Failure to Monitor Residents for COVID-19

To stop the spread of COVID-19, nursing homes need to be able to identify residents with COVID-19. Monitoring for COVID-19 is important so nursing homes in Homestead and other South Florida cities can:

• Isolate residents with COVID-19 to stop the spread
• Prevent outbreaks
• Ask for emergency assistance if needed
• Monitor residents with COVID-19 to ensure they are not developing pneumonia or other complications
• Keep families informed
• Hospitalize COVID-19 patients or get them medical help when they need it

Unfortunately, even when people are contagious, they may not have symptoms or may have very mild symptoms which are easy to miss. In some cases, patients with the virus may be contagious in the days before symptoms appear. For this reason, it is important for nursing homes to carefully monitor residents for any symptoms or any signs of the virus.

Monitoring for COVID-19 at a nursing home can include:

• Contact tracing to monitor who may have been exposed to someone with COVID-19
• Regularly checking temperatures and separating anyone who has a fever
• Checking for coughing or any additional symptoms of the virus
• Monitoring COVID-19 patients
• Separating anyone with COVID-19 or COVID-19 exposure from those who have not been exposed
• Staying up-to-date with current understanding of COVID-19 and monitoring for those symptoms
• Having COVID-19 tests on hand to administer them
• Checking the temperatures and symptoms of anyone entering the nursing home, including guests

Our understanding of the COVID-19 virus changes often. Some people with COVID-19 have few or no symptoms while others have severe flulike symptoms. For some people, gastronomical issues or even a rash occur, although this is more common in younger patients.

Nursing homes need to stay aware of current understandings of the virus and take precautions to make sure that they are monitoring for the right symptoms. Staff members need to check staff and residents regularly and speak to residents to filter out anyone with symptoms. Immediately separating someone with symptoms and carefully monitoring anyone that person may have come into contact with can help prevent a severe outbreak.

Nursing homes who fail to carefully monitor residents may allow a COVID-19 outbreak to occur at their facilities. If this happens, family of anyone who has suffered from COVID-19 at the nursing home may have a legal claim. If your loved one in a nursing home has contracted COVID-19, contact an experienced attorney about your legal options. You may be able to pursue a legal claim and the nursing home may be liable. By pursuing compensation you may be able to place your loved one in a better facility and get them the medical help they need to give them the best chance possible of fighting COVID-19.

If you’d like to speak an experience attorney, contact Flaxman Law Group at 1-866-352-9626 (1-866-FLAXMAN) for a free accident consultation with a Hollywood and South Florida nursing home abuse and negligence attorney. Our legal team has more than six decades of combined experience and we have recovered tens of millions of dollars in settlements on behalf of thousands of plaintiffs.