Your family trusted them with the most vulnerable person in your life. When that trust is violated, there’s accountability.

Nursing home neglect doesn’t look like a car accident. It doesn’t happen in a single moment. It happens over days and weeks, pressure wounds that go untreated, a fall that no one reported, medication errors that no one caught, a resident who lost thirty pounds in two months because no one made sure she was eating. By the time a family realizes something has gone wrong, there’s already been real harm. Sometimes there’s been a death. The facilities and their insurers have lawyers, risk managers, and incident reports that were written carefully. What families need is an attorney who knows how to read those documents and what to do with them. Scott Reizen has over two decades of Michigan personal injury experience, and he knows how institutions protect themselves when they’ve done something wrong.

What Michigan Law Says About Nursing Home Neglect

Nursing homes operating in Michigan are regulated under MCL 333.21701 et seq., Part 217 of the Michigan Public Health Code. These provisions establish the minimum standards for resident care, safety, and rights. MCL 333.21771 specifically prohibits abuse, mistreatment, and neglect by nursing home licensees, administrators, and employees, and mandates reporting of incidents to the state.

On the federal side, nursing homes that participate in Medicare and Medicaid, which is most of them, must comply with 42 CFR Part 483, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services regulations governing long-term care facilities. These federal standards cover everything from nutrition and hydration to medication management to freedom from abuse and restraint. CMS enforces these through what are called F-tags, specific regulatory deficiencies cited when a facility fails to meet a standard. An F-tag cited by a CMS surveyor is not just a regulatory event, in litigation, it is evidence that the facility’s own regulators found a care failure.

The Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs (LARA), through the Bureau of Healthcare Services (BHS), oversees state licensure and investigates complaints and reported incidents. Families can request survey and investigation records for a facility, those records often contain documented findings that become important in litigation.

When a resident dies as a result of neglect or abuse, the case can proceed under the wrongful death statute (MCL 600.2922) and the survival action statute (MCL 600.2921), which allows the estate to recover for pain and suffering the resident experienced before death.

The general statute of limitations is three years under MCL 600.5805 from the date of the injury or last negligent act.

How Nursing Home Neglect Cases Work in Michigan

The institutional nature of nursing home neglect cases creates specific challenges that distinguish them from other personal injury claims.

First, the documentation is controlled by the facility. Medical records, nursing notes, incident reports, care plans, shift change logs, the facility has all of it. Those records were created by people who knew they might be reviewed. Learning to read them critically, identifying what’s missing, what was amended, what the timestamps don’t support, is a skill that comes from experience in this area.

Second, the arbitration issue. Nursing home admission agreements routinely include mandatory arbitration clauses, which attempt to route claims out of court and into private arbitration. These clauses are not always enforceable in Michigan. Whether a family member who signed on behalf of a resident had legal authority to bind the resident, whether the clause was conspicuous and voluntary, and whether it meets Michigan’s requirements for validity are all live questions. Many arbitration clauses in nursing home contracts can be successfully challenged.

Third, insurers and facility operators typically have coordinated defense teams. Large nursing home chains have in-house risk management and insurance programs specifically designed to manage and contain litigation. They move quickly after an incident. Getting into the case early, before records are lost and witnesses’ memories fade, is critical.

What The Reizen Law Group Does Differently

Scott approaches nursing home neglect cases with the same insider knowledge that defines his practice. He knows how healthcare institutions and their insurers defend these claims, how liability is allocated when corporate chains operate multiple facilities, and what expert analysis these cases require.

He knows that the key evidence is often buried in the medical records, a care plan that hadn’t been updated in months, a pressure ulcer assessment completed after the fact, a call log showing how long a resident waited for a response. He knows what to demand and how to use it.

The clients in these cases are families who trusted the facility with the most vulnerable person in their lives. The harm they’ve suffered, watching a parent decline because of avoidable neglect, or learning after a death what the records actually show, is real and deserves to be taken seriously.

Common Types of Nursing Home Neglect and Abuse

  • Pressure ulcers (bedsores): Stage 3 and Stage 4 bedsores are almost always avoidable with proper repositioning protocols; their presence is strong evidence of neglect
  • Falls: preventable falls from failure to implement fall prevention protocols, failure to supervise, or inadequate staffing
  • Malnutrition and dehydration: unexplained weight loss, failure to document food and fluid intake, failure to assist residents who need help eating or drinking
  • Medication errors: wrong medication, wrong dose, missed doses, dangerous drug interactions from inadequate review
  • Elopement: a resident with dementia wanders from the facility due to inadequate supervision or failed security systems
  • Physical abuse: bruising, fractures, or injuries without adequate explanation; particularly concerning in residents with dementia who cannot communicate what happened
  • Hygiene neglect: failure to provide basic bathing, oral care, and hygiene; results in infections and skin breakdown
  • Failure to respond to medical deterioration: delayed response to changing condition; failure to call emergency services when warranted

Frequently Asked Questions

My mother developed severe bedsores in a nursing home and died. Do we have a claim?

