Oregon Elder Abuse and Nursing Home Neglect Attorneys

The attorneys at Dwyer Williams Cherkoss PC understand the devastating emotional impact of nursing home abuse and neglect. The increasing use of nursing home facilities in our state, which correlates to Oregon’s increasingly older average population, means a growing number of abuse and neglect incidents in Oregon nursing homes. The sad but simple truth is that nursing home residents are vulnerable to abuse and neglect. Despite this fact, every year thousands of Oregon residents entrust their family members and other loved ones to the continuing care of nursing facilities. This is especially true when their loved ones require medical staff to be on call around-the-clock.

Many of our most vulnerable loved ones are subject to gross neglect as well as physical, financial, or emotional abuse in long-term care facilities. The elderly are a particularly at-risk segment of the population because a disproportionate number of them have difficulty understanding or communicating that they are being victimized. Additionally, if nursing home residents are being physically or sexually abused by nursing home staff members, then they may be afraid that disclosing the abuse will lead to retribution by the staff.

At Dwyer Williams Cherkoss PC, we offer compassionate and experienced representation to nursing home abuse victims and to the victims of neglect in long-term care facilities throughout the State of Oregon. If someone you love has been victimized in a nursing home, convalescent hospital, or other elder long-term care facility, we will answer your questions and offer you counsel built on 75 years of collective litigation experience. Call us today at 541-617-0555.

Types of Elder Facility and Nursing Home Abuse

Improper care or mistreatment of nursing home residents by caregivers can involve a number of situations that result in physical, emotional, or financial harm to the adult. Abuse and neglect that someone may experience in nursing home facilities include any of the types of mistreatment listed below:

• Abandonment, such as desertion by the person responsible for providing care to a vulnerable adult under the care of the facility
• Failure of the caregiver to provide the expected care and services to the resident, whether intentional or negligent
• Mal-nourishment or dehydration
• Untreated medical condition
• An attitude of indifference to the resident’s physical needs
• Failure to maintain a clean living environment for the resident
• Financial abuse and exploitation of the resident’s resources including misappropriation of funds and illegal or improper use of the resident’s accounts
• Infliction of physical pain
• Over medication
• Inappropriate use of chemical or physical restraints
• Sexual abuse or rape
• Emotional abuse, such as verbal assaults or threats

Oregon Nursing Home Residents’ Bill of Rights

Because of the potential dangers associated with elder abuse and neglect in nursing homes, Oregon has developed a Bill of Rights that guarantees residents certain protections. These include being treated with respect and dignity, their records being kept confidential, and the freedom from mental and physical abuse as well as from being given unnecessary medication. Residents cannot be transferred or discharged without good cause, advance notice, or a discharge or transfer plan, and residents have a right to a hearing in order to stop any proposed change. Other rights guaranteed to nursing home residents include, without limitations:

• The right to be fully informed of the faculties, policies, and procedures that govern the conduct and responsibilities of all residents
• The opportunity to participate in the planning of medical treatment as well as to refuse experimental research
• No requirement that they perform services for non-therapeutic reasons
• The right to accept or to refuse medication, treatment, or care and to choose their own physician
• Freedom from retaliation for complaints or suggestions

Abuse and neglect in Oregon nursing homes is insidious in large part because family members do not discover the abuse until permanent injury or even death occurs. The nursing home abuse attorneys at Dwyer Williams Cherkoss PC have the skill and experience to carefully investigate the facts and to develop aggressive discovery methods to prove that substandard treatment and abuse is taking place in a nursing home facility. We are a statewide personal injury law firm serving all of Oregon, with offices conveniently located in Bend, Eugene, Grants Pass, Medford, Portland, and Roseburg to assist clients who have been victimized by nursing home abuse and neglect.

We offer an initial consultation free of charge and handle Oregon nursing home abuse and neglect cases on a contingency fee basis such that you only pay us if and when we recover compensation for your injuries. We will help you seek the compensation and protection that your loved one deserves! Call us today at 541-617-0555.