Can You Sue a Nursing Home for Neglect in Texas?

Legally reviewed by Alexander Begum, Personal Injury Attorney

Key Takeaways

• You can sue a nursing home for neglect. A Texas facility whose poor care injures or kills a resident can be held liable.
• It is a medical liability case. Texas treats neglect claims against nursing homes and licensed assisted living facilities as “health care liability claims” under Chapter 74, which adds special steps.
• Notice comes first. Written notice by certified mail, with a medical authorization, must go out at least 60 days before suit (§74.051).
• Most claims have a two-year deadline. The suit generally must be filed within two years, and dementia does not pause the clock (§74.251).
• An expert report is due early. It must be served within 120 days after the nursing home answers, or the case can be dismissed with fees (§74.351).
• Caps apply to some damages. Non-economic damages are capped; medical bills are not limited by that cap (§74.301).

Yes, you can sue a nursing home for neglect in Texas when poor care causes a resident to be hurt or to die. Texas treats it as a health care liability claim under Chapter 74 of the Civil Practice and Remedies Code, so families must follow strict steps: a 60-day notice letter, a timely lawsuit, and an expert report within 120 days of the nursing home’s answer.

This guide is for families who have seen bedsores, a fall or a hospital trip that should never have happened. If you already suspect neglect, our Texas nursing home abuse and neglect lawyers can review the records with you for free.

What Is Considered Negligence in a Nursing Home?

Federal rules for every Medicare- and Medicaid-certified nursing home define neglect as the facility’s failure “to provide goods and services to a resident that are necessary to avoid physical harm, pain, mental anguish, or emotional distress” (42 CFR §483.5), and give residents the right to be free from neglect (§483.12). Texas adds a resident’s right to “safe, decent, and clean conditions” (Texas Health and Safety Code §242.501).

Neglect usually shows up as a pattern of missed basic care. Common examples:

• Bedsores that start or worsen because a resident is not turned, cleaned or checked.
• Falls by a resident the facility knew was a fall risk.
• Dehydration, malnutrition or unexplained weight loss.
• Missed or wrong medications.
• Infections left untreated until the resident needs a hospital.
• A resident with dementia who wanders away unnoticed.

Federal rules require a facility to make sure a resident “does not develop pressure ulcers unless the individual’s clinical condition demonstrates that they were unavoidable” (42 CFR §483.25(b)). See Are Bed Sores a Sign of Nursing Home Neglect? and our bedsore page.

Neglect is not the same as a bad outcome; residents can decline even with good care. A claim needs proof that the facility fell below the accepted standard of care and that the failure caused the harm, which Texas makes you show early through an expert report.

Why Texas Treats Nursing Home Neglect as a Health Care Claim

Chapter 74 lists “a nursing home” and “an assisted living facility licensed under Chapter 247, Health and Safety Code” as health care institutions, and a claim that one departed from accepted standards of health care or safety and injured or killed a resident is a “health care liability claim,” whether it sounds in tort or contract (Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code §74.001).

That label brings in the pre-suit notice, the stricter limitations rule, the expert report and the damages caps. It also covers the facility’s aides, nurses and other employees acting in the course of their work.

How to Sue a Nursing Home in Texas, Step by Step

The deadlines are set by statute, and missing one can end the case.

Source: Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code ch. 74 and Health and Safety Code §260A.002, read October 2026.

Report it and protect your loved one

If a resident is in danger, call 911. Texas Health and Human Services takes reports of nursing home and assisted living neglect through its Complaint and Incident Intake line and online form, and the Texas Long-Term Care Ombudsman advocates for residents. A state investigation does not file a lawsuit for you, but its findings can become evidence.

Serve the expert report

Within 120 days after each defendant files its original answer, the family must serve a written expert report summarizing the standard of care, how the facility failed to meet it, and how that failure caused the injury or death. If it is not served in time, the court must, on that defendant’s motion, dismiss the claim with prejudice and award the defendant its attorney’s fees and costs; a deficient report can get one 30-day extension (§74.351). That is why the expert review starts before the suit is filed.

