Was a Nursing Home Death Preventable? Signs of Negligence to Look For

When someone we love passes away in a nursing home, grief doesn’t come with clean edges. It’s hard enough to say goodbye—but even harder when something doesn’t sit right.

Maybe the decline felt too fast. Maybe there were signs something wasn’t right, but no one spoke up. And maybe, deep down, you can’t help but wonder: Was this death really inevitable—or did the facility fail them when they needed help most?

These are heavy questions, and unfortunately, they’re all too common. At The Higgins Firm, we’ve spoken with many families facing this same heartbreak. In some cases, it becomes painfully clear that the death was preventable. And when that happens, families deserve answers—and a path forward.

Signs That a Death in a Nursing Home Might Have Been Preventable

Not every loss is the result of nursing home negligence—but when certain red flags show up, we start asking tough questions. Here are some of the most common signs we look for when evaluating a potential wrongful death claim.

Sudden Decline Without a Clear Medical Cause

If your loved one’s health changed rapidly and without explanation, it could point to neglect or abuse within the nursing home. Some of the most common warning signs include:

• Quick, unexplained weight loss over just a few weeks
• Confusion or major personality changes that no one seemed to understand
• Bruises, cuts, or injuries that weren’t there before—and no clear reason for them
• Pressure sores (bedsores) that showed up out of nowhere or got worse fast
• A sudden drop in alertness, with no medical diagnosis to explain it

These symptoms often show that nursing home staff members failed to monitor basic health needs like nutrition, hydration, and comfort. And when those failures pile up, they can lead to preventable deaths in nursing homes.

Medication Mistakes That Could Have Been Fatal

Medication errors are one of the most serious—and sadly, most common—signs of nursing home negligence. If any of these sound familiar, it’s worth reviewing your loved one’s medical records:

• Missed pills or doses left in their room
• Medication charts showing the wrong dose or timing
• Sudden changes in prescriptions without doctor approval
• Signs of drug interactions that went ignored
• A clear worsening of their condition after new medications were introduced

When facilities get medications wrong, they’re gambling with someone’s life. And if it led to a fatal outcome, you may have grounds to file a wrongful death claim.

Infections That Were Ignored or Mishandled

Infections in nursing homes don’t always start as emergencies—but without proper care, they can quickly become deadly. These red flags often appear in nursing home wrongful death cases:

• Fever, pain, or confusion that was dismissed or untreated
• Delays in testing or getting lab results back
• Chronic infections that kept coming back, suggesting deeper problems
• A noticeable gap between symptoms and medical response
• Sepsis or septic shock listed as the cause of death

Infection control is basic. When nursing homes fail to provide that level of care, the consequences can be tragic—and avoidable.

Preventable Falls or Injuries

We all know that falls can be dangerous in later life—but in a skilled nursing facility, many of them shouldn’t happen at all. We often see negligence when:

• The resident had a known fall risk but no safety measures were in place
• Bed alarms or support rails weren’t used as ordered
• The resident had already fallen once (or more) before the fatal incident
• Staff didn’t respond quickly after the fall happened
• There weren’t enough staff on duty to properly supervise

When nursing homes fail to take steps to prevent falls, they may be directly responsible for the death of a resident.

Dehydration or Malnutrition That Went Unaddressed

No one should suffer from dehydration or malnutrition in a care facility. And yet, we’ve reviewed too many cases where the nursing home failed to meet even these basic needs. Some common signs:

• Noticeable weight loss in a short amount of time
• Lab results pointing to dehydration or poor nutritional health
• Reports of dry mouth, sunken eyes, or poor skin elasticity
• Food and fluid intake dropping without intervention
• Malnutrition or dehydration listed in the final diagnosis or cause of death

This isn’t just bad care—it’s neglect. And it can absolutely support a wrongful death case if it led to your loved one’s death.

What Medical Records Can Reveal About a Preventable Death

If you’re wondering whether your loved one’s death in a nursing home could have been avoided, the first place to look is the medical records. We know it’s overwhelming—doctors’ notes, charts, forms, unfamiliar terms—but buried in all that paperwork is the story of what happened… and sometimes, what went wrong.

