect Settlement Cases

Neglect in this nursing home settlement was based on standard of care violations

$750,000.00 (New York): A jury awarded the children of a deceased nursing home resident a $750,000 settlement after finding evidence of neglect, in that the nursing home staff’s careless conduct led to the death of the resident.  The staff showed reckless disregard for the safety of the resident which was found to be well below the accepted standards of care established by the state.

Nursing home neglect settlement paid to patient who deteriorated due to poor care

$500,000.00 (Florida): A nursing home resident went into care in good health, continent and had no skin conditions.  After only one month of care, resident was covered in skin sores, dehydrated and has signs of malnutrition and suffered nearly 30 falls which altogether led to the individuals death.  The nursing home argued that it was not negligence but inevitable symptoms of existing neurological medical conditions that led to the death.  The court disagreed and awarded the decedent’s family with a care home neglect compensation of half a million dollars.

Failure to provide adequate care led to the death of a resident and large nursing home settlement

$213,700.00 (Illinois): An 86 year old female resident of a nursing home received inadequate care as the staff did not protect her and also failed to address abuse against the resident.  A shortage of staffing and personal care led to the resident falling and getting hurt on multiple occasions which led to both broken bones and head injury that led to death.  In order to avoid a long court case, the nursing home settlement in this case was compromised despite the fact it was a wrongful death claim.

Average Nursing Home Neglect Settlement

The average nursing home neglect settlement is based on a few common factors. Important things to keep in mind include:

◊ Most cases will settle out of court between you and the defendant

◊ Most cases tend to settle for between $400,000-$500,000

◊ Cases take on average 2-3 years to come to a conclusion

◊ One of the biggest factors in a settlement will be whether or not you had counsel

Average settlements will vary depending on what kind of claim you specifically have against the nursing home.

In nursing home abuse compensation cases for example, there are higher settlements due to the fact that actual abuse has taken place in a very deliberative manner.

Nursing home settlements that are based on neglect, on the other hand, may be harder to prove and will depend on additional variables like showing that the care given was not to the standards that the state or federal government requires.

While the average settlement value is about half a million dollars, in cases of death and extreme neglect nursing home negligence lawsuit settlements tend to be as high as $1,000,000-$3,000,000.

Nursing Home Negligence Lawsuit Settlements

Settlement was paid for nursing home negligence when a blister led to infection 

$65,476.00 (Florida): A care home resident was neglected with staff failing to check in and secure the health of the resident.  She was left unattended and not turned for longer periods of time than permitted.  This led to an infection spreading through open wounds.  Failure to identify the problem in time led to scarring and dehydration.  The parties came to an agreement and the nursing homes negligence led to a settlement with the resident’s family.

Facility was forced to pay settlement for nursing home negligence related to it failing to prevent resident from falling

$600,000.00 (Florida): Negligent care by medical professionals and nursing home staff led to a resident to have multiple fractures as well as open cuts and sores which required amputation.  The family of the resident stated that there was negligence in the creation of a care plan and the execution of the limited plan that was in place which led to the injuries.  The defendants believed that prior medical conditions led to the amputation and tried to deny any liability.  The nursing home faced a lawsuit and a settlement was reached for its negligence.

Nursing Home Negligence Settlement Averages

Similar to neglect cases, negligence in the nursing home deals with a failure to provide adequate care and response towards those who are in your charge.

While neglect refers to the failure to care for the person directly, negligence refers to the failure to meet actual legal duties to others.

Those who work in nursing homes and medical facilities, have a legal duty to the care, safety and well-being, emotionally and physically, of all of the residents.

To help guide them towards the right path on these duties, there are both state and federal guidelines in addition to industry guidelines, on proper, ethical and legal care.

Failure to meet their legal duties at all times means that nursing homes risk settlements that compensate those who are harmed by the negligence and their families.

When the state establishes clear guidelines for care to help avoid common nursing home problems, and those guidelines are not followed, then negligence is being committed which leads to cases that can average anywhere from $600,000- well over a million dollars in many cases.

Nursing Home Settlement Amounts for Malpractice

Serious infection was misdiagnosed leading to individuals death and a nursing home settlement

$3,750,000.00: (Illinois): A nursing home settlement amount near 4 million dollars for malpractice was awarded after a resident was misdiagnosed leading to death.  After exhibiting symptoms of infection and deterioration, the individual was finally given medical treatment, only to be misdiagnosed and given the wrong medication as a response to her condition.  The lack of proper medical care and the application of the wrong medication ultimately led to the patient to die due to the malpractice of the attending medical team.

