Bedsore

[legalese]

Connecticut
My mom suffered a stroke 11/10/15, After 11 days at St. Francis Hospital, she was transferred to St Mary's in West Hartford on 11/21/15. She had no bedsore at the hospital, according to their records. Later she developed a bedsore at St Mary's nursing facility. I was told that she came in with a bedsore but St. Francis Hospital records indicates that she left the hospital with no bedsore.
St Mary's procedures were to have my mom moved every two hours, but were hardly were ever followed causing the wound (bed sore) to deteriorate. We were there every day as much as four to five hours per day and fought with them every day about moving her. They kept her in the wheelchair for much more than 2 hours and sometimes as much as 7 hours a day. Eventually, the bedsore grew to 2 1/2 cm wide went all the way down to the coccyx bone. ( A stage 4 bedsore)
She passed away on May 19th at Hugh's home in West Hartford, Hugh's treated her bedsore aggressively (using a wound-vac) but it was too far gone. This contributed to her death if not was the cause of it.

I went to an Attorney who did not want the case, he gave us the number of the Dept of public health, we filed a complaint with them but they did not want to investigate. They said they already finished a 4 day survey on bedsore a week earlier at that facility, ( my mom was not there at the time). I think agencies like DPH are there for show, nothing more.

Getting a lawyer is proving difficult. If a lawyer does not think there is enough in damages they simply won't take it.
Other lawyers we called don't return the call, (again I think for the same reason). When a lawyer refuses a case it opens the door on abuse. I was hoping for some advice on retaining a lawyer if possible.

legalese

 

[cbg]

I'm sorry for the loss of your mother.

All you can do is continue to call. There is no law you can invoke that will force an investigation, or force an attorney to take your case.

 

[justalayman]

Tell the lawyers you are wiling to retain them on an hourly basis. I suspect your success in finding an attorney will increase dramatically.

Of course an attorney is not going to take on a case on contingnecy he does not believe he can win or especiallly earn a reasonable sum of money should they win. Would you be willing to work for free?

 

[legalese]

I am not concerned with the money at all. Looking for some justice for my mom. I read on the net if a case is $50.000 in damages 95% attorneys will turn you down, if damages might be $250.000 about 50 % might take case. I am writing to the attorney general next but not holding out much hope. What I was looking for here was, how to talk to an attorney to sell him or her on taking the case and of course being honest about the facts.

Thanks

legalese

 

[justalayman]

I am not concerned with the money at all. Looking for some justice for my mom. I read on the net if a case is $50.000 in damages 95% attorneys will turn you down, if damages might be $250.000 about 50 % might take case. I am writing to the attorney general next but not holding out much hope. What I was looking for here was, how to talk to an attorney to sell him or her on taking the case and of course being honest about the facts.

Thanks

legalese

Offer to pay CASH for their services. You are still thinking somebody will take the case on contingency. It's obvious they aren't wiling to.

 

[LdiJ]

I am not concerned with the money at all. Looking for some justice for my mom. I read on the net if a case is $50.000 in damages 95% attorneys will turn you down, if damages might be $250.000 about 50 % might take case. I am writing to the attorney general next but not holding out much hope. What I was looking for here was, how to talk to an attorney to sell him or her on taking the case and of course being honest about the facts.

Thanks

legalese

If simple justice for your mother is what you want, then perhaps rather than attempting to sue somebody, you should be lobbying your state legislator to introduce legislation to enact laws which would cause greater oversight on medical/nursing home facilities...and the funds to make that oversight happen.

Sometimes starting a true grass root effort to make things better for people like your mother is far better than suing someone. I will also tell you that truly determined grass root efforts honestly can produce results. It takes time, logic, persuasion and civility, but it CAN produce results. You have to be committed and you cannot give up every time you hit a roadblock but it can be done.

It all depends on how important it really is to you.

 

[legalese]

Offer to pay CASH for their services. You are still thinking somebody will take the case on contingency. It's obvious they aren't wiling to.

Can't afford it. That's the problem though, attorney's are just concerned with money.

Leaglese

 

[justalayman]

Can't afford it. That's the problem though, attorney's are just concerned with money.

Leaglese

Well, why do you go to work every day? If there was no money involved I suspect you wouldn't show up either.

 

[legalese]

Well, why do you go to work every day? If there was no money involved I suspect you wouldn't show up either.

Yeah, it costs so much to pursue a case in the U.S. I just think there has to be changes, if the nursing home were hit hard they would behave very carefully to avoid any future lawsuits, not to mention their patients would benefit greatly, but if it costs so much that lawyers won't take a case because they might not make their money back then the doors of abuse are open. That's all I am saying.

Thanks for your replies.

Legalese

 

[justalayman]

Yeah, it costs so much to pursue a case in the U.S. I just think there has to be changes, if the nursing home were hit hard they would behave very carefully to avoid any future lawsuits, not to mention their patients would benefit greatly, but if it costs so much that lawyers won't take a case because they might not make their money back then the doors of abuse are open. That's all I am saying.

Thanks for your replies.

Legalese

It's not that it costs so much to mount a case. It's that the attorneys are smart enough to not take cases on contingency where they will either get paid nothing or not enough to make it worthwhile. In cases such as that they require the client pay their hourly fee. Seems like a smart business model to me

 

[legalese]

It's not that it costs so much to mount a case. It's that the attorneys are smart enough to not take cases on contingency where they will either get paid nothing or not enough to make it worthwhile. In cases such as that they require the client pay their hourly fee. Seems like a smart business model to me

it is smart but if you need help and don't have the money to pay, answer, no representation. Sad.

legalese

 

[Proserpina]

it is smart but if you need help and don't have the money to pay, answer, no representation. Sad.

legalese

Is this about wanting to see change in the system, or is it about money?

 

[justalayman]

it is smart but if you need help and don't have the money to pay, answer, no representation. Sad.

legalese

And if I can't afford a plumber to fix the plumbing in my house I can't hire a plumber

If I can't afford a mechanic to fix my car i don't get my car fixed

And believe it or not, if I do not Qualify for governmental assistance, if I cannot afford a doctor I don't get to go to the doctors office.



I'm just not understanding why people have a hard time understanding lawyers are people to. When they work, they like to get paid. I have yet to find a mechanic that will fix my car because I can't afford to pay them. Why would I expect them to do the work without paying them?

 

[legalese]

Is this about wanting to see change in the system, or is it about money?

It's not about money for me, this case apparently no one wants for that reason, so that means it is about money for a lawyer. Let's face it lawyers should get paid but they don't want to make good money they want the lion's share. The way for change IMO is for legal action, which might not happen in this case. I have a few other options I will look into.

Thanks

 

[Shadowbunny]

It's not about money for me, this case apparently no one wants for that reason, so that means it is about money for a lawyer. Let's face it lawyers should get paid but they don't want to make good money they want the lion's share. The way for change IMO is for legal action, which might not happen in this case. I have a few other options I will look into.

Thanks

Until you've sold everything you own in order to pay for an attorney, then it's about the money to you, too. You just don't want to spend YOUR money to pursue this; you want someone to represent you for free (or very-reduced fees) so it comes out of THEIR pockets.