Is Your Loved One Facing Elder Abuse?
Your parents’ generation worked hard to provide for their family and someday retire with dignity. The aging process can bring unique challenges that leave older adults dependent on others. Sadly, in some cases, these vulnerabilities can create the conditions for abuse, neglect, and exploitation. If you have a loved one in this situation, what can you do to protect them from danger and seek restitution?
Since 1997, attorney Farren Sheehan of Sheehan Law PLLC has helped families just like yours identify, end, and seek accountability for elder abuse in Texas. When you suspect that a loved one is being harmed or taken advantage of, reach out to a respected, local elder law attorney for personalized legal support.
Sheehan Law PLLC Is Your Family’s Tireless Advocate
Elder abuse law can be complex and may intersect with financial, medical, and estate matters. To best protect your loved one and uncover evidence of abuse, an experienced and caring attorney is needed. Farren Sheehan brings with her over 25 years of experience investigating on behalf of concerned families and filing elder abuse lawsuits that hold parties accountable.
Having worked with clients from a variety of backgrounds, Farren Sheehan knows exactly what to look for, how abuse and neglect often manifest, and who to talk with to uncover the whole truth. Your loved one’s age and health should never serve as a barrier to justice, damages, or the tailored legal advocacy that they deserve.
What Does Elder Abuse Look Like?
Elder abuse can take a variety of forms – not all of which are obvious. Abusers could be nursing home staff, in-home care givers, trusted family members or guardians, and even fellow residents of a nursing home.
While some elderly victims are able to clearly articulate what is happening to them, others may lack this ability due to memory loss, confusion, or fear. Below, we’ll review the forms that elder abuse can take and what to watch out for:
Physical Abuse : This includes hitting, slapping, pushing, or shoving an older adult. Signs of physical abuse can include bruises, lacerations, broken bones, sprains, and missing hair.
Emotional Abuse : This can include yelling at, threatening, isolating, or ridiculing an older adult. Signs of emotional abuse can include withdrawal, fear, excessive apologizing, depression, and increased anxiety.
Financial Abuse : Warning signs of financial abuse can include bank accounts that are suddenly lowered or depleted for no known reason, unauthorized withdrawals, missing personal items of value, and sudden changes to a will.
Neglect : Neglect occurs when a person’s basic physical needs are not being met adequately or at all. Signs of neglect can include weight loss, bed sores, dehydration, soiled living conditions, dirty clothing, matted hair, and a lack of medical care.
Sexual Abuse : Signs of sexual abuse can include intimate area bruising, the appearance of an STD or infection, increased fear, and increased anxiety surrounding bathing or undressing.
How We Can Help
None of these forms of abuse should ever go unpunished. But hard evidence of abuse can be difficult to uncover on one’s own, especially if your loved one is in a nursing home or is isolated from family and friends.
This is where elder law firm Sheehan Law PLLC comes in. We’ll reach out to nursing homes, caregivers, and witnesses to formally request documentation, surveillance footage, and statements. We’ll also put your family in touch with medical experts who can examine your loved one and identify and document signs of abuse.
Once evidence has been gathered, we’ll file an elder abuse lawsuit to hold responsible parties accountable for economic and non-economic losses, such as medical bills and damages for your loved one’s pain and suffering.
It is not recommended to navigate this process alone. To seek the justice your loved one deserves, reach out to an experienced elder care lawyer like Farren Sheehan.
Have Questions? Reach Out Today.
Do you suspect elder abuse or neglect near Pflugerville, Texas? Are you concerned for a loved one but unsure of your legal rights?
Attorney Farren Sheehan can help. For over 25 years, she’s helped central Texas families verify elder abuse, protect their loved ones, and ensure that negligent parties are held accountable.
Have questions, or in need of legal help? Reach out to Sheehan Law PLLC at (512) 234-7913 for an initial consultation today.
