Nurses play a critical role in patient safety. They monitor patients, administer medications, watch for changes in condition, follow physician orders, prevent falls, protect skin integrity, document symptoms, and communicate concerns to doctors and other providers.
Nursing failures can cause serious harm when nurses fail to monitor a patient, fail to report worsening symptoms, fail to follow orders, give the wrong medication, fail to prevent falls, fail to protect a patient from pressure injuries, or fail to respond to alarms or abnormal findings.
In many medical malpractice cases, the nursing record tells an important part of the story. Nursing notes, medication records, care plans, physician orders, vital signs, fall-risk assessments, skin assessments, and facility policies can help show whether appropriate care was provided.
Rawls Law Group represents patients and families in nursing negligence cases involving hospitals, nursing homes, rehabilitation facilities, VA facilities, military medical facilities, Indian Health Service facilities, and other healthcare settings.
Common Nursing Failure Cases
Nursing negligence cases may involve:
- Failure to monitor a patient
- Failure to report a change in condition
- Failure to follow physician orders
- Medication administration errors
- Fall prevention failures
- Failure to prevent pressure injuries
- Failure to respond to abnormal vital signs
- Failure to communicate with doctors
- Failure to document important changes
- Failure to escalate care when a patient worsens
Virginia and Federal Nursing Negligence Claims
Nursing negligence can occur in private hospitals, nursing homes, rehabilitation facilities, VA hospitals, military medical facilities, IHS facilities, and other healthcare settings.
Rawls Law Group handles nursing negligence claims involving serious injury or death under Virginia medical malpractice law and the Federal Tort Claims Act.
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How do I find out if a nursing home has a history of violations?
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The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) maintains Care Compare (medicare.gov/care-compare), a publicly searchable database of nursing home inspection results, deficiency histories, staffing data, and quality measures. Virginia Department of Health inspection reports are also publicly available.
A facility with a pattern of repeated deficiencies — especially in the same categories (pressure ulcers, falls, staffing, medication management) — is a significant indicator in evaluating a claim. We review this history as a standard part of our intake process.
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Should I report the nursing home to the state?
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Yes — with strategy. You have the right to file a complaint with the Virginia Department of Health (VDH), which licenses and inspects nursing homes, and with the Long-Term Care Ombudsman program. Substantiated complaints can result in deficiency citations, fines, directed plans of correction, or in egregious cases, loss of licensure.
The practical benefit for litigation: state inspection records, deficiency histories, and prior complaints are public records and often powerful evidence of a facility’s systemic failures — patterns that go beyond a single incident.
File complaints strategically, ideally with guidance from your attorney. Statements you make in a regulatory complaint can be used in litigation.
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What if the nursing home says the injury was an expected outcome of my loved one’s condition?
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That is the most common defense in nursing home cases, and it deserves a direct answer: the existence of an underlying condition that creates risk is not a license to ignore that risk.
A resident with diabetes, vascular disease, or immobility is exactly the resident for whom aggressive preventive protocols — frequent repositioning, hydration management, nutrition assessment, skin checks — are mandatory. The facility’s job is to manage known risks, not to invoke them as an excuse after the fact.
If the facility cannot produce documentation showing it identified the risk and took specific steps to address it, the “expected outcome” defense typically fails under scrutiny from a qualified nursing expert.
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Can I get my loved one’s medical records from the nursing home?
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Yes. Under HIPAA and Virginia law, a resident (or their authorized representative) has the right to access and obtain copies of their medical records. The facility must respond to a written request and may charge a reasonable copying fee.
If the facility is slow to respond, obstructs access, or produces incomplete records, document every communication and contact us immediately. Spoliation of evidence — the destruction or concealment of records — carries significant legal consequences and is an issue we address aggressively.
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How are you paid? What does it cost to hire you?
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We handle nursing home negligence cases on a contingency fee basis. You pay nothing upfront and owe no attorney fee unless we recover money for you. Our fee is a percentage of the recovery, agreed upon in writing before we begin.
This means we share the risk with you. If we do not recover, you do not owe us a fee. Case expenses — expert witness fees, deposition costs, filing fees — are also advanced by the firm and recouped only from a successful recovery.
There is no charge for an initial consultation.
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What damages can be recovered in a nursing home negligence case?
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Recoverable damages fall into two broad categories:
Compensatory damages — designed to make the injured resident whole — include:
- Medical expenses for treatment of the injury caused by the neglect (wound care, hospitalization, surgery, rehabilitation)
- Pain and suffering — physical pain, emotional distress, and loss of dignity
- Disfigurement from severe pressure ulcers or other permanent injury
- Wrongful death damages, including sorrow and mental anguish suffered by surviving family members under Virginia’s wrongful death statute
In cases involving intentional abuse or reckless conduct, punitive damages may also be available.