What To Do If You're Worried About a Loved One's Care

The drive back from the facility on Prien Lake Road was the same drive she'd made every Sunday for fourteen months. But this Sunday she sat in the parking lot for ten minutes before she could leave. Her father had seemed confused. He said he'd asked for help getting to the bathroom twice and nobody came. There was a bruise on his shin he couldn't explain. She didn't know if she was overreacting. She didn't know what to do next.

That paralysis, the gap between noticing something is wrong and knowing what to do about it, is where families lose time they can't get back. Louisiana's prescriptive period under CCP Art. 3492 runs one year from the date of discovery. The Residents' Bill of Rights under La. R.S. 40:2010.9 gives residents enforceable rights, and La. R.S. 40:2010.10 gives families the legal authority to pursue civil claims when those rights are violated. But none of that matters if the family waits too long or handles the first steps in a way that gives the facility time to close ranks.

Start With Documentation, Not Confrontation

Before you say anything to any staff member, document what you see. Take out your phone and photograph anything that concerns you: visible injuries, soiled linens, an empty water pitcher, a call light placed out of reach, unsanitary conditions in the room. Write down the date, the time, what you observed, who was present, and exactly what your loved one said. Write it down the same day. Memory degrades; notes taken on the day of the visit are more credible and more useful than recollections written weeks later.

If your loved one can communicate, ask open questions rather than leading ones. "How are you feeling? How is the food? Is there anything that's been bothering you?" If they say something concerning, write it down verbatim. Their exact words, not a paraphrase. Include what they told you was happening and what they said they had asked for.

Photograph injuries if any are visible and your loved one consents. A photograph taken immediately is far more useful than a photograph taken at the next visit after the injury has been treated or has faded. Date the photo with a timestamp if your phone allows it.

Keep a running log. After every visit, add an entry. Date, time, what you observed, who you spoke with, what they said. Over time, a log like this becomes a timeline. In litigation, a contemporaneous written log is taken seriously. A collection of memories assembled after a complaint is filed is taken much less seriously.

Request Medical Records Early

Under the Residents' Bill of Rights and federal law, residents and their authorized representatives have the right to inspect and receive copies of medical records. Submit a written records request to the facility administrator or medical records department. Put it in writing. Date it. Keep a copy.

We explain how fault percentages and deadlines work after a Louisiana injury in our 2026 Tort Reform Survival Guide.

Ask for nursing notes, physician orders, medication administration records, weight logs, repositioning and turning schedules, incident reports, wound care documentation, and dietary intake logs. These are the records that will show whether the facility was doing what it was supposed to do, and when it wasn't.

Facilities have a limited number of business days to respond to a records request. If they stall, claim records don't exist, or provide incomplete records without explanation, that response is itself relevant. An attorney can compel production. Get the request in early, because some records are kept for only the minimum required period before being purged or archived in ways that slow retrieval.

If you are not listed as the resident's authorized representative on file at the facility, you may need to present a power of attorney or legal guardianship documentation before the facility will release records to you. If that documentation doesn't exist or is disputed, an attorney can advise on how to establish legal authority to access records.

Talk to Staff and Administration Strategically

There's a difference between getting an immediate problem addressed and conducting your own investigation. For immediate safety issues, talk to the charge nurse on duty. Ask direct questions and write down the answers: when was my father last repositioned, when did he last receive fluids, when was this injury reported to the physician. The nurse's response, including any evasiveness or inconsistency with what you observed, is useful information.

For broader concerns, requesting a care conference with the director of nursing or the administrator is within your rights. Come prepared with your written notes. Ask what the facility's protocols are for repositioning bedridden residents, how they track fluid intake, what their incident reporting process is. You're not accusing anyone yet. You're asking questions that a responsible family member would ask, and observing whether the facility answers them honestly and specifically.

Don't sign anything at this stage without reading it carefully. Facilities sometimes present satisfaction surveys or discharge forms that, read closely, include release language. If you're uncertain about a document, don't sign it until you've had an attorney look at it.

And don't assume that filing a formal complaint with the facility will be handled confidentially. It won't. The facility will know who complained and when.

Involve Outside Parties

The Louisiana Long-Term Care Ombudsman Program, authorized under La. R.S. 40:2179 et seq., exists specifically to investigate complaints from nursing home residents and their families. An Ombudsman can visit the facility, speak with the resident privately, review records, and mediate between the family and the facility. The Ombudsman does not represent the family in litigation, but their involvement creates an independent record of complaints that can be useful in a later case.