Potentially, yes. Stage 3 and Stage 4 pressure ulcers are widely considered preventable with adequate repositioning, nutrition, and wound monitoring. Their presence is often evidence of neglect. If your mother died from complications related to the bedsores, a claim could proceed under both the wrongful death statute (MCL 600.2922) and the survival action statute (MCL 600.2921). These cases require early investigation, and Scott can help you evaluate what the records show.

The nursing home had me sign an arbitration agreement when my father was admitted. Does that mean I can’t sue?

Not necessarily. Arbitration clauses in nursing home admission agreements are frequently challenged and sometimes invalidated in Michigan. Courts look at whether the person who signed had legal authority to bind the resident, whether the clause was properly disclosed and voluntary, and whether it meets Michigan’s requirements for enforceability. Many families who signed these agreements still have full court remedies available. It’s worth having the clause reviewed before assuming it forecloses litigation.

How do I get the nursing home’s records?

As a family member or the estate’s personal representative, you have a right to obtain your loved one’s medical records. The facility must comply with your request under Michigan and federal law. In litigation, discovery allows for significantly broader document requests, including incident reports, staffing records, regulatory survey reports, and internal communications. Scott will help ensure you have access to everything that matters.

The nursing home reported the incident internally. Does that help or hurt our case?

It can help. Internal incident reports, along with any subsequent LARA or BHS investigation findings, can provide contemporaneous documentation of what happened. If regulatory surveyors issued F-tags or citations in connection with the incident, those findings carry real weight. Scott knows how to obtain and use these records effectively.

What damages can we recover in a nursing home neglect case?

Damages include the medical costs caused by the neglect, pain and suffering experienced by the resident, and, when the resident has died, wrongful death damages under MCL 600.2922, including loss of society and companionship and funeral and burial expenses. In cases involving intentional abuse, Michigan allows exemplary damages in appropriate circumstances.

What is the deadline to bring a nursing home neglect claim?

Generally three years from the date of the negligent act under MCL 600.5805. In cases where neglect occurred over time, the analysis is more complex. Wrongful death claims run three years from the date of death. Don’t wait — evidence needs to be preserved quickly.

Talk to Scott

If you believe a family member was harmed by nursing home neglect or abuse in Michigan, call (248) 554-3440 for a free consultation. These cases are complicated, and the facility’s insurance has already started building its file. Scott Reizen knows how institutions protect themselves in these situations, and how to hold them accountable. No fee unless we win.

Nursing Home Neglect

Your family trusted them with the most vulnerable person in your life. When that trust is violated, there’s accountability.

Nursing home neglect doesn’t look like a car accident. It doesn’t happen in a single moment. It happens over days and weeks, pressure wounds that go untreated, a fall that no one reported, medication errors that no one caught, a resident who lost thirty pounds in two months because no one made sure she was eating. By the time a family realizes something has gone wrong, there’s already been real harm. Sometimes there’s been a death. The facilities and their insurers have lawyers, risk managers, and incident reports that were written carefully. What families need is an attorney who knows how to read those documents and what to do with them. Scott Reizen has over two decades of Michigan personal injury experience, and he knows how institutions protect themselves when they’ve done something wrong.

What Michigan Law Says About Nursing Home Neglect

Nursing homes operating in Michigan are regulated under MCL 333.21701 et seq., Part 217 of the Michigan Public Health Code. These provisions establish the minimum standards for resident care, safety, and rights. MCL 333.21771 specifically prohibits abuse, mistreatment, and neglect by nursing home licensees, administrators, and employees, and mandates reporting of incidents to the state.

On the federal side, nursing homes that participate in Medicare and Medicaid, which is most of them, must comply with 42 CFR Part 483, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services regulations governing long-term care facilities. These federal standards cover everything from nutrition and hydration to medication management to freedom from abuse and restraint. CMS enforces these through what are called F-tags, specific regulatory deficiencies cited when a facility fails to meet a standard. An F-tag cited by a CMS surveyor is not just a regulatory event, in litigation, it is evidence that the facility’s own regulators found a care failure.

The Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs (LARA), through the Bureau of Healthcare Services (BHS), oversees state licensure and investigates complaints and reported incidents. Families can request survey and investigation records for a facility, those records often contain documented findings that become important in litigation.

When a resident dies as a result of neglect or abuse, the case can proceed under the wrongful death statute (MCL 600.2922) and the survival action statute (MCL 600.2921), which allows the estate to recover for pain and suffering the resident experienced before death.

The general statute of limitations is three years under MCL 600.5805 from the date of the injury or last negligent act.

How Nursing Home Neglect Cases Work in Michigan

The institutional nature of nursing home neglect cases creates specific challenges that distinguish them from other personal injury claims.

First, the documentation is controlled by the facility. Medical records, nursing notes, incident reports, care plans, shift change logs, the facility has all of it. Those records were created by people who knew they might be reviewed. Learning to read them critically, identifying what’s missing, what was amended, what the timestamps don’t support, is a skill that comes from experience in this area.

