You’re afraid that someone you love has been abused or neglected by staff in a nearby nursing home facility. Even if you only have your suspicions, you shouldn’t leave your loved one’s fate to chance. Don’t hesitate to consult the Schenk Smith website and our library of educational videos. Then, give us a call to set up your free consultation.
Recognizing abuse and neglect isn’t always easy. Abuse alone can take on many forms. It can be physical, psychological, financial and sexual in nature. Sometimes it is a mixture of two or more of these. Neglect, meanwhile, could be anything from forgetting to change your loved one’s position in their bed, to not bathing them or brushing their teeth.
Absolutely. Nursing home facilities may be held liable for injuries that occur to residents. In fact, the vast majority of nursing homes have liability insurance in place as a precaution against legal action. Lawsuits against nursing homes can and do happen all the time.
Suing a nursing home does not require you to go out of pocket to pay legal bills. Many attorneys work on a contingency basis, meaning you pay nothing unless the attorney wins your case. We at Schenk Smith follow this method. To date, it has allowed many Georgia residents to sue nursing homes for injuries incurred to their loved ones, without going into debt.
Yes. You have a limited time frame to file a lawsuit after an alleged offense has been committed. It’s for this reason that we recommend you begin the process of selecting and consulting an experienced nursing home abuse lawyer as soon as possible.
Georgia residents have two years from the time of the alleged abuse or neglect to file a lawsuit. The two year rule covers all personal injury or medical malpractice related offenses. Courts offer little wiggle room when it comes to statutes of limitations, and we’ve seen some terrible instances where abuse clearly occurred, but the family waited too long to file suit.
Don’t let this tragedy happen to you and your loved one. Contact Schenk Smith today for your free consultation.
If you suspect your loved one may have been abused or neglected at a nearby nursing home facility, then you need a law firm by your side that you can trust. For many Georgia residents, that law firm is Schenk Smith LLC.
Schenk Smith is one of Georgia’s most trusted names when it comes to fighting back against elder abuse and neglect. Our attorneys have been selected as Georgia Super Lawyer Rising Stars, and we are the best Google reviewed law firm focusing on elder abuse in the state.
So regardless of where you are in the vicinity of Swainsboro, don’t hesitate to reach out. We can come to you whether you live by George L Smith State Park, Vines Botanical Gardens, or the Altama Museum of Art and History. We’ve got you covered.
Swainsboro, Georgia is located in Emanuel and has a population of 7,504 residents. Of those, 11.9% are aged 65 and older. This elderly community of Swainsboro is who we serve. And we serve them proudly.
Every day across America, overworked nursing staff must contend with far more residents than they can reasonably support. This environment creates stress, frustration, and eventually, neglectful practices to the residents that rely on them.
Make no mistake; there is no excuse for neglect in nursing home facilities. You can and should consider filing a lawsuit if you see one or more of the following signs:
When an area of the body makes contact with another surface, it creates pressure on the skin and underlying tissue. If that pressure is not relieved, the skin around the area can experience a loss of blood flow, which may lead to the death of nearby skin and tissue cells. The final outcome of this process is something called a pressure ulcer, or what is commonly known as a bedsore.
Bedsores occur when we stay in one position on a bed for too long. The pressure on the skin leads to a loss of blood flow to that area. The most common areas where this occurs are the heels, thighs, buttocks, upper back, and top of the head—the areas which most commonly support us when we’re lying down.
The first step of treating a bedsore is to identify which stage it’s in. There are four stages to bedsores. The further along the stage, the longer they will take to heal.
Nursing home neglect is a fact of life for many elderly individuals across the United States. Thousands of complaints are made to state and federal governments every year. Unfortunately, this number may be on the rise, as more seniors than ever are entering America’s already-overcrowded nursing homes facilities.
Neglect occurs for many reasons. But some of the most common include:
If your loved one was severely injured or passed away at a Swainsboro, Georgia nursing home, then we recommend that you act as soon as possible to protect your loved one’s rights.
Georgia Department of Community Health
The Georgia Department of Community Health regulates, licenses, and grants license renewals to all nursing homes across Georgia. The branch of the DCH which you’ll be speaking with to file a complaint is the Healthcare Facility Regulation, which is tasked with investigating nursing home practices.
You can file a complaint with the Georgia Department of Community Health, Healthcare Facility Regulation online by clicking this link. Here is additional contact information:
Georgia Department of Community Health, Healthcare Facility Regulation
Complaint Hotline: (800) 878-6442
Complaint Fax: (404) 657-5731
Georgia Office of the Long-Term Care Ombudsman
You will also be able to file a complaint with the Georgia Office of the Long-Term Care Ombudsman. The Ombudsman program mediates disputes between Georgia residents and Georgia nursing homes. You will be connected with a trained expert who can enter the nursing home to ask questions and review their procedures.
You can file a complaint with the Georgia Office of the State Long-Term Care Ombudsman online by clicking on this link. Here is additional contact information:
Middle Region –Georgia Long-Term Care Ombudsman Program
239 NE Park Avenue, Suite C-1
Baxley, GA 31513
Telephone: (912) 367-4866
Fax: (912) 367-3849
If your loved one was physically assaulted by nursing home staff, a resident of a nursing home, or a nursing home administrator, you are within your rights to report those actions to law enforcement organizations.
