Nursing Home Abuse in Benton House of Bluffton
Benton House of Bluffton consists of a one-story assisted living facility and a memory care wing. It boasts about many amenities for the seniors in its care, such as including meals in the cost for each resident. It provides residents with more than a dozen choices for meals, including a hot breakfast. The facility also provides a monthly family event, medication management, and personal care services. The enclosed courtyards allow those in memory care to get outside without wandering off. The facility enjoys keypad protection to avoid people from leaving the property.
The sunny pictures painted by the brochures and website don’t tell you how often the facility has fallen short in its main responsibility—to keep its residents safe from harm. Hughey Law Firm knows this first-hand—we have successfully brought cases against Benton House of Bluffton when its actions or inactions hurt our clients, and recovered compensation to pay for those damages.
If Benton House of Bluffton or any other assisted living facility injured you or your loved one—maybe through staff negligence, or when it failed to prevent an assault from another resident, or because an employee stole money from a resident—call the Hughey Law Firm. We not only know how to pursue cases against nursing homes and assisted living facilities, we teach other lawyers how to fight these claims. And we know how to win cases against Benton House of Bluffton.
South Carolina Care Facility Stats
South Carolina has over 180 independent living facilities, 330 assisted living facilities, 160 memory care facilities, and about 630 senior living providers, including nursing homes, adult daycare, hospice care, and respite care facilities. Of these, 165 are hospice care facilities.
Costs for senior living providers usually increase in metropolitan areas, even though many provide the same amenities as suburban areas. Memory care facilities range from $35,383 per year through over $73,000 per year, depending on the location. Memory care facilities help their residents with medications, personal grooming, and not getting lost.
Senior Living Providers and Liability
These facilities take on a lot of responsibility for keeping residents safe and healthy. Those that provide meals for their residents must remain aware of each patient’s food allergies and medical diets. Additionally, those that manage residents’ medications could also bear liability if they make a medication error.
Other types of nursing home injuries include:
- Malnutrition and dehydration if the staff does not ensure that the residents do not eat and drink enough.
- Nursing home abuse by caretakers, including physical and emotional abuse.
- Neglect if staff do not notice illnesses or let residents wander off and get lost.
Signs of Nursing Home Abuse and Neglect
Sometimes, a resident might not complain of abuse and neglect due to fear of retaliation by the abuser. Family members can look for signs of neglect, and if they notice problems, they might try to get their loved one to talk about it—but don’t press and cause additional stress.
If you suspect that your loved one has suffered from nursing home abuse and/or neglect, you can try to let the administration know. The facility administration might not realize that one or more employees have caused pain to your loved one. Whether you decide to let the administration know, you should also contact a nursing home abuse attorney to help you investigate the case and recover compensation for your loved one’s losses and expenses.
If your loved one has not mentioned any abuse or neglect, you might notice signs of abusive behavior.
Commons signs that of nursing home abuse and neglect include:
- Malnutrition and dehydration
- Asphyxiation and bed injuries
- Unexplained cuts and bruises
- Unexplained fractures
- Head injuries
- Bedsores (pressure ulcers)
- Infections, especially if your loved one does not usually suffer from infections
- Wandering more than usual
- The unexpected death of your loved one
- Unsanitary conditions, whether in the patient’s room or elsewhere in the facility
- Your loved one becomes withdrawn, does not want to communicate, or seems agitated
- Your loved appears sedated at all times
- Your loved one suffers more illnesses than normal
Recoverable Damages
If you determine that your loved one’s nursing home has engaged in abuse or neglect, your loved one could recover damages in the form of economic damages, non-economic damages, and, in some cases, punitive damages. While the money does not remove the painful memory, physical pain, and emotional distress for your loved one and your family, it does help you provide a better place for your loved one.
Economic Damages
Special damages, or economic damages, include those with a monetary value. They include past and future medical expenses, replacement or repair of destroyed or damaged property, and, if you lost your loved one because of nursing home abuse and/or neglect, funeral, burial, and cremation expenses as well.
Future medical expenses involve those that your loved one’s doctors expect your loved one to incur after a settlement or a trial award. These expenses cover additional surgeries, follow-up doctors’ appointments, physical therapy, occupational therapy, and cognitive and other psychological therapies.
Non-Economic Damages
General damages, or non-economic damages, include those that do not have a monetary value. They include pain and suffering, emotional distress, loss of quality of life, and loss of companionship. Your loved one could also recover additional compensation for physical injuries that reduce the quality of life, including amputation, burns, excessive scarring, and disfigurement.
If your loved one previously lived in an assisted living facility and did his or her own shopping and house cleaning, but can no longer do those and other personal chores, your loved one could also recover compensation for those things. If they need to move to another facility that costs more because it includes those services or has to hire someone to provide them, you can also recover those costs.
Punitive Damages
South Carolina has a South Carolina allows injured individuals to recover punitive damages in certain situations. To do so, the plaintiff must prove that the defendant’s actions or inactions involved gross negligence or intent. The court orders a defendant to pay punitive damages as a punishment so the defendant and others do not repeat similar behavior.
Call Our Nursing Home Neglect and Abuse Lawyers Today
Many long-term care facilities, including Benton House of Bluffton, at times, fail to provide the treatment that our elderly loved ones deserve. If you or your loved one suffered nursing home abuse or neglect at Benton House of Bluffton or anywhere else, contact the Hughey Law Firm for your free consultation at (843) 881-8644.
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