Suspected abuse or exploitation of an adult can also be reported to Louisiana Adult Protective Services under La. R.S. 14:403.2. APS has authority to investigate and to involve law enforcement where the evidence supports a criminal referral. Reporting to APS does not require certainty. If you have a reasonable basis for concern, that's enough to make the report.

The Louisiana Department of Health licenses and surveys nursing homes, and complaints about specific facilities can be filed directly with the LDH. State surveys of nursing homes are public record, and a facility with a history of deficiencies in staffing, nutrition, or resident care will have that history documented in inspection reports that an attorney can use.

Call an attorney. Not after you've exhausted every other option. Early. The attorney's job at the first consultation is to assess whether there's a claim, advise on preserving evidence, and tell you whether the prescriptive period is a concern. Most plaintiff's attorneys in Louisiana handle nursing home cases on contingency, so the consultation doesn't cost the family money they don't have. It costs nothing. The information it produces is worth a great deal.

How Louisiana's 51% Fault Rule Affects Your Steps

Under CC Art. 2323, a jury in a nursing home case assigns fault percentages to every party. A family whose actions contributed to the harm, or whose delay allowed it to worsen, can see the resident's recovery reduced. This is another reason why the steps taken early in a case matter.

A concrete example. A family notices weight loss in their mother at a Lake Charles Memorial-area facility but waits four months to raise the issue formally, during which time she loses another eighteen pounds and is hospitalized for severe malnutrition. At trial, the jury values damages at $300,000. The facility is found 75% at fault for failing to implement a dietary monitoring protocol. The family is found 25% at fault for observing the weight loss and failing to take documented action sooner. Recovery: $300,000 x 0.75 = $225,000. The family's delay cost $75,000.

Had the family documented the weight loss on the first visit where it was apparent, submitted a written request to the facility for weight logs, and contacted the Ombudsman within two weeks, the fault allocation would look different. Not because the law rewards families who do everything right, but because the record would show the facility was on notice and failed to act, which shifts more of the fault where it belongs.

Act. Write it down. Don't wait for the facility to fix itself.

Frequently Asked Questions

Should I confront the nursing home staff before calling an attorney?

Document first, then consider whether to talk to staff about immediate safety issues, then call an attorney before doing anything formal. Confronting administration before you've preserved what you've seen and spoken with an attorney can give the facility time to prepare a response, shift records, or frame the family as difficult rather than concerned. Raising an immediate safety issue with the charge nurse on duty is different from initiating a formal complaint, and the former is often appropriate. The latter benefits from legal counsel first.

Can I request my loved one's nursing home records, and how do I do it?

Yes. Submit a written request to the facility's administrator or medical records department specifying the records you need: nursing notes, medication logs, physician orders, incident reports, weight logs, and repositioning schedules. Keep a copy of the request and note the date. If the facility stalls or claims records don't exist, an attorney can compel production. Getting the request in early matters because some records are retained for only the minimum required period before they become harder to retrieve.

What if my loved one is afraid to say anything against the staff?

Document what you observe independently of what the resident tells you. If they do open up, write down their exact words, the date, and the setting. Involve the Louisiana Long-Term Care Ombudsman, who can speak with the resident privately and confidentially at the facility without the family needing to be present. Fear of retaliation is real and rational for someone who depends on their caregivers for daily needs, and it doesn't mean nothing happened. It means the resident has already learned that speaking up has consequences.

Is it too late to act if the neglect happened months ago?

Not necessarily. Louisiana's prescriptive period runs one year from the date of discovery, not the date of the incident. If you only recently connected the weight loss, the bruising, or the behavioral changes to a specific pattern of neglect, the clock may have started more recently than you think. Don't assume the deadline has passed without confirming that with an attorney. Getting the calculation wrong in either direction has consequences.

Should I move my loved one out of the facility while a claim is pending?

If they're in immediate danger, get them to safety first. The legal case is secondary to the person. If the situation is a concern rather than an emergency, think carefully before moving. Relocation disrupts vulnerable residents significantly, and disruption itself can cause harm. Talk to an attorney before making a move driven primarily by strategy rather than safety. Moving doesn't damage the legal claim, but it ends the ongoing documentation of conditions at the facility.

Legal Disclaimer: This article is for general information only and is not legal advice. Louisiana nursing home and elder care law has a lot of moving parts, and the facts of every case are different. Statutes, regulations, and case law also change over time. Reading this does not create an attorney-client relationship. If you are worried about a loved one's care in a nursing facility in Lake Charles or Calcasieu Parish, talk to a licensed Louisiana personal injury attorney as soon as you can. The one-year prescriptive period for personal injury claims is strictly enforced.