For abuse occurring in a Swainsboro, Georgia nursing home, report the crime to the Police Department of Swainsboro or to the Emanuel County Sheriff.
City of Swainsboro Police Department
212 N Main St,
Swainsboro, GA 30401
Telephone: (478) 237-8967
Emanuel County Sheriff’s Office
125 South Main St
Swainsboro, Ga 30401
Telephone: (478) 237-7526
District Attorney’s Office: Middle Judicial District
101 N Main St, Ste 200
Swainsboro, Ga 30401
Telephone: (478) 237-7846
Your loved one has been through a terrible ordeal, and leaving him or her in an abusive or neglectful environment is unthinkable. Many times, a family has no other choice than to locate a new facility for their loved one.
We understand that locating a new facility can be stressful and disrupting to both your family and your elderly loved one’s routine. The good news is there are tools available to you which can dramatically reduce the time it takes to locate a new nursing home.
The tool which we highly recommend is Medicare.gov’s nursing home compare website. Click here to go to the Nursing Home Compare Website. This tool provides detailed information regarding health inspections, staff ratings, and overall scores as defined by resident families and experts.
For your convenience, a list of all nursing homes located within Swainsboro Georgia is located below, along with their contact information and inspection scores.
If the injuries sustained by your loved one seem suspicious or strange, or even if you just want peace of mind that the injuries were not caused by abuse or neglect, then the medical records related to those injuries may hold the answers you’re looking for.
Unfortunately, these medical records aren’t always easy to get. First of all, state and federal medical privacy laws make it very difficult for a loved to gain access to them. A power of attorney will be helpful in this regard. Alternatively, a capable attorney can likely secure these records for you.
Once you have the proper authorization, it’s a simple matter of filling out the correct paper work at the hospital. As far as costs go, a hospital cannot charge you for these records, with the exception being the cost of printing and retrieval.
Even after you’ve been authorized to access the records, there may still be hurdles. One of the most important is figuring out which hospital your loved one went to. Don’t expect the nursing home to be forthcoming with this information. They will likely be unwilling to help.
Thanks to Swainsboro’s relatively small size, you may not have to go looking too far to find your loved one’s medical records. To help you, we’ve provided a link and contact information for the closest hospital, Emanuel Medical Center.
We are sorry to hear about the loss of your loved one. In the terrible event that this family member passed away due to the abuse or neglect of nursing home staff, you should know that you have options available to you to seek justice in his or her name.
When someone dies, the law allows a relative or close friend to represent that individual’s estate. The administrator or executor of the estate then has the ability to file a lawsuit in the deceased individual’s name. This lawsuit may then be directed at the nursing home that caused the fatal injuries.
To get the ball rolling on the estate, a close friend or family member—the individual who will be named executor of the estate—will need to go to their home county’s probate court. Probate courts are specialty courts which strictly deal in the affairs of the deceased, including distributing assets and paying off creditors.
We understand the probate court process can be daunting, so don’t hesitate to reach out to Schenk Smith today.
Click here for the Probate Court of Emanuel County
Emanuel County Probate Court
125 South Main St
Swainsboro, Ga 30401
We’ve compiled a list of nearby nursing homes for your convenience. This information is taken from our CMS Nursing Home Compare Website.
PruittHealth- Swainsboro 856 Highway 1 South Swainsboro, GA 30401 | Overall Rating: 2 out of 5 (Much Below Average) Number of Beds: 103 Number of Residents: 82 RN hours per resident per day: 24min (GA Avg: 34min) |
Health Inspection Rating: 3 out of 5 (Average) Staff Rating: 3 out of 5 (Average) Quality Measure Rating: 1 out of 5 (Much Below Average) Most Recent Health Inspection Date: 08-17-2017 Number of Health Citations: 3 Average Number of Health Citations in Georgia: 3.2 Number of Complaints in previous 3 years resulting in citation: 0 Federal fines in previous 3 years: 0 |
Emanuel County Nursing Home 117 Kite Road Swainsboro, GA 30401 | Overall Rating: 4 out of 5 (Above Average) Number of Beds: 49 Number of Residents: 47 RN hours per resident per day: 27min (GA Avg: 34min) |
Health Inspection Rating: 5 out of 5 (Much Above Average) Staff Rating: 4 out of 5 (Above Average) Quality Measure Rating: 1 out of 5 (Much Below Average) Most Recent Health Inspection Date: 07-16-2017 Number of Health Citations: 0 Average Number of Health Citations in Georgia: 3.2 Number of Complaints in previous 3 years resulting in citation: 0 Federal fines in previous 3 years: 1 ($20,740 on 07-16-2017) |
We understand how hard it can be to select an attorney. We also understand what’s at stake in your upcoming legal struggle. It isn’t just about winning a big settlement. It’s about making sure that justice is done and the nursing home pays for its crimes.
At Schenk Smith, our commitment is and always has been to your elderly loved one. And when it comes to making good on that commitment, we have a promising track record:
Don’t leave your law suit to chance. Let the knowledgeable, honest, and experienced attorneys at Schenk Smith represent your loved one.
If your loved one was injured or died in a Swainsboro, Georgia nursing home, please call us at Schenk Smith (678) 823-7678 for a free consultation. You can also check out hundreds of video FAQs on our website.