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Families and children spend countless hours in or around swimming pools, especially in the summer. While swimming pools are fun places to spend a summer day, they are also dangerous places that can cause serious personal injury or death. Every year thousands of children and adults suffer serious injury or die in swimming pool accidents, diving accidents and spa-related accidents.
Each year, nationwide, more than 300 children under 5 years old drown in residential swimming pools, usually a pool owned by their family. In addition, more than 2,000 children in that age group are treated in hospital emergency rooms for submersion injuries. According to the State Department of Health, drowning ranks as the second leading cause of unintentional injury death for children ages 1 to 14. The health department states 80 percent of victims are male and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention notes that for every youth who drowns, six others require hospitalization or emergency treatment for near-drownings and immersion injuries.
Owners of private backyard pools often provide their friends and neighbors with a great deal of enjoyment. Owners and operators of public pools, apartment building pools, community pools, health club pools, and hotel pools provide similar benefits to all of us. However, each of them also have a legal responsibility to provide a safe environment. Many people who own private pools fail to take the steps necessary to ensure pool safety. In failing to provide proper protections and warnings, their negligence often leads to serious personal injury and wrongful death.
Swimming pools and spas are becoming an increasingly popular feature of backyard pools across the country. The innocent act of swimming in a pool on a hot summer’s day can quickly turn dangerous from faulty drains that can trap young swimmers. Many people realize that drowning is a potential hazard whenever there is a pool around, but most people do not realize the dangers that are associated with pool drains. While laws have been in effect since 2008 to make pool drains safer, the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) still warns pool owners that the risk still exists. Pool drain safety is an ongoing concern throughout the United States.
According to the State Department of Health, drowning ranks as the second-leading cause of unintentional injury death for children ages 1 to 14. The health department says 80 percent of victims are male and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention notes that for every youth who drowns, six others require hospitalization or emergency treatment for near-drownings and immersion injuries. Unfortunately, most of these swimming pool accidents are caused by negligent property owners who fail to meet the safety standards. Fatal and catastrophic pool and spa injuries have devastated the lives of families and children for decades due to the lack of safety regulations concerning pool systems, safety equipment and pool maintenance.
Drowning is the fourth leading cause of accidental death in the United States. It is the second leading cause of accidental death for children under the age of fifteen. Of the 4,000 people who die from drowning in the US each year, approximately one third are children under the age of 14, and almost 20% of those drown in a public pool with a trained lifeguard present. Drowning is a leading cause of death for children under the age of 4, and often these tragic accidents occur in private or public swimming pools. Children are often attracted to neighborhood, hotel and apartment complex pools or hot tubs and when safety precautions are not upheld, children can often easily get to the water. If you have lost a loved one in a drowning accident, contact a drowning accident attorney at our firm to assist you with the legal aspects of the case. It is important that you have skilled assistance from a drowning attorney to handle the complexities of your case.
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Drowning is the fourth leading cause of accidental death in the United States. It is the second leading cause of accidental death for children under the age of fifteen. Of the 4,000 people who die from drowning in the US each year, approximately one third are children under the age of 14, and almost 20% of those drown in a public pool with a trained lifeguard present. Drowning is a leading cause of death for children under the age of 4, and often these tragic accidents occur in private or public swimming pools. Children are often attracted to neighborhood, hotel and apartment complex pools or hot tubs and when safety precautions are not upheld, children can often easily get to the water. If you have lost a loved one in a drowning accident, contact a drowning accident attorney at our firm to assist you with the legal aspects of the case. It is important that you have skilled assistance from a drowning attorney to handle the complexities of your case.
Drowning accidents at swimming pools, hotels, motels, parks, water parks, lakes, rivers and other locations are more common than one would expect. These drownings usually occur when supervision fails in their duty, or when faulty gates, drains or other hazards endanger a swimmer or a child who has entered an area that should have been restricted. Drowning accidents are particularly dangerous, because when the victim does survive there is a high likelihood of brain damage due to the lack of oxygen suffered in the incident. Catastrophic injuries such as brain damage, spinal cord injuries and other severe injuries are often the result of drownings. If your loved one has been involved in a drowning or near drowning accident seek the advice and expert legal help from a drowning accident attorney at our firm. Call today for a free legal consultation.
There are many reasons drowning accidents can occur. At swimming pools they are commonly related to lifeguard negligence, improper child supervision, lack of proper security measures or defective pool equipment, such as diving boards and pool drains. Another common reason where drownings happen is the result of either drunk driving with boating accidents or drowning accidents that occur as a result of a lack of life jackets made available to those on a boat. Any of these situations can easily result in drowning or near drowning, particularly when young children are involved. If you have been victimized for any of these reasons you should contact a drowning accident lawyer today. The attorneys at our firm will help you receive full compensation for your losses. Our experienced attorneys can help you or your family make an informed decision in terms of how to proceed with your case. Call today for a free legal consultation.
The personal injury attorneys at our firm are highly qualified and skilled with extensive experience representing people who have been injured in drowning accidents. Through the years, we have developed a reputation as a firm that will fight for our clients and their cases all the way to trial if necessary. We strive to provide aggressive and effective representation for our clients, regardless of the size or complexity of the case. We can assist the families of a drowning victim in the legal process in all types of drowning cases, including near drowning, pool accidents, lake accidents, water parks, hotel pool drownings, or apartment pool drownings. We welcome the opportunity to work with you. Please contact our office today.
