How to Pick the Best Ohio Lawyer for Nursing Home Abuse or Neglect Claims
How to pick the right lawyer for my claim of nursing home abuse or neglect – direct advice from Blake Dickson, Ohio Nursing Home Lawyer.
At The Dickson Firm, we receive phone calls on an almost daily basis from families throughout the State of Ohio regarding claims of nursing home abuse and neglect. Our firm focuses on helping victims of elder care abuse and neglect by providing legal remedies and holding those responsible accountable for their actions.
I wrote a recent article about the amount of time you have to bring a claim of nursing home abuse and neglect in Ohio. One of the hardest parts of our job is receiving a call from a family who has waited too long to contact us. Once a claim is time-barred, there is truly nothing we can do for a family. It is so challenging to tell a family whose loved one has suffered injury or even died as the result of neglect and even abuse suffered at a nursing home that there is nothing we can do because they waited too long to call us.
Another very frustrating part of our job is when someone calls us who has spent time on their case working with an attorney who does not know how to handle these cases. Over the last 25 years, I have handled hundreds of cases against nursing homes throughout the State of Ohio. I have learned a tremendous amount about numerous chains of nursing homes throughout the State of Ohio. I have taken depositions of staff, and administrators, and directors of nursing of nursing homes throughout the state. I have also taken depositions of the owners of nursing homes. I have taken depositions of CEOs and presidents of large corporations that own nursing homes. I have worked my way up through discovery to uncover the chain of command at these various nursing homes.
Often, nursing homes are owned by a series of interlocking and interconnected companies. Often, nursing home owners attempt to conceal their role in a nursing home. Sometimes they form a company that holds the license to the nursing home but does not have any assets. Some large nursing home chains have a system set up whereby every night all the money that is in the bank account for the individual company that holds the license to the nursing home is transferred to the parent corporation. So the company that actually holds the license to the nursing home, and may even employ the staff at the nursing home, has no assets and is essentially uncollectible.
Some nursing homes are covered by a policy of liability insurance so that if they are found liable for the neglect or abuse of a resident, the insurance company pays the claim. Some nursing homes do not have insurance. We sued one large local chain where each of the individual nursing homes paid into a common fund controlled by the owner of those nursing homes. Claims were then paid out of that fund. However, it took a lot of discovery and a lot of hard work to discover that structure.
One of the most challenging parts of our job is to talk to somebody who has spent time on their claim working with an attorney who does not handle a lot of nursing home cases.
The nursing home business in Ohio is highly regulated. There is a set of state laws known as the Nursing Home Resident's Bill of Rights that provide for the rights of nursing home residents. That section of law also creates a statutory cause of action when a resident has been neglected or abused in a nursing home.
There is a set of Ohio Administrative Code sections promulgated by the Ohio Department of Health which regulate how a nursing home must be operated.
There is also a section of federal regulations known as the Code of Federal Regulations that applies to every nursing home in the country and makes specific provision for how nursing homes must provide care. The highest rated nursing homes in Ohio may run afoul of these provisions just as easily as the worst Ohio nursing homes do – we never know where neglect and abuse will occur.
The operation of nursing homes involve complicated documents. Nursing home charts have specific sections. Nursing homes must maintain their records electronically. Nursing homes use different software for their electronic medical records. The most common software is known as Point Click Care. Point Click Care can generate a variety of documents. But you have to know what to ask for in order to get what you are looking for.
Nursing homes all use a payroll system. The payroll system can generate time card reports, and payroll reports, and schedules to show who was working at the nursing home during different times.
Medicare maintains a huge quantity of information about nursing homes, including information about staffing, information about surveys, information about citations and penalties levied against the various nursing homes.
When an attorney tries to handle a single nursing home case with no experience, it is virtually impossible to handle that case properly. Unfortunately we are currently handling a number of cases that we have filed against a lawyer and a law firm instead of against the owners and the operators of a nursing home. We have had to file these cases because the lawyer who tried to handle the case did not know what he or she was doing and by the time the client called us it was too late. The case against the nursing home was permanently affected by the negligence of the first attorney the family hired. I always wish I could go back in time and help the families before it was too late - rather than have to sue the lawyer who mishandled the case.
If you are talking with an attorney about a potential claim of nursing home abuse or neglect, ask that lawyer how many nursing home cases they have handled. Ask that lawyer how many nursing home cases they have tried to a jury. Attorney Blake Dickson has tried more nursing home cases to a jury in the State of Ohio than any other plaintiff's lawyer in the State of Ohio. The Ohio Supreme Court has only considered two cases that involved the rights of nursing home residents. Attorney Blake Dickson argued one of those cases directly, as he represented the plaintiff in that case. For the second case, which was a case relative to the rights of nursing home residents and the way nursing home cases are pursued, the Ohio Association for Justice, which is the state's largest organization of plaintiff's attorneys, asked attorney Blake Dickson to write, what is known as, the "Amicus Curiae", or "Friend of the Court" brief, on behalf of the Ohio Association for Justice, to be filed in that case, advocating for the rights of nursing home residents.
Attorney Blake Dickson has been quoted in the Wall Street Journal as well as in Crain's Cleveland Business on topics related to nursing home cases. Attorney Blake Dickson lectures nationwide to other nursing home attorneys on topics related to the handling of nursing home cases. Attorney Blake Dickson was recently asked by the Ohio Association for Justice to speak at their annual convention to other attorneys who represent individuals in cases throughout Ohio.
It is very important to pick the right attorney to handle your case. It is very important to pick an attorney who is known to the nursing home chains. It is very important to pick an attorney who has a reputation with the nursing home chains for being relentless. We at the Dickson Firm have worked hard to earn our reputation with the nursing home owners in Ohio. We pursue our cases relentlessly. We try our cases to verdict when necessary. We are very proud that there are many, many appellate cases throughout the State of Ohio that we have argued and won. Those cases now serve as case law that can be cited by all attorneys representing individuals against nursing homes in various issues that affect the handling of nursing home cases. The Dickson Firm is very well known to many of the nursing home owners in Ohio.
Contact an Ohio nursing home lawyer and elder abuse lawyer with questions
Here at The Dickson Firm, we've been devoted to the rights of nursing home residents and their families for over twenty five (25) years. We work very hard to hold nursing homes accountable when they provide a resident with substandard care that causes injury, particularly in cases involving falls and issues with bedsores and pressure sores. As indicated above, bedsores can be extremely harmful to nursing home residents. They can even be fatal. If someone you love has been neglected or abused in a nursing home, please call us at The Dickson Firm at 1 (800) OHIO LAW. We would be happy to talk with you and help you in any way that we can.
The Dickson Firm believes it is crucial to share news about nursing home injuries and deaths to raise awareness about the ongoing issues of neglect and abuse that occur in Ohio – in Cleveland, Akron, Toledo, Columbus, Dayton, Cincinnati and every community across the state. The people who suffer injuries could be your spouse, your parent, your brother or sister. By reporting these incidents, we help families recognize potential risks, empower them with knowledge, and push for greater accountability in the industry. Ultimately, our goal is to advocate for safer conditions and ensure that vulnerable residents receive the care and dignity they deserve.
If someone you love has been neglected or abused in a nursing home, please call us at 1-800-OHIO LAW as it would be our pleasure to talk with you and help you in any way that we can. We represent victims and their families across Ohio. Contact nursing home and elder law attorney Blake Dickson today for a free and confidential case review.