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Tampa Nursing Home Abuse Attorney
You trusted a facility with someone you love. If the care fell short and they were hurt, The Reyes Firm can review the records, help identify who is responsible, and explain your options under Florida law.
or dial (833) 422-3329 · no fee unless we win · Hablamos Español
Why Families Bring Us These Cases
We Start With the Records
Care plans, medication logs, incident reports, staffing records, and inspection history often tell the story the facility will not. We know what to request and how quickly to ask for it.
We Identify Everyone Responsible
It is not always the caregiver in the room. Ownership groups, management companies, and staffing agencies can share responsibility for chronic understaffing and inadequate training.
Led Personally by Attorney Edward J. Reyes
These conversations are difficult, and families deserve someone who explains what the records show and what the options are, in plain language. Every situation is different, and no particular result can be promised.
No Fee Unless We Win
Consultations are free and confidential, and we work on a contingency fee. If representation is accepted, attorney’s fees and costs will be explained in the written agreement.
Types of Nursing Home Abuse and Neglect
Abuse in a care facility is rarely a single dramatic event. More often it is a pattern: missed care, thin staffing, and small injuries that add up. Recognizing the form it takes is the first step.
Physical Abuse
Hitting, rough handling, or inappropriate use of restraints, often showing as bruising or unexplained fractures.
Emotional Abuse
Verbal assaults, threats, humiliation, or isolation, which can lead to withdrawal, anxiety, and depression.
Neglect
Failure to provide food, water, hygiene, or medical care, resulting in malnutrition, dehydration, bedsores, or infections.
Financial Exploitation
Taking a resident’s money, forging signatures, or pressuring them to change financial documents or a will.
Sexual Abuse
Any unwanted sexual contact with a resident, including residents unable to give consent.
Medication Errors and Misuse
Overmedicating to control behavior, or missing doses entirely, both of which can seriously harm a frail resident.
Signs of Nursing Home Abuse or Neglect
Residents often cannot or will not report what is happening, whether from fear, confusion, or dependence on the people providing their care. Families usually notice first. If something seems wrong, document what you see, with dates and photographs where appropriate.
Unexplained bruises, cuts, or fractures
Especially injuries the facility cannot account for, or explanations that keep changing.
Sudden changes in behavior or personality
Withdrawal, agitation, or a loss of interest in things they used to enjoy.
Fearful behavior around particular staff
Flinching, going quiet when someone enters, or reluctance to be left alone with them.
Weight loss, dehydration, or poor hygiene
Signs that basic daily care is not happening consistently.
Bedsores or untreated conditions
Pressure ulcers in particular are often preventable with proper repositioning and care.
Unexplained financial activity
Missing money, new signatures on documents, or account changes no one can explain.
If You Suspect Abuse Today
If your loved one is in immediate danger, call 911. Otherwise, make sure they are safe and medically evaluated first, then report what you have seen. Reporting and a legal claim are separate things, and reporting does not cost you anything or commit you to anything.
Write down what you observed and when, keep copies of anything the facility gives you, and request their records in writing. Those records become harder to obtain once a facility knows a complaint has been made.
- Immediate danger: call 911
- Florida Abuse Hotline (Department of Children and Families): 1-800-96-ABUSE
- Agency for Health Care Administration, which licenses and investigates facilities
- Florida Long-Term Care Ombudsman Program, which advocates for residents
- Your loved one’s own physician, for an independent medical assessment
How We Handle a Nursing Home Case
Free consultation
We listen to what you have seen, look at what you already have, and tell you whether it is worth investigating further.
Records and investigation
We request medical records, care plans, incident reports, and staffing and inspection history, and speak with witnesses where possible.
Identifying responsible parties
Caregivers, the facility, management companies, and owners can all bear responsibility, particularly where understaffing is the root cause.
Resolution
We pursue the claim through negotiation or litigation, and keep your family informed at each stage.
Nursing Home Abuse Questions, Answered
How long do I have to file a nursing home abuse claim in Florida?
Generally two years from the date of the incident for negligence claims arising after March 24, 2023. Florida shortened the deadline from four years to two under HB 837. Claims involving a resident’s death, or those treated as medical negligence, can carry different deadlines and additional presuit requirements, so it is worth confirming early.
What should I do first if I suspect abuse?
Make sure your loved one is safe and medically evaluated. If they are in immediate danger, call 911. Then report what you have seen to the Florida Abuse Hotline at 1-800-96-ABUSE, and write down what you observed with dates. Reporting is separate from any legal claim and does not commit you to anything.
How do you prove abuse or neglect happened?
Usually through the facility’s own records: care plans, medication administration logs, incident reports, staffing levels, and inspection history, alongside medical records and witness accounts. Patterns matter. Chronic understaffing, for example, often explains injuries the facility describes as accidents.
What can a claim recover?
Depending on the facts and applicable law, recoverable damages may include medical expenses, the resident’s pain and suffering, and other losses caused by the abuse or neglect. If the resident died, the personal representative may be able to pursue a wrongful death claim. Punitive damages are not automatic and are available only where Florida’s legal requirements are met.
Will my loved one have to leave the facility?
Not necessarily, and that decision is yours and theirs to make. Retaliation against a resident for a complaint is prohibited. If you are worried about their safety where they are, that is worth discussing early, because it affects what we do first.
Other Cases We Handle
The Reyes Firm represents injured people and their families across Tampa Bay, including Hillsborough County.
Worried About Someone in Care? Let’s Talk.
Free and confidential, with no obligation. Our office is at 4730 N. Habana Ave., Suite 201, Tampa, FL 33614.
(833) 422-3329 · Hablamos Español