Southern California Nursing Home Abuse Lawyer Blog

June 18, 2014

Criminal Record Disclosure and Effects on California Nursing Home Services

A recent article in Reuters reported that the mayor of Los Angeles has declared his support for “a new state law barring public agencies from refusing job applications from people convicted of a crime.” But could such a law place residents in nursing homes and assisted-living facilities at greater risk of nursing home abuse and neglect?

No Outright Criminal Background Checks for Employees?

The California law isn’t intended to put California residents at risk, but rather to encourage social rehabilitation. According to Reuters, Garcetti’s support of the law comes with a deep concern “that millions of people who have been to prison, particularly from minority communities, have little prospect of landing a job once they admit to a conviction.” The law isn’t just for nursing homes or other care facilities for older adults. Rather, it’s part of a larger movement to make criminal background checks less of a priority at the start of an interviewing process at many public agencies across the state of California.

June 13, 2014

Estranged Wife Commits Elder Abuse in La Jolla

by Walton Law Firm

We often think about staff members and other employees at nursing homes and assisted living facilities when we worry about whether our elderly loved ones are receiving proper care. However, spouses, children, and other close relatives of older adults can commit elder abuse, too. Indeed, anyone can commit elder abuse. And a recent article from NBC San Diego reports that a woman from La Jolla, Victoria Turner, who has already been accused of abusing her now-estranged husband, attempted to make her way into a care facility in order to force him to sign legal documents.

Details of the La Jolla Elder Abuse

Back in March, Robert Stella was “rescued from the garbage and filth in his own home,” where Turner was supposed to be caring for him, according to NBC San Diego. Stella recently turned 91 years old. In addition to allowing Stella to reside in a home that was “cluttered and filthy,” Turner has also been accused of tying him to his bed. Turner is almost 40 years younger than Stella, and she’s currently under investigation for elder abuse, as well as animal neglect and cruelty.

June 2, 2014

Nursing Home Staffing Numbers and Elder Abuse

by Walton Law Firm

Does the number of staff relate to the level of care in nursing homes and assisted living facilities? According to a recent article in McKnight’sLong Term Care News Online, a new study suggests that staffing levels at nursing homes do in fact “correlate with better quality of care.” But what does this mean, exactly? Does simply hiring more staff mean that nursing home residents will be less likely to suffer from nursing home neglect, or should nursing homes invest in specific types of staff members with particular skill sets?

The study, which appeared late last month in Health Economics, suggests that mandatory staffing regulations often result in caregivers with less skill—in short, fewer registered nurses. And registered nurses could be precisely what many nursing home residents need in order to obtain necessary care. If your elderly loved one has sustained injuries as a result of nursing home abuse or neglect, you should talk with an experienced San Diego nursing home abuse lawyer as soon as possible. A dedicated elder justice advocate at the Walton Law Firm would be happy to discuss your case with you today.

Details of the Study

May 27, 2014

New Scams Targeting the Elderly

by Walton Law Firm

California Seniors and Fraudulent Telephone Calls

Older adults are becoming especially susceptible to elder financial abuse, and a recent article in the San Mateo Daily Journal suggests that police have noticed a “rise in fraudulent telephone scams that target seniors.” Elder abuse can take many different forms, and scammers often prey upon older adults who aren’t familiar with new financial technologies and have money saved. And this form of abuse can occur anywhere—at the home of a caregiver or at a nursing home. For example, we recently wrote about a financial abuse scheme at a Palo Alto care community for the elderly.

What have some of the recent scams looked like? According to the San Francisco police, there’s a new telephone scam in California in which an older adult receives a phone call from a person who claims to be a paralegal who is calling from the Attorney general’s office. The caller then tells the elderly victim that there’s “a warrant for her arrest” and that she’ll need to “pay a fee by using a Vanilla prepaid cash card, or risk being sent to jail.” When the scam first was reported by a woman in South San Francisco, the victim described the caller as having a “Russian accident.”

May 22, 2014

Blood Pressure Drugs and Dangerous Falls Among Older Adults

by Walton Law Firm

When nursing home neglect happens, elderly patients can sustain serious and life-threatening injuries. But a recent article in the New York Times suggests that care facilities may need to pay particular attention to residents who take high blood pressure medication. What’s going on with blood pressure medication? In short, patients who take these drugs might be much more likely to suffer injuries in a dangerous fall. And, according to the article, “more than 70 percent of those over age 70 contend with high blood pressure.”

Has your elderly loved one sustained injuries in a fall? Nursing homes and assisted living facilities have a duty to keep residents safe, and many advocates in California currently are working to make RCFEs safer places for residents. Don’t hesitate to discuss your case with an experienced San Diego nursing home abuse lawyer. At the Walton Law Firm, we are dedicated to helping victims of elder abuse, and we can answer your questions today.

