Nursing Home Wrongful Death Claims in Georgia & South Carolina
Families trust nursing homes and assisted living facilities to provide safe, compassionate care for their elderly loved ones. When that trust is betrayed through abuse, neglect, or understaffing, the consequences can be fatal. According to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), thousands of nursing home residents suffer serious harm each year from preventable conditions including falls, infections, malnutrition, dehydration, and medication errors.
At Roden Law, our nursing home wrongful death lawyers represent families across Georgia and South Carolina who have lost loved ones due to nursing home negligence and abuse. We hold facilities and their corporate owners accountable when profit-driven decisions — such as inadequate staffing and cost-cutting on care — lead to preventable deaths.
Common Causes of Nursing Home Deaths
Preventable nursing home deaths frequently result from:
- Falls: Inadequate fall prevention protocols, insufficient supervision, and failure to assist with mobility
- Infections: Poor hygiene, inadequate wound care, and failure to follow infection control procedures
- Pressure ulcers (bedsores): Failure to reposition immobile residents, leading to stage IV ulcers that become infected
- Malnutrition and dehydration: Inadequate feeding assistance, failure to monitor nutritional intake
- Medication errors: Wrong medications, wrong doses, failure to monitor drug interactions
- Elopement: Residents with dementia wander away from the facility due to inadequate security
- Physical abuse: Staff-on-resident violence, including hitting, restraint injuries, and sexual abuse
- Choking and aspiration: Failure to follow dietary restrictions or provide adequate mealtime supervision
Our nursing home abuse lawyers handle the full range of nursing home negligence cases, and when neglect or abuse results in death, our wrongful death team pursues maximum accountability.
Georgia & South Carolina Nursing Home Wrongful Death Law
Nursing home wrongful death claims are brought under the state wrongful death statutes — Georgia’s O.C.G.A. § 51-4-1 et seq. and South Carolina’s S.C. Code § 15-51-10 et seq. These claims may also involve violations of state nursing home regulations and federal requirements for facilities that participate in Medicare and Medicaid.
Georgia’s Disabled Adults and Elder Persons Protection Act provides additional remedies for abuse and neglect of vulnerable adults, and evidence from Adult Protective Services (APS) investigations and CMS survey deficiencies can strengthen a wrongful death claim.
Understaffing as a Root Cause
Many nursing home deaths can be traced to chronic understaffing. When facilities do not employ enough nurses and certified nursing assistants (CNAs) to provide adequate care, residents suffer. Studies consistently show a direct correlation between nurse-to-patient ratios and resident outcomes. CMS staffing data is publicly available through the Medicare Care Compare tool, and our attorneys use this data to demonstrate that a facility’s staffing fell below safe levels.
Damages in Nursing Home Wrongful Death Cases
Families may recover compensation for the full value of the deceased’s life, pre-death pain and suffering (which can be substantial in cases involving prolonged neglect), medical expenses, funeral costs, and loss of companionship. In cases involving willful neglect or abuse, punitive damages may be available to punish the facility and deter future misconduct. Contact Roden Law for a free consultation.