Once a nursing home attorney such as Nathan Hughey at Hughey Law Firm (me) files a lawsuit in a nursing home neglect or similar case on behalf of the client or family, there are various tools that the Plaintiff’s lawyer can use to obtain information.

Nathan Hughey AV Preeminent Rating Pinnacle of Professional Excellence 2013

Subpoenas are documents which are served upon third parties for records.  These “command” production of records within a certain timeframe.  Subpoenas are used, for instance, to obtain medical records from hospitals, to obtain bills, and other similar items.  FOIA stands for Freedom of Information Act and is another tool I can use as a nursing home abuse lawyer.  FOIA requests can be used to obtain the results of yearly inspections by the State of South Carolina’s Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC) known as licensure surveys.  They can also be used to obtain the results of complaint surveys (those made by families0.  Over time, these can show a pattern of neglect in a certain area, and can be used to argue that the facility failed to correct a known problem.  (Staffing issues, bedsores, falls, inappropriate care plans, etc.).

The best tool for obtaining information from nursing homes and similar facilities is the service of “discovery requests” on the facility.  The rules allow us to serve a certain number of Interrogatories (questions) and Request for Production (requests for records) on the nursing home.  It is paramount to the case not only to obtain the full records for the resident that the case is about, but to obtain other information about the facility.  Did the nursing home follow its own policies and procedures?  Usually, the nursing home does not.  It is fairly difficult for a nursing home to explain why it is ok for it to violate its own rules. Did the facility properly train its staff?  We obtain personnel files and inservice information to figure out these issues.  We also will seek to discover patterns of deficiencies in the facility.  Obtaining prior complaints by staff members, family members, or even residents can be useful in outlining problems in a facility.

Nathan Hughey Client Distinction Award 2013 Recognized for Excellence

Another great use of discovery is to obtain what the facility has to say about itself.  Nursing homes often conduct mock surveys in order to prepare for DHEC’s annual visits, and sometimes the information in these reports is incredibly damaging to the nursing home.  If the nursing home itself (or its parent company) says that it needs to improve in certain areas, that is more powerful than the testimony of any Plaintiff’s expert.

The Defendants almost always serve responses with a set of boilerplate objections. I will then write a letter asking for proper answers, and I will sometimes have to file a motion to compel.  This asks the Court to order the Defendant to respond to discovery.  We will usually have to wait on a hearing date.  An example of an Order compelling the Defendants to answer is attached here Order Granting Motion to Compel Plaintiff.

Over the years and years that I, Nathan Hughey, have been handling nursing home claims, I have argued about every issue it seems.  The bottom line is that written discovery is a great tool in nursing home cases when used effectively.

I will cover depositions and oral discovery in another post.

If you have a nursing home, hospital, adult day care, assisted living, or similar case, please contact the nursing home wrongful death lawyers at Hughey Law Firm and we will be glad to help.  We also of course handle auto accidents, premises liability or slip and fall cases, and many other types of cases.

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