Affirmative Defenses for Virginia Nursing Home Abuse Cases
An affirmative defense is a defense that is raised as a counterbalance to the claims of the plaintiff. Affirmative defenses for Virginia nursing home abuse cases mean that the plaintiff failed to meet the elements that they are required to meet.
Some examples of affirmative defenses are contributory negligence, the assumption of risk, last clear chance, and failure to report like a laches defense where someone allowed the situation to persist so long that it is taken as a norm. There are a lot of potential affirmative defenses to offer or raise in nursing home cases.
Affirmative defenses include contributory negligence, the assumption of risk, last clear chance, and failure to report. These defenses can allow someone in the situation to persist so long that it is taken as a norm. There are a lot of potential affirmative defenses to offer or raise in nursing home cases. To learn more about how affirmative defenses can affect your case, speak with a distinguished nursing home abuse lawyer.
Common Affirmative Defenses
Common affirmative defenses for Virginia nursing home abuse cases include contributory negligence, which is when the plaintiff is barred from recovery because they contributed to their own negligence and injury. A common example of contributory negligence in a nursing home context may be a slip and fall case in which a plaintiff either fails to follow safety rules or proper lookout or used equipment improperly and hurt themselves. There may also be an assumption of risk in which the defense claims their client’s actions were within the accepted risk and are inherently dangerous rather taken.
In an assumption of risk defense, they come up with a set of procedures or certain medical practices are agreed to as a result rather than what was expected or intended. For example, someone has a surgery and instead of traditional follow-up treatment, they do non-traditional therapy that is not recommended by their treating their physician. As a result, they are injured. They assumed that risk. If the doctor says, “You cannot use your right leg for a week,” and they moved their right leg, they assumed the risk that the movement could cause injuries to their right leg.
The assumption of risk defenses often involve dangers or what is called open and obvious, meaning the plaintiff either knew or should have known that an injury was likely to happen. There are a lot of different things that come up in that context. Those are two common examples of affirmative defenses. Other affirmative defenses could be statute of limitations and things of that nature.
Hiring an Attorney
Affirmative defenses for Virginia nursing home abuse cases are a barrier to someone’s recovery. They are an aggressive way by the defendant to take control of the case and put the plaintiff back on defense. Knowing how to “anticipate” a defense against affirmative defenses is a key piece of litigation practice that someone would want to be aware of when selecting an experienced nursing home injury attorney.
The best way to deal with an affirmative defense is to never get to that point by having a solid pleading that avoids such issues. Having a well-pled complaint to avoid such issues may be the best way to avoid affirmative defenses. In addition, working with a client is the other available resource to find out information and keep it in their pockets since it may be useful if affirmative defenses arise. Witness information and the like are things to use if and when an affirmative defense is brought up.