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In the next 30 years, over 65 million American will be 65 years of age or older. With advances in science and medicine and changes in lifestyle, the life expectancy rate for Americans has sky rocketed, and will almost certainly continue to do so. Combine these facts with a recent study stating that 40% of senior citizens will reside in a nursing home at some point in their lives, and the reality is clear: nursing homes will serve as homes for large populations of older Americans. With this development, the frequency of abuse in nursing homes will almost certainly increase.
Over 2 million Americans currently live in nursing homes and more than 15,000 nursing homes exist in this country. As the number of older Americans who reside in these nursing homes rises, the incidence of abuse in nursing homes has risen. Both the state and federal governments have responded to inadequate facilities and/or poor treatment by enacted certain laws and provisions to better safeguard nursing home residents.
Perhaps the most important legislative action was the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (OBRA) amendments of 1987. OBRA mandates that nursing homes conduct individual assessments for residents, reduces the uses of physical and medicinal restraints, creates individualized care plans, and provides the appropriate training for staff to deal with special need residents. One of the overriding stipulations of the law is that residents should not be subject to mistreatment, abuse, and inadequate facilities.
» A Legal Perspective
» Proving Abuse In Nursing Homes
» Common Inadequacies and Abuse in Nursing Homes
A LEGAL PERSPECTIVE
As previously mentioned, nursing homes are federally regulated by the OBRA laws of 1987. Each separate facility is licensed in the state where they operate. Facilities that receive federal funds through Medicare and Medicaid must comply with OBRA. However, federal law does not give nursing home residents a right of action to enforce compliance with federal regulations. Rather, OBRA is not intended to limit other state and federal laws or regulations.
In the past, it has been very difficult for victims of abuse in nursing homes (the plaintiff) to collect legal and monetary remedy for these actions. The principal reasons for this has been the fact that these cases have been tried as negligent cases or as medical malpractice cases. The verdicts, when they are for the victims, have typically been less than acceptable because of how tough it is to prove damages. (Damages are based on life expectancy, lost wages, and lowered quality of life.) Unfortunately, these factors are much lower for elderly individuals than for others. For example, a 35 year man who makes $200,000 per year and maintains a very active, exuberant lifestyle would be eligible for much greater damages in a negligence case.
However, this courtroom trend has been changing in favor of those who bring these suits to court (plaintiffs). Much of this is directly the result of state and federal legislation previously mentioned that now makes proving damages in nursing home cases much easier. As well, many attorneys for victims of nursing homes have become more effective in presenting their cases as corruption, neglect, and abuse inside of nursing homes. The result has been more appropriate justice for victims of nursing mistreatment or abuse.
PROVING ABUSE IN NURSING HOMES
Gathering as much information in a timely matter is the best way to insure that the facts of any activity of abuse in nursing homes will be established. Residents should always have a personal chart that records anything that occurs to them. Nursing homes that receive federal funds are required to provide these records within 2 days. However, this leaves open the door for alterations to be made to the chart. Staff members who fear reprisal or a possible lawsuit may make changes to the chart to escape blame. Getting a copy of the chart immediately reduces the chances of any mysterious changes occurring.
Often times, there is a witness or witnesses to the mistreatment or abuse in nursing homes. This is especially true if the abuse is ongoing. Witnesses may actually want to come forward because of the guilt they feel over seeing someone treated this way. Witnesses can be family members, other residents in the nursing home, or other staff members. These individuals should immediately be asked to record in writing what they saw in as much detail as possible.
The victim of the alleged abuse in nursing homes should also record in writing exactly what happened. Time can muddy the recollection of individuals. This is especially true with elderly individuals.
Visual evidence is very compelling in cases involving abuse in nursing home. Photos of the injuries should be taken, as well as photos of where the incident occurred. The photos should be taken before the injury is allowed to heal in order to document the full extent of the abuse or mistreatment.
Former staff members may be able to provide valuable information on how residents were treated or mistreated, on what goes on behind closed doors, and they may have stories of abuse or mistreatment that they can relate. This is often a powerful way to establish a pattern of abuse and neglect that has occurred at a particular nursing home.
COMMON INADEQUACIES AND ABUSE IN NURSING HOMES
All too often, nursing homes try to keep costs down by keeping the number of staff members down. Improperly staffed facilities can take away needed attention and services that are guaranteed under OBRA. The results for the residents can be extremely serious. Some of the more common occurrences of abuse in nursing homes include:
Inadequate amounts of food or missed meals
Insufficient amounts of fluids
Not taken to the restroom when necessary (may be left lying in their own urine or feces)
Uncomfortable and health body and pressure sores
Over- or under-medicated
Ignored or left in bed all day where they are not turned (one of the causes of bed sores)
Attendant light not answered or ignored
Not properly cleaned or groomed
Other inadequacies include:
Altered or obliterated records
Unrealistic care plan goals
Failure to follow physicians’ orders
Unexplained decline in weight, skin integrity or physical condition
Failure to assess or report change of condition
These less serious examples of neglect are more common but often long term inadequacies of abuse in nursing homes. Less common but much more serious are actual mistreatment such as dropping a resident or intentional abuse. These examples of abuse in nursing homes can result in serious injuries or death to residents. This is especially true given the fact that elderly individuals have more fragile bones, etc. In addition, nursing home residents are dependent on the staff for nearly all of their daily needs–food, water, medicine, toilet, grooming, and intellectual/social contact. When corporate owners are more concerned about profits, nursing home staff can become overworked and not have necessary training. This can result in inappropriate or abusive behavior to vulnerable residents who simply want the basic rights guaranteed to them under the law.
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