Elder Abuse & Neglect Ligitation
Accountability for Harm
Many facilities work hard to provide quality care, but when something goes wrong, it is essential to know your options for holding the provider accountable and hopefully make a safer environment for the next vulnerable adult.
Elder abuse and neglect litigation is distinct from medical practice as well as common personal injury or wrongful death claims. Many federal and state regulations govern the care setting. Legal representation by someone who understands those nuances is critical. Suzanne Scheller has worked extensively in representing elder clients and their families to bring accountability for harm in the nursing home and assisted living care settings.
Resolving Care Concerns
Care concerns in nursing homes and assisted living settings may include falls, pressure sores, medication errors, and infections. Inadequate staffing, training, and/or resources are common themes in injuries and deaths in elder care facilities. At Scheller Legal Solutions, Suzanne offers a variety of options to resolve care concerns, including representing the injured or deceased party in claims against the long-term care facility, whether through mediation, arbitration, or litigation.
Focus on Prevention
Along with seeking legal damages, Suzy Scheller also focuses on prevention, such as seeking policy and procedure changes, increasing training in areas of concern, and encouraging advocacy on behalf of other residents. Suzanne Scheller, Esq. often works with co-counsel Kenneth L. LaBore, Esq. in many of her elder abuse and neglect litigation claims.
Elder Consultation
Navigating long-term care can be confusing, with family members often unsure where to turn next. Suzanne Scheller provides guidance to families through consultations to help them understand the important issues they may face to be better prepared for the challenges of long term care, issues such as appointing decision-makers, understanding care needs, and securing finances. Suzy finds that this conversation provides a calming framework for family members to feel empowered to best help their loved one. Elder consultations are becoming a significant area of practice for Suzanne Scheller as she maintains current knowledge of the long-term care arena and passes that along to clients.
Elder Advocacy
Advocacy involves a variety of services
For example, attorneys may need assistance with understanding the standards of care for various facilities to assist their clients best. Legislators may seek input on changes in law or regulation affecting vulnerable adults.
Family members may need assistance understanding their loved ones’ rights and responsibilities upon entrance into a nursing home. Suzanne Scheller can provide education, training, or public policy input to help protect vulnerable adults and to help all parties understand various roles in elder care.
Elder Mediation
Many decisions are made by elders and their families when a loved one advances in years, particularly related to who will take care of the health and finances of the elderly person. If all parties are willing to come to the table and talk through issues that affect the elderly person, mediation is a great option. It is a softer approach than court-driven intervention. Many elder issues are without clear guidance in law. They are complex and sometimes new to the court. Issues such as second marriages; long term care considerations; medical assistance planning; and blended families with adult children, will increase in complexity as empowered baby boomers plan for end of life. Suzanne Scheller believes that sometimes a common-sense approach is best by using mediation to tackle the complex issues rather than extensive time in litigation with little control of the results. Suzanne Scheller offers elder mediation services to allow for maximum retention of important family and support relationships while also addressing potentially harmful situations. She is a qualified neutral under Minnesota General Rules of Practice 114 in both the facilitative (mediation) and adjudicative (arbitration) processes. Suzanne Scheller has gained knowledge of many issues affecting families with aging loved ones through her legal representation and brings that unique knowledge and skill set to her role as mediator.
Possible Issues for Elder Mediation
Not all issues can or should be mediated, but the following matters may be appropriate for elder mediation:
Financial Exploitation
Financial exploitation involves taking the money or assets of a vulnerable adult without the authority to do so, or by deceptive or similar means. The exploiter may be an attorney-in-fact, family member, another individual, or a company. Minnesota has both criminal and civil law that applies to financial exploitation. The civil law is based on Minnesota Statutes 626.557, subdivision 20, and other common law claims.
Suzanne’s goal is to help the vulnerable adults keep the assets they have worked hard to collect for their own needs, not as a blank check for others. While mediation may work to recover assets in some situations, other cases of financial exploitation must be brought before the court to recover assets and to hopefully reduce such exploitation in the future. If you believe that you have been the victim of financial exploitation, please contact Suzy Scheller.
Medicare Liens
Scheller Legal Solutions LLC has been successful in negotiating and finalizing Medicare liens. We can communicate with Medicare on behalf of the beneficiary to notify, request, negotiate, and satisfy Medicare subrogation interests.
Other Solutions
Litigation is not always the answer. At Scheller Legal Solutions LLC, Suzanne Scheller strives for practical and creative options to focus on the solution and not merely the problem. Baby boomers are often looking for better ways to work through challenges facing them in the aging years. Suzanne talks through both informal and formal options for resolving conflicts. Some of the solutions offered are listed below.
Reasonable Scope Services
While many attorneys may not represent clients at all when the issues appear to be challenging to define, Suzanne strives to offer clients reasonable-cost solutions.
For instance, if you are having difficulty with a care provider or an employer, Suzanne may write a letter and follow-up with a phone call or two for a set fee. Suzanne believes that, in some instances, both sides may simply need a fresh perspective to work through differences.
Facilitated Resolution
At times, elders and their families need help facilitating resolution among themselves or with others in the long-term community. Such resolution may include communicating information among family members, navigating the long-term care system, or reporting to administration agencies.
Network Contacts
Through her work in the field of elder law, Suzanne Scheller has developed a network of contacts and may be able to point a person to other qualified professionals for assistance, if she is unable to provide legal representation.
Resources
A priority at Scheller Legal Solutions LLC is to provide necessary resources to clients to empower them with information, such as regarding nursing homes and assisted living facilities.