Maryland Nursing Home Financial Abuse Lawyer

When people consider nursing home abuse and neglect, many do not think about the possibility of financial abuse. Unfortunately, financial abuse does happen and the results can be devastating for nursing home abuse victims and their families.

Nearly 500,000 seniors experience financial abuse or scams each year, costing $3 billion, and this problem may continue to grow along with the aging population in the U.S. If you or your loved one experienced financial abuse in a nursing home or assisted living facility, a skilled Maryland nursing home financial abuse lawyer could help you seek to hold the responsible party accountable and recover your losses. Call a compassionate nursing home abuse attorney today.

Forms of Financial Abuse

Financial abuse takes many different forms. Some of the financial abuse experienced by nursing home residents includes but is not limited to:

  • Engaging in check and credit card fraud, including forging checks
  • Staff requesting, demanding or in some circumstances, simply accepting financial gifts, due to the power disparity between staff and residents
  • Emotionally manipulating residents by staff or others, aimed at obtaining financial assistance or “loans”
  • Extorting and threatening residents with isolation, restraint, or other negative consequence unless they provide money to staff
  • Stealing residents’ property or medication to sell or use
  • Identity theft and bank fraud
  • Scams involving investments, insurance, lotteries, or collection
  • Manipulating residents to change their wills or policy beneficiaries to include nursing home staff, or to transfer power of attorney and ability to access the resident’s accounts

Whatever type of financial abuse a nursing home resident suffers, an experienced Maryland nursing home financial abuse lawyer could seek to hold the wrongdoing party accountable.

Parties Liable for Financial Abuse at a Nursing Home

There are several different parties who could potentially bear responsibility for financial abuse at a nursing home. Obviously, the wrongdoing staff member could be liable for damages to the exploited nursing home resident.

The nursing home facility could also be held responsible since the home is tasked with hiring staff, conducting adequate background, credit, and reference checks, requiring mandatory drug and alcohol testing, and overseeing staff’s interactions with the nursing home’s residents. When financial abuse occurs, it could mean the nursing home’s administration acted negligently in its oversight.

Banking institutions and other financial entities could also be liable if they failed to spot suspicious activity or allowed a staff member to make decisions on a nursing home resident’s behalf without proper authorization.

Nursing Home Financial Abuse Damages

Victims and their families may be eligible for a range of damages, including compensation for the actual monetary losses, as well as non-economic damages, like pain and suffering, or even punitive damages aimed at punishing the wrongdoing actor for their bad conduct. Maryland typically caps non-economic damages at $845,000, but there is not generally a cap on compensatory damage awards.

Punitive damages are only awarded in especially egregious circumstances, but they typically manifest as a multiple of the amount of actual damages, such as three times the amount of compensatory damages. Only the court can decide what amount of damages are fair for the specific situation. An accomplished lawyer has experience helping victims recover the damages that they deserve.

Talk to a Maryland Nursing Home Financial Abuse Attorney Today

No matter which party is liable for financial abuse at nursing home, an experienced Maryland nursing home financial abuse lawyer could help victims and their families determine exactly what happened and who is responsible. If you or a loved one has suffered financial abuse while staying in a nursing home or senior care facility, contact an attorney today. Let a compassionate lawyer help you recover compensation.