Second, the arbitration issue. Nursing home admission agreements routinely include mandatory arbitration clauses, which attempt to route claims out of court and into private arbitration. These clauses are not always enforceable in Michigan. Whether a family member who signed on behalf of a resident had legal authority to bind the resident, whether the clause was conspicuous and voluntary, and whether it meets Michigan’s requirements for validity are all live questions. Many arbitration clauses in nursing home contracts can be successfully challenged.

Third, insurers and facility operators typically have coordinated defense teams. Large nursing home chains have in-house risk management and insurance programs specifically designed to manage and contain litigation. They move quickly after an incident. Getting into the case early, before records are lost and witnesses’ memories fade, is critical.

What The Reizen Law Group Does Differently

Scott approaches nursing home neglect cases with the same insider knowledge that defines his practice. He knows how healthcare institutions and their insurers defend these claims, how liability is allocated when corporate chains operate multiple facilities, and what expert analysis these cases require.

He knows that the key evidence is often buried in the medical records, a care plan that hadn’t been updated in months, a pressure ulcer assessment completed after the fact, a call log showing how long a resident waited for a response. He knows what to demand and how to use it.

The clients in these cases are families who trusted the facility with the most vulnerable person in their lives. The harm they’ve suffered, watching a parent decline because of avoidable neglect, or learning after a death what the records actually show, is real and deserves to be taken seriously.

Common Types of Nursing Home Neglect and Abuse

  • Pressure ulcers (bedsores): Stage 3 and Stage 4 bedsores are almost always avoidable with proper repositioning protocols; their presence is strong evidence of neglect
  • Falls: preventable falls from failure to implement fall prevention protocols, failure to supervise, or inadequate staffing
  • Malnutrition and dehydration: unexplained weight loss, failure to document food and fluid intake, failure to assist residents who need help eating or drinking
  • Medication errors: wrong medication, wrong dose, missed doses, dangerous drug interactions from inadequate review
  • Elopement: a resident with dementia wanders from the facility due to inadequate supervision or failed security systems
  • Physical abuse: bruising, fractures, or injuries without adequate explanation; particularly concerning in residents with dementia who cannot communicate what happened
  • Hygiene neglect: failure to provide basic bathing, oral care, and hygiene; results in infections and skin breakdown
  • Failure to respond to medical deterioration: delayed response to changing condition; failure to call emergency services when warranted

Frequently Asked Questions

My mother developed severe bedsores in a nursing home and died. Do we have a claim?

Potentially, yes. Stage 3 and Stage 4 pressure ulcers are widely considered preventable with adequate repositioning, nutrition, and wound monitoring. Their presence is often evidence of neglect. If your mother died from complications related to the bedsores, a claim could proceed under both the wrongful death statute (MCL 600.2922) and the survival action statute (MCL 600.2921). These cases require early investigation, and Scott can help you evaluate what the records show.

The nursing home had me sign an arbitration agreement when my father was admitted. Does that mean I can’t sue?

Not necessarily. Arbitration clauses in nursing home admission agreements are frequently challenged and sometimes invalidated in Michigan. Courts look at whether the person who signed had legal authority to bind the resident, whether the clause was properly disclosed and voluntary, and whether it meets Michigan’s requirements for enforceability. Many families who signed these agreements still have full court remedies available. It’s worth having the clause reviewed before assuming it forecloses litigation.

How do I get the nursing home’s records?

As a family member or the estate’s personal representative, you have a right to obtain your loved one’s medical records. The facility must comply with your request under Michigan and federal law. In litigation, discovery allows for significantly broader document requests, including incident reports, staffing records, regulatory survey reports, and internal communications. Scott will help ensure you have access to everything that matters.

The nursing home reported the incident internally. Does that help or hurt our case?

It can help. Internal incident reports, along with any subsequent LARA or BHS investigation findings, can provide contemporaneous documentation of what happened. If regulatory surveyors issued F-tags or citations in connection with the incident, those findings carry real weight. Scott knows how to obtain and use these records effectively.

What damages can we recover in a nursing home neglect case?

Damages include the medical costs caused by the neglect, pain and suffering experienced by the resident, and, when the resident has died, wrongful death damages under MCL 600.2922, including loss of society and companionship and funeral and burial expenses. In cases involving intentional abuse, Michigan allows exemplary damages in appropriate circumstances.

What is the deadline to bring a nursing home neglect claim?

Generally three years from the date of the negligent act under MCL 600.5805. In cases where neglect occurred over time, the analysis is more complex. Wrongful death claims run three years from the date of death. Don’t wait — evidence needs to be preserved quickly.

Talk to Scott

If you believe a family member was harmed by nursing home neglect or abuse in Michigan, call (248) 554-3440 for a free consultation. These cases are complicated, and the facility’s insurance has already started building its file. Scott Reizen knows how institutions protect themselves in these situations, and how to hold them accountable. No fee unless we win.