Home Healthcare Litigation: Injuries, Malpractice, and Other Tort Claims

Home healthcare providers enter the residence of the sick and the aged to provide services including simple physical assistance, medication compliance, testing, and therapy. Those involved in home healthcare may be nurses or other licensed medical professionals, but can also be an aide who passes a basic background check.

Although there are unfortunate instances of malpractice in hospitals and doctors' offices, the risk of errors increase in a less supervised home setting. Instructions may be unread, ignored, or misunderstood. Those less trained can make mistakes in testing, either in the performance of the test or the recording of results. Those charged with monitoring medication may also make errors.

These situations are not limited to mere negligence. There are reports of abuse, injury, and wilful neglect. Financial and economic abuses range from fraudulent Medicare/insurance practices which create problems for the patients, to the outright theft of personal items from patients' homes.

Listen as this panel of advocates for the sick and elderly explains in detail the types of wrongful acts that occur and details the legal remedies available when these abuses take place.

1. Home healthcare
   1. As distinct from a nursing home or facility
   2. As distinct from home care services
   3. Different types of providers
2. Application of medical malpractice principles
   1. Doctor involvement
   2. Nurse malpractice
   3. Nonprofessionals
   4. Related--corporate defendants
3. Other causes of action
   1. Negligent retention
   2. Infliction of emotional distress
   3. Financial claims (fraud, etc.)

The panel will review these and other issues:

• What is the nature of the home healthcare industry?
• What is the prevalence of patient-related issues in the industry?
• Who can be sued for wrongful acts?
• What claims can be brought?