Florida Nursing Home Bed Rail Entrapment Lawyer

While bed rail entrapment might not occur frequently, it can be an extremely serious issue in nursing homes nonetheless. If your loved one was injured or killed due to such an incident, an established West Palm Beach nursing home bed rail entrapment lawyer may be able to help.

All nursing home residents have a legal right to a safe living environment, as well as the attention and care of nursing home staff. When an employee neglects to care for a resident, this could be legal grounds to bring forth a claim with the aid of a skilled nursing home abuse attorney who focuses on nursing home issues.

Establishing Liability for Bed Rail Entrapment

For a case to be successful, a plaintiff generally must demonstrate negligence on the part of the defendant or defendants. This is a legal theory often used in injury cases which entails four steps. According to Florida Statutes §400.023(4), a claimant in a case must prove the following elements to determine negligence in West Palm Beach:

• By virtue of admitting the resident into their care, the nursing home had a duty to provide safe and quality care
• When the resident became trapped in their bed rails, a breach of that duty occurred
• The resident being trapped occurred as a direct result of the nursing facility’s breach of duty
• This incident caused injuries and damages to the resident

Examples of Breach of Duty

There are many ways a nursing home and its staff could breach their duty in a way that results in bed rail entanglement. Common examples include providing unsafe beds or unsafe bed rails, leaving residents unsupervised for long periods of time, and neglecting to answer call lights or attending to resident needs.

Additional scenarios that might occur in West Palm Beach include a home not having established policies in place to prevent such accidents, forgoing proper training, or ignoring confused patients. A diligent nursing home bed rail entrapment attorney in West Palm Beach could help prove negligence by gathering medical records, talking with expert medical witnesses, and seeking employee and resident testimony, as well as investigating nursing home policies to demonstrate how a facility breached their duty.

Is a Settlement Possible in West Palm Beach?

In many civil cases, both parties reach a mutually-agreeable settlement before a case goes to trial. A settlement could be the preferred method to end a lawsuit for both parties, as it often reduces both the time and expenses of litigation. Plaintiffs may also be relieved to expend less emotional energy on trial preparations and negotiations.

The possibility of a settlement often depends on the specific circumstances of a case, however. Key influencing factors may include the degree to which the defendant(s) admits their fault, what the plaintiff feels is a fair settlement, and the evidence exchanged during the discovery phase of the trial. If the claimant and any at-fault parties agree on a settlement, however, they are often barred from ever initiating a lawsuit on the same claim again.

Retain a West Palm Beach Nursing Home Bed Rail Entrapment Attorney

If a family member or loved one is injured because of dangerous living conditions in a nursing facility, you might be able to obtain compensation for both physical and emotional damages. A West Palm Beach nursing home bed rail entrapment lawyer could help you build a persuasive claim for compensation in such a situation.

A determined attorney could take care of the legal details of a case so that you could direct your attention towards helping your loved one recover from an accident and the subsequent damages. To find out more about how you could seek financial recovery, reach out to a dedicated legal professional today.