Negligence per se in #nursinghomelitigation

By Nathan Hughey

Negligence per se is negligence arising from the violation of a statute. To recover for negligence per se, a plaintiff must show that the essential purpose of the statute was to protect the resident from the kind of harm that the resident suffered and that the resident was a member of the class of persons the statute intended to protect. See Rayfield v. Dept. of Corrections, 297 S.C. 95, 374 S.E.2d 910 (Ct. App. 1998). This is a major issue in nursing home litigation, due to the array of federal and state nursing home statutes and regulations that govern skilled nursing facilities.

In South Carolina, a nursing home must swear under oath it will comply with state regulations in order to get a license. When it fails to do so, this can trigger negligence per as and get the issue of punitive damages to a jury.

Contact nursing home attorney Nathan Hughey with your claim.