Earlier this summer, Managing Partner and Personal Injury Attorney, Michael Dansky, was invited to be a guest on Casey Price‘s TV show, Justice for All.
Justice for All is a new internet-based TV show on RVNTV where host Casey Price interviews attorneys in the South Jersey area and highlights issues impacting our community.
Michael Dansky was honored to represent the Dansky | Katz | Ringold | Team and share more about his experience, as well as answer important questions about Nursing Home Negligence.
You can view the entire interview here or continue reading for a summary of the interview!
Please note, this blog post and the video interview are not intended to be legal advice. We are always happy to help answer your questions directly if you contact our team.
Why did Michael Dansky become an attorney?
In addition to trying to “make his mommy happy,” Michael Dansky wanted to become an attorney so that he could use his talents to help victims.
After selling a travel business that he had built during college, he had the opportunity to attend law school. His first experience practicing law was in the divorce field, but he soon came across a negligence file that forever changed the trajectory of his career.
Michael immediately fell in love with the work and found it extremely rewarding to be able to use his expertise to help victims of negligence.
What is Personal Injury Law?
Negligence work is also known as personal injury. This can include auto accidents, medical malpractice, construction accidents, slip and falls, and dog bites.
Typically, these cases involves lost wages and medical expenses, but are not necessarily life altering.
When you lose a child or a spouse, Michael says, it is a whole different level. It’s not just about the money for his clients, it’s about helping them emotionally overcome pain and suffering.
Fighting Against Nursing Home Negligence
One of the worst types of negligence is in the nursing home industry.
As the attorneys at Dansky | Katz | Ringold | York gained more and more experience helping victims of personal injury negligence, they started to realize the amount of negligence that was occurring in the nursing home industry specifically.
Attorney Michael Ringold heads up the firm’s Nursing Home litigation department. Michael Dansky shares that the reason they are so passionate about fighting for the rights of nursing home victims is because they are helping people and families that are vulnerable and cannot help themselves.
[Related: Do You Know the Signs of Nursing Home Abuse?]
Dansky | Katz | Ringold | York is Dedicated to Making Social Change
Law is a way to make social change.
Michael Dansky believes that when you make the public more aware of the neglect that is occurring, changes will be made to prevent those situations from happening in the future.
Having seen the worst of what can happen in nursing home abuse and neglect cases, Ringold and Dansky now have a much deeper and wider perspective of the entire issue. As such, they are able to help their clients throughout the entire process – and even before the process begins.
Michael Dansky and his team aim to provide as much guidance as possible, even if that is just recommending the right nursing home facilities.
[Related: How to Choose the Right Nursing Home in New Jersey]
In fact, the team at Dansky | Katz | Ringold | York prides themselves on going above and beyond in their care of their clients and provide 24/7 access to them via their toll free number:
Building Relationships with Our Clients
Another way Michael and his team fosters deeper relationships with their current and past clients is through their monthly newsletter. Michael shares, “Our clients love that they are involved, and we’re not just throwing out information and amounts of verdicts. One of the strengths of the firm is that we try to treat everyone like family.”
He continued by sharing that some of the firms secretaries have been with them for 38 years, since the very beginning of the firm.
Going Above and Beyond for Clients
While the attorneys at Dansky | Katz | Ringold | York help most of their clients after the problem or incident has already happened, they also provide a lot of resources to educate and help people before a problem occurs. As mentioned above, the team helps people understand what to look for when putting a loved one in a nursing home and shares many helpful blogs about topics such as how to spot nursing home abuse or neglect.
In addition to providing helpful resources, the attorneys oftentimes connect their clients with other trust professionals. For example, many times, people do not have estate planning in place, so they will recommend them to an attorney like Casey Price. Michael’s team wants to make sure the families are having the important conversations.
Nursing Home Abuse Advocacy and Education
Michael also stressed the importance of providing education on the Nursing Home Laws, as these are in place to protect the dignity and safety of residents of nursing homes and assisted living facilities.
New Jersey and the Federal Government have strong laws. You are supposed to feel safe and secure in those environments, but it’s not always the case.
Issues may arise due to concerns like understaffing, or untrained staff, lack of supervision, or even small problems that turn into bed sores or fractures.
Michael stresses that while there are great people that work at nursing homes that really care, it is not always the majority. Additionally, a large amount of neglect or abuse claims are never made, because the victims or family members do not know what to look for and never consider that negligence could be the cause of the injury or death.
Some of the worst situations are when they hear “I should have known” from families members whose loved ones have suffered from abuse or neglect. This is why the team at Dansky | Katz | Ringold | York puts a lot of effort into educating the public and providing resources to help prevent or spot abuse.
Nursing Home Arbitration Clauses
One of the more complicated issues arises when it comes to Arbitration Clauses that are hidden deep into an 100-page agreement family members sign when putting a loved one in a nursing home. These clauses often have very complicated and confusing verbiage and may be hard to understand without legal help.
Unfortunately, by signing these agreements it often means the family would not be able to take a claim to a judge or before court, adding another process and making these claims more difficult to litigate.
Michael shares that they would never advise a client to sign an agreement to arbitrate and urges families not to give up that right. It is important to have a legal professional look at the paperwork for both nursing home or assisted living facilities.
When and How to Seek Legal Help
In the State of New Jersey, there is a Statute of Limitations on when claims can be filed. This means that the sooner you seek legal counsel, the better. In many cases, Michael’s team has already investigated the nursing home or facility in question, so they have a bank of information to pull from and identify concerns or deficiencies.
As soon as you think there is anything going on, you should pick up the phone and call an experienced nursing home abuse lawyer.
To get in touch with Michael Dansky and his team, you can reach them at their toll free number 24/7: 800-609-7577. You can also contact the team online.