We’ve worked with families who had no idea what to look for. So here’s what we focus on when we’re investigating whether nursing home negligence played a role in a preventable death.

Care Plans

Every nursing home resident is supposed to have a personalized care plan. These plans aren’t just paperwork—they’re supposed to guide how staff care for each individual, especially those with serious health risks.

Some of the biggest warning signs we see include:

• No initial assessment (or a very generic one that misses key risks)
• Care plans that were never updated, even after a resident’s condition changed
• Staff acknowledging a problem—like fall risk or swallowing trouble—but doing little or nothing to address it
• Plans that sound good on paper but were never actually followed

When nursing homes fail to assess risks or act on them, they open the door to injuries, infections, and other avoidable complications—sometimes leading to the death of a resident.

Staffing Logs and Nurse Notes

It’s no secret that understaffing is a chronic problem in long-term care facilities. But when it contributes to the death of your loved one, it becomes something more than frustrating—it becomes a legal issue.

In our experience, some of the most telling signs include:

• Low staff-to-resident ratios during nights, weekends, or mealtimes
• Gaps in monitoring—whole shifts with no nurse notes or vitals recorded
• Worsening symptoms that were never passed along to a doctor
• Complaints from the resident that were ignored or brushed off

We’ve seen nursing home deaths linked directly to missed medication doses, untreated infections, and delayed emergency responses—all things that can happen when nursing home staff members are stretched too thin.

Incident Reports

Any serious fall, injury, or unexpected medical event should be documented and investigated. If your loved one passed away after an incident, those records can be key to understanding whether the facility’s negligence played a role.

We look for:

• Incomplete or vague incident reports
• Delayed documentation (or no report at all)
• Internal investigations that seem rushed or one-sided
• No follow-up actions to prevent the same mistake from happening again

When nursing homes fail to investigate incidents, they miss the opportunity to learn from them—and in too many cases, that’s how more preventable deaths in nursing homes happen.

State Inspection Reports and Citations

Even if the records related to your loved one’s care seem incomplete, there’s another place we always check: state inspection reports. These public documents show whether the nursing home facility had a pattern of problems—especially ones that mirror the circumstances around your family member’s passing.

We often find:

• Citations for medication errors, falls, infection control, or poor staffing
• Repeat violations across different inspection cycles
• State surveyors noting risks that were never addressed
• Facilities ignoring previous orders to fix safety issues

These reports don’t lie—and if your loved one died under similar conditions, it may help show the death could have been prevented.

When It’s Time to Consider a Wrongful Death Claim

We know how hard it is to consider legal action while you’re grieving. But if it feels like the death of your loved one didn’t have to happen—if it was the result of negligence, understaffing, or outright failure to provide care—you may have every right to file a wrongful death claim.

These claims can do more than hold nursing homes accountable:

• They can provide compensation for medical expenses, funeral costs, and your family’s pain and suffering
• They send a message that negligent nursing homes can’t keep cutting corners without consequence
• And most of all, they can help give your family some sense of justice—and a chance to breathe again, knowing you spoke up

But these cases do come with strict deadlines. If you believe your loved one’s nursing home death was preventable, it’s critical to speak with a nursing home wrongful death attorney as soon as possible.

We’re here to walk you through the process—step by step, no pressure, no commitment. Just answers.

Getting Legal Help Can Make All the Difference

Figuring out whether a nursing home death was preventable isn’t something most families can—or should—try to do alone. It often takes a close review of medical records, knowledge of elder care standards, and experience recognizing signs of negligence or abuse.

At the The Higgins Firm, we’ve handled these cases before. We know what to look for and when a death may have been the result of substandard care. If we believe your loved one’s death was preventable, we’ll help you move forward with a plan.

If you’re worried about what happened, reach out. We offer a free consultation, and we work on a contingency fee basis—meaning there’s no cost to you unless we recover compensation.