Las Vegas and Henderson Nursing Home Negligence Lawyers
Important Reasons to Bring a Claim against a Negligent Nursing Home

In my twenty seven years of being a lawyer, the most shocking stories I listen to are the ones involving the Nursing Home Negligence Cases. I recall vividly when I was in high school more than thirty years ago watching a film on the poor care in nursing homes and seeing the resulting injuries. It is gut wrenching when I hear the voices of people whose loved ones are injured by un-caring and careless nurses. We put our trust in these homes and expect a level of professionalism and caring on the part of nurses who take an oath to give careful medical attention to those who cannot care for themselves.

There are two important reasons to hire an Experienced Las Vegas Nursing Home Negligence Lawyer and to bring a case against a careless Nursing Home. The first is to obtain money compensation against the Negligent Nursing Home. The second is to send a signal to the Negligent Las Vegas and Henderson Nursing Home that in-attention and Negligent Nursing Care that injures our family members and loved ones will not be tolerated. You must stand up for the elderly and infirm patients that are unable to protect their own rights. The only way to prevent the same Nursing Home Abuse from injuring people in the future is to make a claim against a Las Vegas and Henderson Nursing Home that is negligent and hit them where it hurts: In their pocket book. Make the nursing home or their insurance company pay money so the owners police their nurses and hold them accountable for giving nursing care that causes injury to our loved ones. The insurance company will demand the nursing home prove that they will be more careful or they will refuse to insure the nursing home that continues to have claims brought against them for Negligent Nursing Home care. The Nursing Home's Insurance rates will go up which will in turn cost them additional money and result in the managers demanding more careful nursing assistance.

Hire a Las Vegas and Henderson Lawyer with Nursing Home Case Experience

It is important to hire a Las Vegas and Henderson lawyer experienced specifically in handling Nursing Home Negligence cases. Nursing Home Negligence cases are handled in a similar manner to Medical Malpractice cases. Of utmost importance is to understand that the statute of limitations which limits the time for bringing a Nevada Nursing Home case is One Year but can be extended under limited circumstances for some additional years if there was a legal reason why the negligence could not have been discovered, or if there was an attempt to hide the fact that there was negligence by the nurse or the nursing home. It is not an easy task to get the Judge to agree to extend the one year time limit. The statute of limitation is a bar date. That means the case must be settled OR a lawsuit filed within the one year time frame. If it is not, or if your Las Vegas and Henderson lawyer files your lawsuit after one year, the Las Vegas and Henderson Nursing Home Negligence Defense attorney will file a legal document containing an "affirmative defense" and ask the judge to dismiss the case.

Critical Nursing Expert Affidavit Requirement under Nevada Law

To handle the nursing home case properly, your lawyer needs all of the pertinent medical records from the nursing home to review. (If you can, to facilitate a quick review of your case, it is wise to get a complete copy of the nursing home medical records). The nursing home medical records must then be reviewed by a nurse expert to determine whether the story contained in them paints a picture that displays nursing care that falls below the standard of care in the Las Vegas and Henderson medical community. If the nurse who reviews the medical records is of the opinion that there was negligent nursing care that directly resulted in an injury to the patient, he or she will need to sign an affidavit explaining those facts and indicate that there was negligence on the nursing home that fell below the standard of care. The affidavit attesting to the negligence on the Las Vegas and Henderson Nursing Home MUST be attached to the lawsuit filed in Court or the judge will dismiss the Las Vegas and Henderson Nursing Home Negligence Lawsuit. If the year has passed under the statute of limitations, your Henderson and Las Vegas Lawyer will not be allowed to file the lawsuit again.

Typical Nursing Home Negligence Situations

Some of the Las Vegas and Henderson nursing home negligence cases that we are on the look out for where Nursing Home Negligence Care falls below the standard of care (where the nurse was not reasonably careful) are when your family member develops a bed sore. There are four stages of bed sores. The nurse must shift the patient who is unable to move themselves voluntarily every couple of hours to prevent the development of pressure sores. A Stage One Pressure sore is where the skin is starting to get bruised and showing a reddish color. Stage Four is the most painful bedsore where the sore can actually go all the way down to the bone. Once a bedsore develops it is very difficult to heal. Normally a doctor has to do painful and repeated medical procedures called debridement to heal the sore.

Other Negligent Nursing Home situations to watch out for are falls. Patients with difficulty walking need to be carefully assisted in and out of wheelchairs or their bed. They must be supported by the nursing staff to prevent the patient from falling. Falls by elderly people or severely disabled people typically result in broken hips and other fractured bones. Repeated or multiple falls are a clear indication of Negligent Nursing Care. On occasion I have worked on cases where the Nursing Home staff has dropped the patient while shifting them from the bed to a wheel chair or from one bed to another.

