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Long-term care facilities are legally required to create a nursing home incident report following any serious injury or allegation of abuse. State regulations and federal guidelines via CMS, mandate that after a serious event occurs, the facility must conduct an internal investigation. Following the internal investigation, an incident report is created.
Most state laws allow for the victim, or the victim’s family, to view a copy of the nursing home incident report.
00:28 04 Feb 23I don't have the words to say to cover the amount of gratitude for the team, and especially Attorney Dylan Hanson, and his team. When your parent is in a position they have no control over, and you, the child, have to step in, Mr. Hanson and the ENTIRE team at Senior Justice stepped up, and I do mean the ENTIRE team because I learned very quickly that they actually work together so noone is missed! They not only helped resolve the problem, they were there for any questions, concerns, support, and guidance, in full honest, upfront detail! We need more teams like this! For my parent, and myself though, we are truly grateful for everything they did! Again, thank you ALL!
23:43 01 Feb 23My brother and I lost our Mom due to the negligence and neglect of a nursing home. Once she passed, I really just wanted the nightmare to be over but my brother insisted that we pursue some action against the facility. We had no luck with the state or the government oversight so we turned to Senior Justice.Honestly I wasn’t expecting much and I was skeptical going in. The team at Senior Justice proved themselves to be compassionate and respectful as well as holding the facility responsible for their actions. We received a much larger compensation than I had imagined and my brother and I are truly thankful for the folks at Senior Justice.
21:53 28 Dec 22Sr. Justice Law Firm, under the direction of Michael Brevda and David Brevda, exacts justice for the most vulnerable. Dylan J. Hanson, expertly and compassionately, smoothly steers the complex process to a successful and just outcome. Tamar Green-Martin completes the team approach with her detailed administrative assistance. This is an outstanding law firm!
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13:56 06 Apr 22 Great and very competent staff. Not one person is missing a beat from intake to the attorneys! 12:16 04 Dec 21Our attorney David was kind, understanding, compassionate and helpful. He fought for my mom and made us feel important. He showed us that this was more than just a job for him rather a passion he has to help those in need. He always kept us updated with the progress, asked how my mom was doing and sincerely cared about getting justice for my mom. I’m so thankful to him and his team.
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04:41 02 Aug 17Mr. Michael Brevda and his staff were so compassionate and supportive of me in my situation. My mother had experienced multiple falls while in a care center and I didn’t know where to turn for help, until I personally spoke with Michael on the phone. I was sorry to learn that he wasn’t able to assist me because he was not licensed to practice law in my state. But to my surprise, Michael, gave me a follow-up call with a name of a local attorney to contact.Michael more than exceeded my expectations and I will always be grateful for what he did to help me during a very trying time in my life.I highly recommend the Senior Justice Law Firm, if you are searching for a professional team of attorneys who will be looking out for your best interest.
Regardless of the alleged explanation, these injuries usually result in an incident report being created:
* Falls resulting in broken bones
* Falls resulting in brain bleed
* Unexplained broken bones
* Stage 4 bedsores
* Broken hips
* Unexplained bruising
* Elopement from the building
Similarly, nursing homes are legally required to investigate these allegations of abuse:
* Sexual abuse
* Physical abuse
* Theft
* Emotional torment
These incidents require facility investigation, regardless of whether the abuser is a fellow resident, or a staff member.
Nursing homes are supposed to get the entire story of all participants involved in an adverse incident involving a patient. This means the incident report should have the statements of all staff and witnesses to the event.
For example, let’s say a bed-bound resident is rushed to the emergency room with a broken hip and left flank bruising. The hospital radiologist concludes that the fracture occurred from trauma, like a fall, but this victim cannot even walk. Clearly, something happened at the nursing home. This should trigger a nursing home investigation and corresponding incident report.
In this hypothetical example, the report should contain the statement of the aide that transfers the resident, the supervising LPN that saw the aide rush out of the room suspiciously, the Med Tech that heard a loud thump when she walked past the room, the Director of Nursing that received an anonymous tip on what really happened, and anyone else who heard something about the incident. The investigation would include damning admissions from facility staff on what they believe happened, and highlight any inconsistencies in the staff’s story.
Ultimately, the nursing home incident report would likely conclude that the resident was being transferred and was dropped by the aide. Further, the incident report should conclude that the resident’s injury was intentionally concealed, and the guilty staff member should be fired immediately.
There is a general trend towards disclosure of nursing home reporting information. In the 90’s, the federal government mandated publishing nursing home citations and deficiencies. We now have more than two decades of data on nursing home care failures ( In 1998, the first version of the Nursing Home Compare website was launched with information limited to nursing home regulatory deficiencies). This allowed access to anonymized deficiencies, where the injured resident was called ‘Resident 3’, and not by name. So if the incident made it into a survey, you may be able to find out the nursing home’s take on what happened through a publicly available nursing home survey citation.
However, this is far from a sure thing. Additionally, there is lag time in CMS survey reporting, and survey citations do not capture the majority of adverse events that occur inside a skilled nursing facility. Inspectors only catch what they happen to stumble upon when visiting the facility on an unannounced spot check.
The best account of what happened will be an official report. If the injury or incident was serious enough, the nursing home is legally been required to create an internal adverse incident report. You, as the patient’s legal guardian, should be entitled to view that report. Unfortunately, without legal counsel, most families have a hard time getting a nursing home’s incident report.
Simply put, the nursing home does not want you to see the incident report!
Take a look at what the above hypothetical adverse event report would contain. This would likely result in punitive damages against the offending nursing home. This is why nursing homes will do everything they can to withhold producing the incident report to family members.
Nursing home management will do everything they can to keep you from seeing the incident report because, oftentimes, it will lead you to sue the facility for negligence.
Nursing home incident reports are usually created pursuant to a skilled nursing regulation. In the majority of states, the law requires production of incident reports in litigation, even if it is not admissible as evidence.
Unfortunately, angry letters and demands for fairness will get you nowhere. In order to obtain a nursing home incident report, you will need an experienced and skilled nursing home abuse attorney in your corner.
At Senior Justice Law Firm, our entire firm focus is on nursing home negligence. This is all we do. We regularly obtain nursing home incident reports in litigation through discovery. When a nursing home objects to producing an incident report, we go to court and get a judge to sign an order compelling production of the investigation.
No. Our nursing home abuse attorneys work entirely on contingency fee. This means you never have to pay us a dime out of pocket. We only get paid if we win your case and recover money for you.
You would not try to diagnose an illness without a doctor. When your car breaks down, you go to a mechanic. Do not try to traverse complicated legal avenues without the help of an experienced attorney.
Our firm focus is on nursing home negligence claims. We have obtained hundreds of nursing home incident reports for families, even after they were told it was “only for internal use inside the nursing home.” We can help you and your family.
If your loved one suffered a serious injury or death inside a nursing home, contact Senior Justice Law Firm today. We can get you the answers and compensation you deserve following a terrible tragedy inside a facility. Submit your case facts below, or give us a call today to learn more about your legal rights after a nursing home injury or wrongful death.
Free nursing home negligence case consultation: 888-375-9998
