New Orleans Nursing Home Abuse Lawyer
A family that suspects a loved one is being hurt in a care facility wants three things: the mistreatment stopped, the resident safe, and someone held responsible. Lunsford, Baskin & Priebe PLLC is a Mississippi and Louisiana injury firm that represents hurt people and their families, and our team handles New Orleans nursing home abuse lawyer matters for residents and relatives throughout Orleans Parish and the surrounding communities of South Louisiana.
Abuse in a nursing home rarely announces itself. It shows up as a bedsore that was never reported, a fall nobody explained, a resident who suddenly flinches when a certain aide enters the room, or medication that leaves a once-alert parent groggy. Some of it is deliberate. A great deal of it is neglect, which means a facility that took on more residents than its staff could safely care for. Either way, a resident is injured, and Louisiana law gives the resident and the family ways to respond.
Why Families Choose Lunsford, Baskin & Priebe for Nursing Home Injury Claims
Lunsford, Baskin & Priebe PLLC represents injured people across Mississippi and Louisiana, including clients in New Orleans, Baton Rouge, Lafayette, Lake Charles, and Shreveport. Our attorneys bring over 75 years of combined experience, and the firm has recovered more than $100 million in settlements for clients.
Rob Lunsford, our Founding Partner, has spent his entire legal career representing injured people. Brad Baskin and Jennifer Priebe, both Partners, have been recognized by Best Lawyers, Super Lawyers, and The National Trial Lawyers, and the firm was ranked by Best Law Firms for Workers’ Compensation Law, Claimants, in Jackson. Andrew Rueff has successfully tried dozens of jury and bench trials to verdict and has argued personal injury and insurance cases before state appellate courts.
Our results show how we approach serious injuries: a $685,000 settlement for a surgical tech with a lower back injury, $600,000 for a construction worker with a complex back injury, $385,000 for a project manager struck in his work vehicle, and $221,000 for an oil rig worker with severe burns. Those cases involved hard-fought medical evidence and insurers that pushed back, and nursing home cases demand the same preparation. Clients regularly tell us we were easy to work with, took time to listen, and stayed in the fight with the insurance company at every step. You pay nothing up front, consultations are free, we advance the costs of the case, and we are paid only if we recover for you. Our phones are answered 24 hours a day, and hablamos espanol.
Forms of Abuse and Neglect We See in New Orleans Care Facilities
- Physical Abuse: Unexplained bruises, fractures, burns, or marks in patterns that do not match a fall. Rough handling during transfers and bathing, and the improper use of restraints, are common sources.
- Pressure Injuries and Bedsores: Ulcers develop when a resident is not repositioned on schedule. Advanced sores that went untreated are among the clearest signs of understaffing or neglect, and they can become life-threatening infections.
- Falls and Wandering: A resident known to be a fall risk who is left without assistance, or a resident with dementia who leaves the building unsupervised, points to a failure in the facility’s own care plan.
- Medication Errors: Wrong doses, missed doses, or the use of sedating drugs to make a resident easier to manage. Medication administration records often tell the story.
- Malnutrition and Dehydration: Sudden weight loss, sunken eyes, and repeated urinary infections can mean residents are not being fed, helped to eat, or given enough fluids.
- Emotional and Sexual Abuse: Threats, isolation, humiliation, and any unwanted sexual contact by staff, other residents, or visitors. These cases often surface through changes in behavior rather than physical evidence.
- Financial Exploitation: Missing money, unexplained withdrawals, or pressure to change a will or sign documents by someone with access to the resident.
- Wrongful Death: When abuse or neglect leads to a resident’s death, surviving family members may bring claims under Louisiana’s wrongful death and survival statutes.
What to Do If You Suspect a Loved One Is Being Mistreated
Start with safety. If a resident is in immediate danger or needs urgent care, call 911 and get the person evaluated at a hospital. A hospital record created right away, with photographs of injuries and a clear account of how the resident arrived, becomes some of the most reliable evidence in a later claim. If you can, ask that the resident be moved to a different facility or room while you sort out what happened.
Next, document before the facility has time to tidy things up. Photograph injuries, the room, and any equipment involved. Write down dates, names of staff on shift, what the resident said, and what the facility told you, and keep copies of every bill, care plan, and incident report you are handed. Request the resident’s complete chart in writing. Facilities are obligated to keep medical records, and a prompt written request makes it harder for pages to go missing. Keep your own notes factual; they will matter more than memory months from now.
Report the problem to the facility administration, but understand that a report to management is not the same as an investigation. Complaints about care in a licensed Louisiana nursing facility can also be made to the state agencies that regulate them, and if you believe a crime has occurred, a report to local law enforcement creates an independent record. Do not sign releases, accept settlement offers, or give recorded statements to the facility’s insurer before you have talked to an attorney. Those documents are written to limit what the facility owes.
Then watch the calendar. Louisiana now gives two years from the day the injury was sustained to file most injury lawsuits, but that rule applies only to injuries on or after July 1, 2024; earlier injuries remain under the older one-year period. Wrongful death claims follow a one-year-from-death or two-years-from-injury rule, whichever is longer, but a wrongful death claim based on medical malpractice remains limited to one year from the date of death. Whether a nursing home case is treated as ordinary negligence or as medical malpractice can change which deadline and which rules apply, and that classification question is one of the first things an attorney sorts out. Do not wait to find out which category your case falls into.