How Long Do You Have to Sue a Nursing Home in Texas?

Most claims must be filed within two years “from the occurrence of the breach or tort” or from the date the treatment at issue was completed, and never more than 10 years after the act or omission (§74.251). The section applies “regardless of minority or other legal disability,” except for children under 12, so a resident’s dementia does not stop the clock.

Ordinary wrongful death claims accrue on the date of death (§16.003(b)), but Chapter 74 controls health care claims, and the date that applies can turn on the facts. Treat the earliest possible date as your deadline.

Who Can File a Nursing Home Neglect Lawsuit?

• The resident. A living resident can bring the claim, usually through a family member, guardian or agent acting for them.
• The estate. If the resident dies, the claim for what the resident suffered before death survives and passes to the heirs, legal representatives and estate (§71.021).
• The surviving spouse, children and parents. A wrongful death claim belongs to them, and one or more can bring it for all. If none of them files within three months of the death, the executor or administrator must bring it unless all of them ask otherwise (§71.004).

Grandchildren and siblings are not on the wrongful death list. See who can file a wrongful death claim in Texas and our wrongful death page.

What About the Arbitration Agreement in the Admission Papers?

Many admission packets include an agreement to send disputes to private arbitration instead of a jury. Two sets of rules matter.

Under Texas law, a health care provider may not ask a patient to sign an arbitration agreement for a health care liability claim unless the form carries a bold notice stating that the agreement is invalid unless it is also signed by an attorney of the patient’s own choosing (§74.451). Under federal rules for certified nursing homes, a facility may not require a resident to sign an arbitration agreement as a condition of admission or continued care, must say so in the agreement, and must give the resident 30 calendar days to rescind it (42 CFR §483.70(m)).

Whether a signed agreement can be enforced depends on who signed it, when, and what it says. Do not assume it blocks your case or that it is void; bring a copy to your lawyer.

What Damages Can You Recover, and What Are the Caps?

A neglect claim can include medical bills, the cost of future care, pain, mental anguish and impairment, and in a death case the family’s own losses. Texas caps some of these.

Source: Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code §74.301, §74.303 and §41.003, read October 2026.

Chapter 74 treats everyone claiming damages from one resident’s injury or death as a single “claimant” (§74.001(a)(2)), so a large family does not multiply the cap. The death-case limit is indexed to inflation, so the current figure is higher than $500,000.

What to Do This Week If You Suspect Neglect

1. Make sure your loved one is safe, and get a doctor to examine any injury.
2. Report the concern to Texas Health and Human Services.
3. Write down what you saw, with dates and staff names, and photograph injuries and the room.
4. Keep every hospital discharge paper, and find the admission agreement and anything about arbitration.
5. Check the facility’s inspection history on Medicare Care Compare.
6. Talk to a lawyer before you sign any release from the facility.

Our guide on how to document nursing home abuse in Texas covers what to collect, and our long-term care neglect page explains how these cases are investigated.

Worried About a Parent in a Texas Nursing Home? Talk to The Law Giant

Every month you wait uses up a two-year deadline that does not pause for dementia, and the 60-day notice has to go out before any suit can be filed. The Law Giant’s nursing home neglect lawyers help families in San Antonio, Houston, Dallas, Harlingen and across Texas.

The consultation is free, and you pay no attorney’s fee unless we win. Call (956) 982-1800 or contact us online.

Frequently Asked Questions

Sources and authorities

• Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code: §74.001, §74.051, §74.052, §74.251, §74.301, §74.303, §74.351, §74.451, §71.004, §71.021, §16.003, §41.003, §41.008
• Texas Health and Safety Code: §242.501, §260A.002
• Code of Federal Regulations, Title 42: §483.5, §483.12, §483.25, §483.70
• Texas Health and Human Services, Complaint and Incident Intake
• Texas Long-Term Care Ombudsman, ltco.texas.gov
• Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Care Compare

This article is general information about Texas law, not legal advice, and reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship. Every case depends on its facts; talk to a lawyer about yours. Past results do not guarantee a similar outcome.