Virginia Assisted Living Accidents Lawyer

Assisted living facilities function as a sort of halfway home between a nursing home and retirement facility. They are primarily for older individuals, but some may also cater to mentally and physically disabled individuals. Assisted living residents can function independently to some degree, but they may still need help dressing, bathing, eating, and taking medication.

Most assisted living facilities are safe and their administrators are concerned for their residents, but others are more concerned about money. Such facilities may be dangerous, and often, residents may be more likely to have accidents. To make matters worse, many of these accidents are preventable.

If you have had an accident in an assisted living facility, you may want to talk to a Virginia assisted living accidents lawyer immediately.

Holding Negligent Facilities Accountable

The legal concept of negligence applies to assisted living accidents. According to the law, assisted living facilities have a legal obligation to ensure their residents remain safe to some degree. If they do not honor this obligation, they can be found negligent in civil and criminal court.

Negligence often occurs when facilities and the individuals who administer them behave recklessly or carelessly. Accidents are more likely to occur in facilities that hire inept workers and do not provide their residents with the oversight and supervision they need.

If the negligence of an administrator or worker results in injury to a resident, they can be held legally and financially liable. Accident survivors may be entitled to compensation for their pain and suffering, and they may be able to obtain compensation for lost wages and everyday living expenses if they are unable to work or generate income.

Common Types of Accidents in Assisted Living Facilities

Many different types of accidents can occur in an assisted living facility. Most accidents occur when facilities are not properly maintained and residents are not adequately supervised. To make matters worse, some accidents can even be fatal. Some of the most common types of assisted living facility accidents include:

  • Falls
  • Residents taking the wrong medication
  • Burns and electrocution
  • Ingestion of a toxic substance
  • Wandering away from the grounds

Some residents may be prone to wander off. These residents are at increased risk of being in an accident, so they should be monitored accordingly.

Medication Errors

Like nursing homes, many assisted living facilities dispense medication to residents. For the most part, this is a relatively simple task, but impatient and inattentive workers and pharmacists can easily put residents at risk. There have been numerous cases of residents receiving medication belonging to someone else.

In some facilities, workers are forced to work long hours to make up for a lack of personnel. Workers in these facilities are more likely to make mistakes due to fatigue, and if they make a mistake, the facility they work for should be held liable by a Virginia assisted living accidents lawyer.

Dosing and mislabeling errors can also occur in certain environments. Such errors usually occur in pharmacies, but they can occur in assisted living facilities as well. Any facility that dispenses or distributes medications should take proper precautions to prevent medication mistakes.

Reach Out to a Virginia Assisted Living Accidents Attorney Today

If you have had an accident in an assisted living facility, you may not know what steps to take next. This is normal, but more than likely, the facility you lived in could have taken common-sense measures to prevent your accident in the first place.

Depending on the nature of your accident, you may be entitled to compensation for your ordeal. Reach out to a Virginia assisted living accidents lawyer when you are ready to discuss your accident.

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