How These Cases Are Built and Why Facilities Fight Them
Facilities and their insurers rarely admit that a resident was neglected. They argue that the resident was frail and the injury was inevitable, that a fall or sore was a normal part of aging, that the family was told about risks, or that a resident’s underlying illness caused the harm. Our job is to answer each of those arguments with records and testimony. We obtain the chart, the staffing schedules, the incident reports, and the care plans, and we compare what the facility promised on paper to what actually happened on the floor. Gaps between the two are often where the case is won.
Medical experts matter in these claims. A nurse or physician who reviews the chart can explain whether a pressure sore of a certain stage could have developed without a failure to reposition, or whether a pattern of fractures is consistent with a fall. We also look at who is responsible. Depending on the facts, that can include the facility operator, a management company, individual staff members, a staffing agency, or a contractor providing therapy or pharmacy services. Naming the right parties early prevents delay later.
Fault also matters under Louisiana law. For causes of action arising on or after January 1, 2026, a claimant found 51 percent or more at fault recovers nothing, and lesser fault reduces an award proportionally; earlier claims remain under pure comparative fault. Facilities sometimes try to shift blame onto a resident or family member, so we prepare for that argument from the start. Most cases resolve through negotiation, but we prepare each one as though a jury will hear it, because that is what gives a settlement real weight.
Questions Families Ask About Nursing Home Abuse Cases
How do I know if it is abuse or just a bad outcome?
The question is whether the resident received the care the facility was supposed to provide. Injuries that were preventable, unexplained, or never reported to the family usually point to neglect or abuse. Records, staffing levels, and the facility’s own care plan help us tell the difference.
How much does it cost to hire a nursing home abuse lawyer?
Nothing up front. Consultations are free, we advance the costs of the case, and we are paid only if we recover compensation for you.
How long do I have to file a claim in Louisiana?
For most injuries on or after July 1, 2024, Louisiana allows two years from the day the injury was sustained. Earlier injuries remain under the former one-year period. Wrongful death claims run one year from death or two years from the injury, whichever is longer, and one based on medical malpractice is limited to one year from death. Because the right category affects the deadline, call early.
Can I bring a claim if my parent has already died?
Yes. Louisiana allows wrongful death claims by certain surviving family members and survival actions on behalf of the resident’s own injuries before death. Who may bring each claim depends on the family relationship, which we review with you.
What if my loved one has dementia and cannot describe what happened?
Many nursing home cases are built without the resident’s testimony. Charts, photographs, staff schedules, incident reports, medication records, and statements from other staff and residents can establish what happened. Changes in behavior and physical findings are also meaningful evidence.
Did my parent give up the right to sue by signing an admission agreement?
Not necessarily. Admission paperwork sometimes includes an arbitration clause, and facilities often point to it. Whether it is enforceable depends on who signed, whether the signer had authority, and the circumstances. Bring us every document you signed so we can review it before anyone concludes the claim is blocked.
Will Medicare or Medicaid be involved in my case?
Often, yes. If those programs paid for treatment related to the injury, they may have reimbursement rights against a settlement. We account for those obligations when negotiating so that the recovery your family receives is not later reduced by surprises.
What if my family member was partly at fault, for example by ignoring staff instructions?
Fault can reduce recovery, and for causes of action arising on or after January 1, 2026, a claimant found 51 percent or more at fault takes nothing. A resident with cognitive decline is held to a very different standard than a healthy adult, and facilities carry the duty to supervise residents they know are at risk. We evaluate how the facility’s knowledge of the risk affects any fault argument.
Should I move my loved one before I contact a lawyer?
If the resident is unsafe, move or protect them first. Safety comes ahead of any claim. Just document the condition before leaving, request the records in writing, and keep your own notes, so the evidence is preserved as you act.
Can I report the facility and also bring a lawsuit?
Yes. A complaint to a regulator or to law enforcement is separate from a civil claim for damages. Reporting can help protect other residents, and it does not prevent a lawsuit. A civil claim is what compensates the resident or family for the harm done.
How long does a nursing home case take?
It depends on the injuries, the number of parties, and whether the facility will negotiate seriously. Records have to be gathered and experts consulted before a demand is made, and cases that do not settle can take considerably longer. We will give you a realistic sense of the timeline once we have reviewed the file.
Serving Nursing Home Abuse Clients Across New Orleans and South Louisiana
Our team represents residents and families throughout Orleans Parish, from the Garden District, Uptown, and the French Quarter to Mid-City, Gentilly, Lakeview, and New Orleans East. We also serve families in the Carrollton, Algiers, Bywater, Marigny, Treme, and Broadmoor neighborhoods. Beyond the city, we work with families in neighboring Jefferson Parish communities such as Metairie, Kenner, Harahan, Gretna, and Marrero, and in St. Bernard, Plaquemines, St. Tammany, and Tangipahoa parishes.
Our reach extends across South Louisiana and the rest of the state, including Baton Rouge, Lafayette, Lake Charles, and Shreveport, and into Mississippi from the Gulf Coast and Hattiesburg to Jackson, Madison, Southaven, and the Delta. If a loved one is in a facility anywhere in these areas, or if you live in one place and your parent lives in another, we can talk through the situation and tell you how the claim would proceed.
Speak With a New Orleans Nursing Home Abuse Attorney Today
If you believe a parent, spouse, or other loved one has been abused or neglected in a care facility, our New Orleans nursing home abuse attorney team is ready to listen and tell you plainly what the next steps look like. The consultation is free, you pay no fee unless we recover for you, and our phones are answered 24 hours a day. Call us today to talk through what happened and what can be done.
