When emergency medical responders receive a call to a nursing home or assisted-living facility, they may be in the best position to identify signs and symptoms of elder abuse. According to a recent article from ABC 7 KRCR News, “paramedics and first responders are sometimes the first to notice something…
Southern California Nursing Home Abuse Lawyer Blog
Nursing Homes in Santa Cruz County Agree to Settlement
Back in September, we discussed a federal lawsuit concerning nursing home abuse in Watsonville. According to a recent article in the San Jose Mercury News, the leaders of those two Watsonville nursing homes involved in the suit have agreed to a $3.8 million settlement. The lawsuit alleged that the owners…
Debate Over Psych Meds in Nursing Homes
How dangerous are psychiatric medications when they’re prescribed for dementia patients in nursing homes? According to a recent article in Modern Healthcare, the benefits of the long-term use of psych meds when they’re prescribed for the disorders for which they’re designed—would “need to be colossal to counter known harms associated…
Nursing Home Inspection Reorganization
Given the sheer number of nursing home abuse complaints that have created a backlog in Southern California, it sounds like good news that state officials are hoping to change nursing home inspection and oversight duties. Indeed, according to a recent article in the Los Angeles Times, officials in Los Angeles…
Elder Abuse or Medical Malpractice?
When you learn that an elderly loved one has died while in the care of a nursing home or assisted-living facility, you may suspect that she didn’t receive the proper treatment. In some cases, however, it’s difficult to discern whether an older adult suffered injuries as a result of medical…
Proposed Legislation for RCFE Reform and Excluded Persons Lists
In California, elder abuse isn’t limited to nursing homes. To be sure, residential care facilities for the elderly (RCFEs), which are also known as assisted-living facilities, retirement homes, and board and care homes, have been cited for numerous instances of elder abuse and neglect. And given that RCFEs only provide…
Senate Committee Approves Unscrupulous Elder Care Referral Agencies Bill
Did you search for a nursing home or assisted-living facility in California through an elder care referral agency? In some cases, unfortunately, older adults end up in facilities that have financial arrangements with these referral agencies, and those elderly residents become the victims of nursing home abuse or neglect. Now,…
Rising Costs of Elder Care in California Prompt Additional Scrutiny
Given that reports concerning nursing home abuse and neglect have made clear that such crimes simply don’t discriminate based on the cost of a facility, should Californians be concerned about the link between the rising costs of long-term care and the risks of elder abuse? In short, it’s possible that,…
California Begins Clearing Nursing Home Complaint Backlog
Over the past year, elderly California residents and their family members have been made all too aware that, if they file elder abuse complaints, the Department of Public Health isn’t likely to respond in a timely manner. However, according to a recent article in California Healthline, testimony given in a…
Learning More About Elder Abuse Investigations
How, exactly, do elder abuse investigations work? After national news that Harper Lee, the famous author of To Kill A Mockingbird, might have been the victim of elder abuse, an article in Slate provided an in-depth look into investigations concerning reports of elder abuse and neglect. While each state has…