Be on the look out for Nursing Home Negligence where the patient chokes to death when the nursing home was aware the patient had swallowing problems and gave food that was too bulky. Cases where the patient is found to be dehydrated or literally starving from malnutrition are other Nursing Home negligence situations that our office has brought cases for.

What you can do to help

It is important to visit your loved one in the Nursing Home as often as possible so the Nursing Home staff knows that you are watching out for the safety of your loved one.

The State of Nevada will investigate a Las Vegas and Henderson Nursing Home case which results in a severe injury or death to a patient. A case worker will be assigned from the department of health that licenses Las Vegas and Henderson Nursing Homes who will issue a report documenting any negligence on the Nevada Nursing Home.

Our Las Vegas and Henderson Nursing Home Negligence Lawyers are skilled in handling cases against Las Vegas and Henderson Nursing Homes that are Negligent. We will have a lawyer on our staff talk with you to go over your case at no charge. We only get paid if we win money damages for your loved one that was injured as a result of the negligence of the Las Vegas and Henderson Nursing Home. It is important to take photos of the injuries or the bed sore to assist us in presenting the case. (A picture is worth a thousand words)

Our Las Vegas and Henderson Lawyers at Jack Bernstein and Associates also known as Bernstein and Poisson have the ability to represent your loved one for the Las Vegas and Henderson Nursing Home's Negligence, only if we have our retainer agreement signed first. If the patient who is injured by the Nursing Home Negligence is coherent, they can sign the retainer agreement authorizing our office to handle the case. If they are not coherent, the person with a power of attorney must sign the retainer agreement. If there is no power of attorney, a proceeding to appoint a person to be the guardian over the person must be brought in court allowing that guardian to sign our retainer agreement.

You should not attempt to deal with the insurance company adjuster who calls you to settle a Las Vegas and Henderson Nursing Home Negligence case on your own. It is important that a lawyer skilled in handling Las Vegas and Henderson Nursing Home Negligence cases and Nevada Nursing Home Negligence cases in general handle the case. Typically the adjuster on these types of cases is skilled in handling such cases with an eye toward paying as little as possible or making no payment at all. One of the strongest factors that causes an insurance company to pay the maximum amount of money is their concern that an experienced Las Vegas and Henderson Nursing Home Negligence Lawyer will file a lawsuit in the Clark County Nevada District Court house and require them to hire a defense attorney who will typically charge them hundreds of dollars an hour and thousands of dollars a month until the case is over.

There are legal requirements under Federal Medicare Statutes regarding money damage recovery against Negligent Las Vegas and Henderson Nursing Home's which require the Federal Government to be reimbursed for money they pay out toward the medical care necessitated by the Negligent Nursing Home. The Medicare program has a formula where they calculate the repayment required for the money they pay for the related medical care. The payment they make is reduced by the percentage of attorney fees the Las Vegas and Henderson Nursing Home Negligence Lawyer's firm charges. There is a further reduction based upon any additional cost money needed to recover money damages, which includes, for example, the nurse expert fees and the court filing fees. In the event a person dies related to injuries due to a Las Vegas and Henderson Nursing Home Negligence case, the estate may get part of the money and there can be additional requirements under Federal Law for reimbursement of money paid by the Medicare program over a person's lifetime.

If a person dies as a result of a Las Vegas and Henderson Nursing Home's negligent care, there is one year to bring the case under the statute of limitations in Nevada. The heirs are entitled under the Nevada wrongful death statute to recover the value of the loss of their loved one. There are many factors involved in figuring this out but you should simply understand that it takes an experienced attorney in Las Vegas and Henderson Nursing Home negligence cases to obtain the maximum recovery for you and your family members who are entitled to recover money damages in these cases. Spouses are considered "heirs" under the Nevada Wrongful Death Statute. Children are also considered heirs.

This is not an exhaustive review of the law regarding Las Vegas and Henderson Nursing Home Negligence Cases. I have written it to give you some insight into the complexity of this area of law so you understand the importance of hiring an experienced Las Vegas and Henderson Nursing Home Negligence Lawyer to represent you in your case. Call me, Jack G. Bernstein, Esq. with twenty seven years of experience at 702-434-4444 or 1-888-529-4529 toll free, or my law partner, Scott L. Poisson, Esq. with seventeen years of experience at these phone numbers (we personally answer your call), or email us at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it or This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it for a further discussion of your case. It is free to consult with us and we only get paid IF we can win money damages for the case. If we cannot we will not charge you for our work.