Nursing Home Lawyer

Serving West Palm Beach, Palm Beach County, Lake Worth and the Port St. Lucie area

The Rights of Nursing Home Residents

A nursing home provides food, shelter and care for people who are too ill or elderly to provide these for themselves. It may or may not provide medical treatment; it may transfer the resident to a hospital for such treatment. If you have a loved one who has been somehow injured in a nursing home, please contact us for a free consultation. The issues can become complex, and an experienced nursing home lawyer help will be invaluable for you.

Notice of Resident Rights and Services

All residents of nursing homes must be given a notice when they’re admitted, which lays out all services to be offered and all rights the resident has. The notice also must be given out again periodically as long as the resident is there, and it must be in a language the resident understands. Each resident (or the resident’s legal representative) must sign an acknowledgement of having received this notice.

Nursing Home Residents Have the Right to:

  • Be informed of their rights at admission and be given them in writing if they ask
  • See family members, physicians, service providers, government representatives, and ombudsmen or other resident advocates
  • Keep their personal possessions including clothing, unless this would be a threat to health or safety
  • Apply for and receive Medicare and Medicaid benefits. They cannot be asked to leave a nursing home because of receiving these benefits
  • Be treated the same as other residents regardless of whether they pay privately or through Medicare or Medicaid
  • Have their medical and personal records kept confidential;
  • Be given a list of which services are paid by Medicare and Medicaid, and which additional services they will be charged for, along with the amounts
  • Choose their own doctor
  • Be fully informed about their medical care
  • Participate in the planning of their care
  • Refuse treatment
  • Be free from physical or mental abuse
  • Mingle with other residents
  • Be free of physical restraint or restraining drugs unless such are necessary to treat their medical symptoms
  • Raise grievances and have them be quickly resolved
  • Participate in religious, social, and community activities as long as they don’t interfere with the rights of other residents
  • Refuse to deposit their personal funds with the nursing home. If they do ask the nursing home to manage their funds, the home must follow state and federal record-keeping requirements in maintaining these funds
  • Privacy – including their visits and meetings with family or resident groups, their medical treatments, and their rooms
  • Review their own medical records within 24 hours of making such a request;
  • See the most recent government inspection report of the home
  • Receive notice before being transferred to another room, or before being given a different room mate
  • Refuse any such transfer if its purpose is to move them from a Medicaid bed to a Medicare bed or vice versa

Stay in the nursing home until:

  • A move is necessary for their welfare
  • The move is necessary to protect the health or safety of other residents
  • They no longer need the home’s services
  • They fail to pay for their stay after being given reasonable notice
  • The facility closes down
  • Be given 30 days’ notice of any proposed discharge or transfer, and to appeal it
  • Be told how long their bed will be held open for them, if they are transferred for medical care of therapy (which period of time is called the bed-hold period)
  • Be given the first available semi-private bed when they return from a hospital after their bed-hold period has expired

At the Law Offices of Craig Goldenfarb, we have a great deal of experience in protecting the rights of nursing home residents. Please contact us, if you would like to have a free consultation. Our office serves the entire Southern Florida area.

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West Palm Beach, Florida nursing home lawyer Craig Goldenfarb represents clients throughout South Florida, including the cities of Palm Springs, Stuart, and Fort Pierce, and residents of Palm Beach County, Martin County, and St. Lucie County. Our office in West Palm Beach, Florida, is located a quarter mile west of I-95 on Palm Beach Lakes Blvd., behind Chick-Fil-A in the Legacy Bank Building.

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OFFICE LOCATION: 2090 Palm Beach Lakes Blvd. Suite 402
West Palm Beach, FL 33409
1-800-GOLD-LAW
Call Toll Free 1-800-GOLD-LAW (465-3529)
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The reader’s understanding of the information on this website about personal injury law does not constitute a formal legal relationship with the Law Offices of Craig Goldenfarb, P.A.  Please do not assume this content to be formal legal advice.  If you would like to know if you have a valid personal injury case, please contact a Florida nursing home lawyer at the Law Offices of Craig Goldenfarb, P.A. today for a complimentary consultation regarding personal injury law in Palm Beach, West Palm Beach, Lake Worth, Port St. Lucie and Palm Beach County, Florida.
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