Nursing Home Abuse & Neglect

Helping Victims of Nursing Home Negligence and Abuse in Tulsa and Across Northeastern Oklahoma

We entrust the care of our most vulnerable loved ones to nursing homes, assisted living facilities, long-term care facilities, rehabilitation centers, and home health aides. Our elderly and disabled relatives are often unable to care for themselves and require help with everyday activities such as eating, drinking, showering, getting dressed, and grooming. We expect long-term care facility workers to treat our loved ones with care, dignity, and respect. Unfortunately, this is often not the case. Whether due to overstaffing, under-hiring, failure to check backgrounds and interview properly, or allowing a disrespectful and negligent environment, nursing home residents are often subject to abuse or negligent treatment. Residents are left malnourished, abused, and with various injuries and maladies that could have been avoided with proper care and attention.

If your loved one has been the victim of nursing home abuse or negligence, you must act quickly to protect them. The attorneys at Levinson Law, P.C., will help you ensure that your elderly or disabled family member gets the care and treatment that they deserve, and will hold accountable any nursing home staff members or facilities that have caused them harm through negligent treatment or direct abuse. We have decades of experience investigating nursing home neglect and abuse matters, and our lawyers have recovered millions of dollars on behalf of abused residents and their families.

Dedicated Service to Greenwood and across Tulsa

The attorneys at Levinson Law, P.C., have years of experience helping long-term care residents and their families in Greenwood and throughout Tulsa. We know the storied history and the specific challenges faced by the Greenwood community, and we are proud to be a part of that historic neighborhood. We help victims of nursing home abuse and neglect in Tulsa because we care about this community and the people within it. We take it personally when anyone commits a heinous wrong against a member of our community, and we will fight to make sure that the negligent, reckless, or malicious parties are held responsible.

Bartlesville
McAlester
Miami
Muskogee
Okmulgee
Sapulpa

If you or your family have been the victim of abuse or neglect in a nursing home or other long-term care facility in Greenwood or anywhere in Tulsa, the local nursing home abuse attorneys at Levinson Law, P.C., are ready and raring to fight for your rights and your recovery.

Types of Nursing Home Abuse & Neglect

Nursing home abuse and neglect can take many forms, some more obvious than others. Physical abuse such as hitting, shaking, choking, or scratching can leave patients with bruises, fractures, and other physical injuries. Verbal and emotional abuse can be harder to detect, causing residents to suffer psychological harm and experience mood changes, social withdrawal, diminished capacity, and other mental issues. Residents may be malnourished or dehydrated or show other signs that they are not getting the care and attention they need and deserve. If you have any reason to suspect that your loved one is experiencing neglect or abuse in a Tulsa nursing home, call a dedicated nursing home abuse attorney immediately for help.

Nursing Home Negligence & Abuse FAQs

If you have a loved one who has been the victim of abuse or neglect in a nursing home, or you suspect that a Tulsa nursing home may not be giving your elderly family member the care they deserve and are owed by law, you have options. The Tulsa nursing home neglect and abuse attorneys at Levinson Law, P.C., have decades of combined experience helping clients in Greenwood, Tulsa, and across Northeastern Oklahoma protect their elderly and disabled loved ones from abuse and neglect in nursing homes. Below, our dedicated Oklahoma nursing home abuse attorneys answer some of the more common questions we receive from our Tulsa nursing home abuse and neglect clients.

How do I remove a family member from a negligent or abusive nursing home?

If you suspect abuse in your loved ones’ nursing home or other long-term care facility, you will want to make alternative arrangements for their care as soon as possible. You may have a few options, including moving them to a new home, hiring in-home care or an in-home nurse, or moving them in with a family member.

What are the signs of abuse or neglect?

Abuse and negligent care of the elderly or disabled can take many forms. Some signs are obvious, while others may be harder to detect. Some symptoms to look out for include the following:

Sudden weight loss
Injuries such as bruises, scratches, dislocation, or broken bones
Redness around the neck or wrists from restraints
Dry skin or cracked lips from dehydration
Sudden mood changes including depression, anxiety, or isolation
Unusual fear or aggression
Bedsores
Sudden cognitive decline
Lack of energy

If a resident has no contract with a home, can they still sue for negligence or abuse?

Yes. Nursing home residents are owed a duty of care that extends beyond contractual liability. Nursing home negligence and abuse claims can arise from a variety of legal theories, including negligent personal supervision and care, negligent hiring, malpractice, or negligent maintenance.

How much is a nursing home abuse or neglect case worth?

If your loved one is suffering from abuse or neglect, you might have a claim for damages against the individual caregivers as well as the nursing home or other long-term facility in which your family member resides. The amount of damages you can recover depends on a variety of factors, including the duration of the abuse, the nature of the abuse or neglect, the severity of the injuries or other harm caused, and medical costs generated in dealing with the damage suffered.

Who can file a lawsuit based on nursing home abuse or neglect?

Residents of a nursing home can file a lawsuit alleging abuse or neglect on their own behalf. Additionally, depending on the mental faculties and the state of the injured resident, a family member might be able to file a lawsuit on their behalf.

