After Nursing Home Exposure to COVID-19 | Texas Personal Injury Lawyers

According to the New York Times, despite the fact that only 11 percent of America’s COVID-19 cases have occurred in long-term care facilities, more than a third of the country’s pandemic fatalities are deaths related to COVID-19 happening in these facilities. And horrifyingly, Texas officials are refusing to disclose which nursing home facilities in the state have coronavirus outbreaks, citing medical privacy laws as the justification. If your loved one contracted a coronavirus case in Texas while living in a nursing home facility, you may have grounds for a lawsuit. If your loved one suffered adverse health consequences or even died after nursing home exposure to COVID-19, the nursing home facility may be held legally liable for their negligence. Read on to learn how our Texas personal injury lawyers at Carabin Shaw can help.

Because the novel coronavirus is deadliest among the elderly and those with preexisting conditions, nursing homes have rapidly become the epicenter of the pandemic in America. And to make matters even worse, many nursing home employees are employees of more than one long-term care facility—meaning that many caregivers may have inadvertently contributed to the spread of illness from one facility to the next.

Nursing home facilities have a legal duty of care to provide their residents with a safe living environment and to protect their residents from accidents and illness. Failure to do so represents negligence in the eyes of the law. Furthermore, there are regulations and procedures in place at every nursing home for containing the spread of contagious diseases and preventing outbreaks from occurring when one resident falls ill. Because of this, you may have grounds for a negligence claim if your loved one contracted COVID-19 while living in a nursing home or other long term care facility.

All nursing home facilities should adhere to current CDC infection prevention and control guidelines to prevent the spread of COVID-19. This means that the facility is responsible for:

• Isolating / quarantining any infected patients at the first sign of symptoms
• Restricting movement of patients to medically necessary reasons
• Regularly and thoroughly disinfecting high-touch surfaces within the facility to prevent spread of disease
• Providing proper personal protective equipment to all nurses, aides, and staff members and requiring masks at all times
• Ensure that staff have been thoroughly trained on all infection prevention measures

If your loved one’s facility did not adequately adhere to the above guidelines—or if they waited too long to implement these policies—then they may be held legally liable for negligence.

Here at Carabin Shaw, our lawyers have 200 years of combined legal experience and we want to help you however we can in these difficult times. Our Texas personal injury lawyers specialize in nursing home negligence claims, and we’ve recovered more than $500 million in damages for our clients so far. If you’re ready to learn your legal options after nursing home exposure to COVID-19, our lawyers can help you figure out your next steps and can explain your rights.

Best of all, we offer all new clients a no cost, no obligation consultation with an attorney. So give us a call today at 210-222-2288 to discuss your coronavirus case in Texas. Don’t wait—contact us today and learn how our talented and compassionate attorneys can help your family get the compensation you deserve.