Large nursing home settlement for neglect because patient needed amputation after poor care

$987,000.00: (New York): While in the care of a nursing home, an elderly male resident complained of pain that was starting to become excruciating.  When he was taken to a medical facility to get care for his symptoms, he was further held in a waiting area and not given care for multiple hours which led to his infection getting worse and placing his life in a very precarious situation.  His result was higher than the average nursing home settlement because the malpractice in care led to the need for a serious amputation in order to save the resident’s life.

Average Nursing Home Settlement for Malpractice

Malpractice cases are harder to prove than other cases like neglect because many consider malpractice to not be applicable to nursing homes.

This does not mean that it is not possible to prove malpractice in the nursing home, but rather that it will take diligence in proving the case and extra care in showing how specific actions by medical staff led to the poor outcomes as opposed to natural or inevitable medical conditions.

Malpractice cases do tend to require a narrower assessment to ensure that the injury or death was the result of one or more specific medical practitioners who made specific reckless decisions that led to poor outcomes.

When this is able to be proven, the value of payments for a nursing home settlement amount for malpractice can average from as low as $50,000 to as high as $300,000.

The issue with pure malpractice claims is the complicated medical issues tends to muddy the waters, confuse jurors, and lead to compromised outcomes.

Nursing Home Abuse Settlement Amounts

Nursing home resident gets a settlement after leg is amputated

$150,000.00 (Delaware): An elderly woman was admitted to a nursing home after a stroke and due to the lack of care and abuse of the staff, she fell in the shower when coming out of her wheelchair and suffered a cut.  Further lack of care led to the cut becoming infected and there being the development of cellulitis and other illnesses that were not treated.  The compensation for the nursing homes abuse focused on violations of two Florida statutes that showed the nursing home failed to act in a responsible manner.  The resident ultimately needed amputation because of the lack of care that was received for the initial fall and cut.

Abuse and understaffing led to fractured leg and nursing home settlement

$597,593.00 (Pennsylvania): Abuse and negligence were alleged in the case of a 86 year old nursing home resident who suffered a fractured leg because of the disregard of the staff.  This nursing home settlement amount was increased after it was shown that the nursing home was both understaffed and lacked training and care standards.  The nursing home attempted to claim that it had acted within their capabilities and was up to standards, but this was shown to be a weak argument by the plaintiff and counsel, which lead to the final amount of almost $600,000.00 for this nursing home settlement.

Large nursing home settlement after its abuse led to death

$2,005,000.00 (Pennsylvania): A 79 year old resident of a nursing home was abused to the point that she suffered malnutrition, starvation, open wounds, infections and dehydration which led to her death.  The nursing home was found to be directly responsible for the death as it was the facility’s abuse and neglect that led to the worsening conditions of the resident with no relief for the clear pain and distress that she was in.

Average Compensation for Nursing Home Abuse

The average compensation for nursing home abuse cases can vary depending on the specifics of your case.

The level of damage, the number of medical afflictions, the level of documentation and the end result of the case (amputation, death, pain and suffering, etc.) will all make a difference in the final settlement amount that will be awarded.

Averages can therefore vary depending on what the end result of the abuse was.

Some cases on the lower end average about $200,000 while on the higher end, abuse cases can go for as high as $3,000,000.

Nursing Home Abuse Compensation Advice

There’s a wide balance of facts that will impact the value of your nursing home abuse, neglect, negligence, or malpractice settlement or verdict.

The only legitimate way for anyone, including me, to help you is to conduct a deep dive into the facts of your case, including the likely thousands of pages of medical records.

Conducting that deep dive is not a burden.  It is my honor to shine a spotlight on bad nursing homes and bring them to justice.

Use my experience, of investigating hundreds of nursing home cases, to your advantage.

Send me an email, fill out the contact form on this page, or call me to get a trusted advocate by your side.

Warmly,

Reza Davani, Esq.
State Bar No.:     #1212110211
Federal Bar No.: #30168

Cellphone: (301) 922-4598
Email: reza@nursinghometruth.com

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