Billings, MontanaBillings Nursing Home Abuse
Billings Nursing Home Abuse Lawyers: Nursing Home Neglect, Elder Abuse, Falls and Assisted Living Injuries in Yellowstone County
Boland Aarab PLLP.
If your parent or spouse was hurt by abuse or neglect in a Billings nursing home or assisted living community, you can report it, protect them and hold the facility accountable. Claims against licensed nursing homes generally must be filed within 2 years and usually go to the Montana Medical Legal Panel first. Assisted living claims follow different rules.
Worried about a loved one’s care in Billings? Contact Boland Aarab PLLP for a free consultation at (406) 315-3737.
What should Billings families know about long-term care here?
Billings is the senior-care center for a very large region. Families from across eastern Montana and northern Wyoming move a parent to Billings to be near the hospitals and specialists, and the city has skilled nursing facilities, assisted living communities and memory care units on the West End, in the Heights and in nearby Laurel. That means many residents’ families live hours away and cannot visit often, which makes the warning signs harder to catch.
A few situations come up again and again in a place like Billings:
- Hospital-to-facility transitions. A resident is discharged from Billings Clinic or St. Vincent to a nursing home for rehab after a fall or surgery. Care plans, medication lists and pressure-injury risk have to transfer with the patient. When they do not, bedsores, missed medications and repeat falls follow.
- Winter wandering. A resident with dementia who leaves the building unnoticed faces a real danger in a Billings winter, when temperatures can fall well below zero. Elopement prevention, door alarms and supervision are basic duties, not extras.
- Repeated ER trips. Several trips from a facility to a Billings emergency room for falls, dehydration or infections are a pattern worth investigating. The hospital records often tell a different story than the facility’s notes.
- Long-distance families. If you live in Miles City, Sheridan or Glendive and your mother lives in Billings, ask for the care plan, the fall-risk assessment and the weight log. You are entitled to ask, and the answers are evidence.
What happens after nursing home abuse in Billings?
If someone is in danger, call 911. Inside Billings, the Billings Police Department responds; in Laurel or unincorporated Yellowstone County, the Laurel Police Department or the Yellowstone County Sheriff’s Office. Physical or sexual abuse and theft are crimes, and a police report creates an official record.
Report to the state. Montana Adult Protective Services takes reports at 1-844-277-9300, and the State Long-Term Care Ombudsman can be reached at (800) 332-2272, with a local ombudsman line at (800) 551-3191 (DPHHS). Doctors, nurses and nursing home employees are required to report suspected abuse of a resident to the ombudsman and DPHHS (§ 52-3-811, MCA). State inspection findings after a complaint can become important evidence.
Preserve the evidence. Staffing schedules, call-light logs, incident reports, surveillance video and chart entries can be lost or overwritten. A written preservation letter should go out early.
The legal case. A claim against a Billings facility filed in state court is heard in the Thirteenth Judicial District Court at the Yellowstone County Courthouse, 217 North 27th Street (§ 3-5-101, MCA). Many nursing homes are owned or managed by companies based outside Montana, so a case may be moved to the Billings Division of the U.S. District Court, at the James F. Battin Federal Courthouse (District of Montana). If the resident has died, the family may also need to open an estate in the Yellowstone County district court so a personal representative can bring the claims.
Montana law that applies
- Federal standards: nursing homes that take Medicare or Medicaid must keep residents free from abuse and neglect, prevent avoidable pressure ulcers and accidents, and report alleged abuse within 2 hours when it involves abuse or serious injury (42 C.F.R. §§ 483.12, 483.25).
- Arbitration cannot be a condition of admission, and residents may cancel within 30 days (42 C.F.R. § 483.70).
- Montana’s Vulnerable Adult Prevention of Abuse Act defines abuse, neglect and exploitation (§ 52-3-803, MCA).
- Medical Legal Panel: licensed nursing homes are covered; assisted living and other residential care facilities are excluded (§ 27-6-103, MCA).
- Deadline: generally 2 years for negligence claims against a licensed long-term care facility (§ 27-2-205, MCA); other claims may differ.
Our Montana nursing home abuse page covers warning signs, the damages cap and arbitration in more detail.
Why hire a Great Falls firm for a Billings case?
We are based in Great Falls and handle nursing home cases statewide, and many of the families we help live far from the facility anyway. What matters is getting the records, understanding the federal rules and being ready to try the case. Our attorneys travel to Billings to meet families, inspect facilities, take depositions and try cases, and our firm has tried jury trials in Yellowstone County. We do not have a Billings office. We can meet you in Billings, by video, or wherever you live.
The Boland Aarab Way
- We stand with families. We obtained a $550,000 settlement for the estate in a civil-rights and wrongful-death case (Estate of Alexander v. Cascade County).
- We try cases. More than a dozen jury trials, in Cascade, Phillips, Meagher and Yellowstone Counties, and more than 4,000 hours in the courtroom.
- We protect verdicts. The Montana Supreme Court reinstated a $168,500 jury verdict for our client (Voegel v. Salsbery, 2023 MT 137).
- You work with the lawyers. Both attorneys are members of the American Association for Justice and the Montana Trial Lawyers Association.
Related Billings pages: medical malpractice · wrongful death · all Billings personal injury cases
Frequently Asked Questions
Who do I call about suspected neglect at a Billings nursing home? Call 911 if it is an emergency. Otherwise, report to Adult Protective Services (1-844-277-9300) and the Long-Term Care Ombudsman ((800) 332-2272). You do not need proof to make a report.
My mother wandered out of a Billings memory care unit in winter. Is the facility responsible? It may be. Facilities must supervise residents and keep the environment as free of accident hazards as possible. Elopement in cold weather is a known, preventable danger.
Does a claim against a Billings assisted living community go to the Medical Legal Panel? Generally no. Assisted living and other residential care facilities are excluded from the panel (§ 27-6-103, MCA), so those claims usually go straight to court.
Where would the lawsuit be filed? In the Thirteenth Judicial District Court in downtown Billings, or in the federal court’s Billings Division if the owner is from out of state.
I live out of state. Can I still act for my parent in Billings? Yes. Reports can be made from anywhere, and we can work with you by phone and video. Bring any power of attorney or guardianship papers to the consultation.
Talk to a Billings Nursing Home Abuse Lawyer
Contact Boland Aarab PLLP for a free consultation at (406) 315-3737.
Our attorneys: Caitlin Boland Aarab · Samir F. Aarab
Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship.
