In many Maryland nursing homes and assisted living facilities expanding their services to accommodate the desires of today’s consumers.
Hair salons, gyms, ice cream parlors and regular outings to theatre, restaurants and malls– have become the norm at many facilities.
With the increase in services provided to residents, comes increased responsibilities on the part of facilities to ensure the safety of their residents.
Particularly when it comes to the transportation of nursing home patients in buses or vans operated by the facility, I am seeing a trend of more patients getting injured due to inadequate training of staff members improper equipment being used to transport some of the most fragile patients.
As the passenger in a vehicle, you have a right to expect that not just the other drivers abide by the rules of the road, but the driver of your vehicle does so as well.
Regardless of the purpose of use nursing homes need to take measures to ensure their patients’ safety. When transporting nursing home patients who may have limited mobility, this usually means assisting and checking to make sure they are adequately secured and seat belts are on.
Just like their non-nursing home counterparts, drivers of nursing home vans and buses have a duty to get their passengers to their destination in a safe manner.
In a matter I am currently litigating, where a man suffered facial fractures and closed head injury when the nursing home van abruptly stopped for no apparent need, we learned that many of the same underlying causes that contribute to more conventional nursing home injuries— under-staffing and improperly trained staff.
As it turns out in our case, the operator of the nursing home vehicle started driving the vehicle just days before the date of the accident. Further, he never received any instruction on securing handicapped patients.
Nursing home or others responsibility for an injury involving a motor vehicle accident.
Though certainly not a traditional nursing home injury, motor vehicle accidents involving nursing home patients remain a troubling source of severe injuries. Carefully dissecting how an accident occurred and determining the parties role in the accident is the first step in moving forward towards recovering from an injury sustained in an automobile accident.
In some cases involving patient injury or death involving a nursing home vehicle, there may be separate policies of insurance to cover the loss. As lawyers experienced in medical transportation accidents can help navigate the applicable laws and insurance coverage issues. Like all motor vehicle injury cases, it is best to speak with an attorney before talking to an insurance company representative.