Elder Abuse Lawyer in Indianapolis

Elder abuse will look different in every situation, but there are a few different overarching categories that the harm can fall into. Here are the seven different types of elder abuse:

Neglect

The individuals overseeing your loved one’s care should attend to them on a regular basis to ensure that they’re feeling alright and aren’t in any sort of pain or discomfort. Some facilities leave their residents unattended for long periods of time. If one of their residents falls ill or starts to experience a decline in their health, their staff won’t be able to respond to it in a timely manner, which often causes elders to sustain more damage than they should have.

Abandonment

Neglect is one thing, but there have been cases where caretakers and elder care facilities have blatantly abandoned their residents, leaving them without care in the most vulnerable moments of their lives. Any situation involving abandonment is unacceptable, to say the least, but you can seek to hold the at-fault party responsible through legal action.

Physical Abuse

Negligent hiring processes can lead to violent individuals on staff at elder care facilities. The offenders can get frustrated and lash out at a resident or harm them in another physical manner, but the damage is all the same. If they’re able to leverage their authority as a caretaker and conceal their actions, they may get away with their crimes for longer than they should, but it’s just a matter of time until someone speaks out and their malicious behavior comes to light.

Financial Abuse

Caretakers have consistent access to your loved ones. They develop relationships much like work colleagues or friends, but in some cases, the caretaker's intentions aren’t always sincere. There have been numerous situations where caretakers and other staff members have manipulated their residents into giving up their financial information for malicious purposes, leaving them without the resources they worked so hard to obtain. This can range from minor instances, like stealing from a resident’s purse while they’re asleep, to major instances, such as persuading a resident to give up their banking information.

Emotional/Psychological Abuse

Manipulation, harassment, intimidation, and other forms of emotional and psychological abuse can leave mental scars that affect the way our loved ones live out their golden years. The damage is difficult to detect in most cases, but that doesn’t mean it's impossible to expose this behavior and bring the negligent party to justice.

Sexual Abuse

While we might not believe it happens, sexual abuse does occur in nursing homes, hospices, and other care facilities. Negligent hiring practices and improper surveillance by the facility overseeing the resident's care often lead to these heinous situations, so it’s recommended to seek out the help of an attorney to ensure you’re able to hold them legally responsible.

Although elder care facilities can have more access to our loved ones than us in some cases, we always know them best, and you should take note of any changes in their behavior. Here are a few red flags you should watch out for to detect elder abuse before it goes too far:

• Changes in behavior
• Isolation
• Unexplained injuries, including bruises, burns, and scars
• Dirty, neglected appearance
• Malnourishment or dehydration
• Bed sores
• STD’s
• Unusual personal finance decisions
• Emotional instability
• Improperly administered medication

You should stay vigilant during your visits to detect other signs of neglect and negligent behavior. For example, if the facility responsible for your loved one’s care starts to look poorly maintained or they seem short-staffed, there’s a possibility there’s elder abuse occurring somewhere within the grounds. Every situation is different, of course, but it’s happened before, and by keeping your ear to the ground, you might be able to save your loved one from further harm.

No caretaker should take advantage of someone’s vulnerability and exploit them, harm them, or damage their well-being in any way. If you believe your loved one was abused by a caretaker or another malicious/negligent party, you should contact the best elder abuse attorneys in Indianapolis—Morgan & Morgan.

Caretakers and the other staff members of elder facilities have almost unrestricted access to our loved ones for most of the day. They take care of them, make sure they’re on a medication schedule, and, more importantly, provide them with the resources and guardianship that can enable them to live out their days happily and safely. Most facilities will act according to their duty of care and treat their residents with respect, as they displayed to you before you signed the contract, but others will defy our expectations in the worst possible way.

Elder abuse most commonly occurs behind closed doors, with the individuals responsible for the crime taking proactive action to conceal their behavior from the resident’s family and the facility employing them. In more severe cases, the facility itself is actively involved in the abuse, and they’ll attempt to block the victim’s family from seeking the justice they deserve. They can destroy evidence, restrict access to your loved one, and deploy sophisticated legal teams to prevent you from holding them accountable, leaving you with an uphill battle to get your loved one the help they need in the most vulnerable years of their lives.

You could choose to do this on your own, but this is essentially a gamble. You can never know what the at-fault party will do to escape liability, which is why it’s recommended to team up with a law firm you can trust will take your case across the finish line. An attorney will have seen your situation before and can leverage their experience to sidestep the legal hurdles and give you a better chance of recovering the fullest extent of what you deserve. But, remember, not every law firm can pull this off. Elder abuse attorneys in Indianapolis come in all shapes and sizes, but there’s only one that has the necessary experience, resources, and strategy to achieve record results on behalf of our clients—Morgan and Morgan.

Physical, emotional, sexual, or financial abuse is unacceptable in any way, shape, or form, but we don’t have to stand by as our loved ones are taken advantage of. By teaming up with an experienced law firm, you gain a legal ally who understands the steps to hold them accountable for their malicious actions and safeguard your loved one, which is a priceless opportunity in a situation so severe. Morgan and Morgan’s Indianapolis office is staffed with only the best of the best, but that’s not the only thing that separates us from the crowd. We’re able to leverage endless resources for our clients and put them at an advantage from day one of their case, making us an undeniable asset to anyone seeking to hold a malicious individual or elder care facility accountable for elder abuse.

With $20 billion+ recovered for our clients, a proven track record of success, and the ability to provide a best-of-both-worlds approach for no out-of-pocket costs, anyone looking for elder abuse attorneys in Indianapolis shouldn’t gamble with their representation—they should choose Morgan and Morgan. Complete our free, no-obligation case evaluation to get started.