Are there criminal penalties for nursing home abuse?

In addition to filing a civil suit, you can also seek to have abusers arrested and prosecuted on criminal charges. In Oklahoma, abuse, neglect, and financial exploitation of the elderly by a caregiver are all felonies.

If your loved one has been the victim of nursing home neglect or abuse in Greenwood, Tulsa, or anywhere in Northeastern Oklahoma, the nursing home negligence and abuse attorneys at Levinson Law, P.C., can help. We understand how difficult it may be to confront nursing home neglect and abuse, and we will do everything in our power to ease your family through the process while working to protect your vulnerable family member from harm. Call our lawyers today to set up a free, no-obligation consultation. We are here to help you fight for the recovery you and your family deserve. Hablamos español.

Abuse Versus Neglect

Abuse is an intentional act that harms a resident, such as hitting, threatening or humiliating them, or sexual contact without consent. Neglect is a failure to provide the care, supervision or services a resident needs, such as food, water, hygiene, medical care or a safe environment. Neglect is the most common form of mistreatment and the easiest to miss, because it often develops slowly and can be mistaken for the effects of aging or illness. Both can support a legal claim in Oklahoma. Learn more on our nursing home neglect page.

Oklahoma and Federal Protections for Residents

Oklahoma’s Nursing Home Care Act (63 O.S. § 1-1900 and following sections) sets licensing standards for nursing homes and gives residents a bill of rights, including the right to:

Be treated with dignity and respect;
Be free from mental and physical abuse, neglect and involuntary seclusion;
Be free from physical and chemical restraints that are not medically necessary;
Receive adequate and appropriate medical care;
Have privacy in medical treatment and personal care; and
Voice grievances without fear of retaliation.

The Act allows residents to bring a civil action against a facility that violates their rights. Assisted living centers are covered by a separate state law with many similar protections.

Nursing homes that accept Medicare or Medicaid, which includes most facilities in Oklahoma, must also follow federal rules. Those rules require facilities to help each resident reach and keep the highest practical level of physical, mental and emotional well-being, and they protect residents from abuse, neglect and unnecessary restraints.

Cameras in a Resident’s Room

Oklahoma law allows a resident, or the resident’s representative, to place an authorized camera or other monitoring device in the resident’s room. The facility must be notified using the form provided by the Oklahoma State Department of Health, and a roommate, if there is one, must also consent. A facility may not refuse to admit or retaliate against a resident because the family chooses to use authorized monitoring. Video from these devices can be important evidence.

How to Report Suspected Abuse in Oklahoma

If you believe a loved one is being abused or neglected:

Get help right away if they are in danger by calling 911.
Report it to the Oklahoma Department of Human Services through the Abuse and Neglect Hotline at 1-800-522-3511 or online at OKHotline.org.
File a complaint with the Oklahoma State Department of Health, which licenses and inspects nursing homes.
Contact the Long-Term Care Ombudsman program, which advocates for residents of nursing homes and assisted living centers.
Document what you see. Photograph injuries and conditions, and write down dates, times and the names of staff involved.
Request your loved one’s records, including medical, care and medication records.

Who Can Be Held Responsible

Depending on the facts, responsible parties may include the nursing home itself, for failing to properly hire, train, staff or supervise; individual caregivers who committed abuse; the corporate owner or management company, when decisions about staffing and budgets contributed to the harm; staffing agencies that placed unqualified workers; and, in some cases, the facility when it failed to protect a resident from another resident it knew was dangerous. Many nursing homes are owned by regional or national companies, so a thorough investigation looks beyond the staff on duty to the decisions made above them.

Deadlines and Arbitration Agreements

Most nursing home abuse and neglect lawsuits in Oklahoma must be filed within two years, and a wrongful death claim generally must be filed within two years of the death. Because records and witnesses can be hard to find later, it is best to get advice early.

Many nursing homes ask residents or families to sign an arbitration agreement at admission, which would send a dispute to a private arbitrator instead of a court. Under federal rules, a nursing home that takes Medicare or Medicaid may not require an arbitration agreement as a condition of admission or continued care, and the agreement must give the resident 30 days after signing to cancel it. If your loved one signed one, have a lawyer review it.

Compensation in Nursing Home Cases

Depending on the case, families may recover medical expenses, the cost of moving a resident to a safer facility, pain and suffering, emotional distress and the loss of dignity and quality of life. When neglect or abuse contributes to a resident’s death, the family may bring a wrongful death claim. When a facility’s conduct is reckless or intentional, punitive damages may also be available.

Trusted Advice and Representation from a Dedicated Lawyer

We understand confronting nursing home abuse or neglect is very difficult for families. Our firm will do everything we can to support you through this challenging and painful time. We will set up a meeting at our offices, in your home, or even in a hospital room–whatever is most comfortable for you. Please call Levinson Law, P.C., to set up a free initial meeting, or use our website’s convenient contact form for a prompt, private response to your questions. Let us help you protect your family and your rights.