Many adult children in Louisiana help their aging parents or other elderly loved ones with various aspects of their long-term care. Elder law attorneys are often asked to step in when legal problems arise regarding estate planning matters or suspected problems involving nursing home abuse. A woman in another state recently filed a lawsuit concerning the latter. She alleges that substandard care led to her loved one’s death.
The woman’s 98-year-old grandmother was reportedly taken to an area hospital with a 103-degree body temperature. She had been living in a local nursing home at the time. The woman says her grandmother could not speak due to dementia and was wheel-chair bound as well.
As a granddaughter, she often dealt with staff members at the facility in connection to her grandmother’s care. In fact, she says that on several occasions she was upset that her grandmother had been left outside, unattended, but officials assured her it would never happen again. The day the older woman was taken to the hospital, she had apparently been left outdoors for several hours in temperatures exceeding 90 degrees.
The elderly woman reportedly suffered severe sunburn and blisters on her shoulders. Sadly, she eventually succumbed to her injuries. Her granddaughter has filed a lawsuit while stating her frustration that elder law is meant to protect senior citizens; yet, she had entrusted her grandmother’s care to licensed professionals who sorely failed her and her grandmother. In the past, similar lawsuits in Louisiana have resulted in court-awarded compensation to those affected by such great losses.
Source: wflx.com, “Lawsuit blames nursing home for woman’s death“, May 22, 2018