New Study: Link Between High Blood Pressure and Serious Fall Injuries

May 16, 2014

Higher Penalties for Assisted Living Facilities

by Walton Law Firm

Senate Bill Could Impose Tougher Penalties

With the serious elder abuse problems in residential care facilities for the elderly (RCFEs) that have been coming to light in recent months, it shouldn’t come as a surprise to California residents that a new senate bill aims to “give California regulators the power to impose tougher penalties,” according to an article in Westport News.

What is this legislation? The bill, SB1153, would provide the California Department of Social Services (DSS) greater authority over care facilities that break the law. According to another article in the San FranciscoChronicle, the bill would allow the California DSS to “ban new admissions to residential care facilities for the elderly that fail to correct serious health and safety violations.” And when RCFEs fail to pay their fines, the SB1153 would allow regulators with DSS to “block admissions to facilities.”

May 5, 2014

Elder Care and Technology

by Walton Law Firm

We live in an age of technology, yet the elder care industry doesn’t seem to have taken notice. According to a recent article in Forbes, the internet and other digital tools may be able to improve the quality of elder care, and to attend to matters of elder abuse and neglect across the country. We mentioned a recent story about elder financial abuse and online mapping. This is only one of the tools that may help our older loved ones in the years to come.

Taking care of our elderly loved ones will be especially important in the coming years as the large number of Americans who make up the baby boomer generation grow old and require care in assisted living facilities and nursing homes. While none of us likes to believe that nursing home neglect is a problem that can affect our loved ones, recent news stories throughout California suggest that elder abuse is a problem that afflicts many people. As a result, it’s important to contact a nursing home abuse attorney if you suspect that your elderly loved one has been the victim of nursing home neglect.

High Costs of Elder Care

April 30, 2014

Elder Abuse and Educating Caregivers

by Walton Law Firm

Helping Caregivers to Help the Elderly through Education

How can caregivers best spot patterns of elder abuse after their loved ones return from medical appointments or adult daycare? And how should caregivers handle older adults who act abusively toward medical staff or other persons involved in their care and treatment? According to a recent news report from Aging Today, a bimonthly newspaper published by the American Society on Aging, elderly caregivers in America aren’t provided with sufficient education about elder abuse.

The news report recently made it into the hands of Californians with the help of the Center of Excellence on Elder Abuse & Neglect. The Center, housed at the University of California, Irvine, seeks to bridge the academic side of elder neglect with important issues of medical and legal practice. In addition to conducting research, the Center aims to provide education to California residents and other community members by hosting the Elder Abuse Training Institute, which “identifies the most pressing training needs in elder mistreatment.” The educational programs are interdisciplinary, moving among medical, sociological, and legal issues.

April 23, 2014

Reassignment of Los Angeles County Nursing Home Supervisor

by Walton Law Firm

With California making national news over elder abuse at nursing homes and residential care facilities for the elderly (RCFEs), it may not come as a surprise that the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health has reassigned Ernest Poolean, the “supervisor in charge of nursing home inspections,” only a few days following the “release of a highly critical audit of his division,” according to an article in Kaiser Health News.

Poolean’s reassignment suggests that the California Department of Public Health is beginning to look at nursing home neglect more closely and has decided to make elder abuse an important issue in Los Angeles and throughout the state. If your elderly loved one has suffered injuries as a result of nursing home abuse or neglect, it’s very important to contact an experienced San Diego nursing home abuse lawyer. At the Walton Law Firm, we are committed to helping older adults throughout Southern California.

Chief Inspector Reassignment Details

April 16, 2014

RCFE Reform Act of 2014 Gains Momentum

by Walton Law Firm

We’ve been following the reform initiatives for residential care facilities for the elderly (RCFEs) in California, and a story in U-T San Diego emphasizes that support for the RCFE Reform Act of 2014 has been gaining momentum. Last Tuesday, legislation “pushed through separate committees at the state Capitol,” thus “making it more likely that rules governing senior homes will get tighter.” Potential reform legislation now includes “nearly 20 different bills authored by lawmakers from both political parties,” reported U-T San Diego.

Currently, approximately 7,500 residential care facilities exist in California, and reform advocates are eager to support any legislation that will require greater oversight and will help to prevent instances of elder abuse. Numerous nursing home abuse and neglect cases have made local and national news over the last year, and many of the recent reform measures have been offered in response to those reports.

However, not all Californians are in favor of the legislation. We’ll go over the key points of the recent testimony and the perceived advantages and disadvantages of the RCFE Reform Act of 2014. In the meantime, if you suspect that your elderly parent or loved one has sustained injuries because of elder neglect at a nursing home or residential care facility, it is very important to speak to an experienced San Diego nursing home abuse lawyer.

“From our first phone conversation, Mr. Walton provided a sincere interest in our case. My mother had suffered both abuse and neglect while in the care of a nursing facility, ultimately resulting in her death. My family and I would highly recommend Randy Walton.★★★★★- Judy S., San Diego -

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"Calling Randy was the best decision I could have made. He got me an excellent settlement that covered all my medical bills and put a sizable chunk of money in my pocket."★★★★★- Erik S., San Marcos -

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