DO YOU SUSPECT ABUSE OR NEGLECT? Contact Us for a Free Consultation

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Falls can result in severe injuries for people of any age in Orange County, but they are particularly dangerous for older adults who may live in nursing homes or assisted living facilities in Southern California. Indeed, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), about 20 percent of all falls among the elderly result in a debilitating injury such as a traumatic brain injury (TBI) or a broken bone, and approximately three million older adults need to be treated in emergency departments every year for injuries they have sustained from falls. Of those seniors, about 800,000 need to be hospitalized because of the severity of the injury, which is usually a TBI or a hip fracture. In total, around 300,000 elderly people need to be hospitalized due to hip fractures every year.

When falls happen in nursing homes or assisted living facilities and residents sustain hip fractures, TBIs, or other serious injuries, the nursing home may be liable. Our Orange County nursing home negligence lawyers can explain.

Preventing Nursing Home Falls

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Nursing homes and assisted-living facilities in Los Angeles County can provide necessary care and supervision to older adults, but these locations can also be places where elderly loved ones sustain serious and life-threatening injuries. According to data from Becker’s Hospital Review, the highest rate of elderly injuries occurs in skilled nursing facilities, followed by assisted-living facilities and other types of residential care facilities for the elderly (RCFEs). Nursing homes are distinct from assisted-living facilities or RCFEs because they provide medical care, and residents usually need more supervision and health care. 

What causes most of the injuries that older adults sustain in nursing homes? The following are some of the leading causes of nursing home injuries due to abuse and neglect in Los Angeles County.

Inadequate Supervision

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Many different types of injuries can be warning signs of nursing home abuse or neglect in San Bernardino County and throughout Southern California. Burn injuries are one type of injury that can signal physical abuse or passive neglect, depending upon the burn injury and how the nursing home resident sustained it. While burn injuries may not be quite as common as certain other types of harm reported in nursing homes (such as bed sores, for example), burn injuries do occur, and the facility and other parties could be liable. Our San Bernardino nursing home neglect attorneys can tell you more about elderly burn injuries and how they can be symptoms of abuse or neglect in Southern California nursing facilities.

Learning More About Burn Injuries in the Elderly

Older adults in nursing homes can be more susceptible to burn injuries, and burn injuries can be more problematic in older patients, as well. Indeed, as Wolters Kluwer underscores, “older adults are more prone to burn injury and are also more likely to develop complications after the injury.” In addition, “treatment outcomes are overall worse for older compared with younger adults,” and “the incidence of burn injuries in older adults is increasing.” In addition to physical harm, burn injuries can also have psychological consequences, and it can be difficult for older adults to recover from serious burn injuries.

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This WaScreenshot-2023-12-19-153231-300x153shington Post Article on the problem of nursing home and assisted living residents wandering away from their facility is a must read. For many nursing facilities, the notion of “memory care” is little more than marketing to unsuspecting families who think mom or dad with dementia or Alzheimer’s will be receiving specialized care. Here at Southern California Nursing Home Law Group we have had several “elopement cases,” all of them resulting in fatalities.

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Nursing home abuse occurs frequently, but it can still be difficult to spot or identify if you do not know what to look for. Quite often, friends and family members of older adults in nursing homes are in the best position to spot injuries that may have resulted from abuse or neglect, so it is critical to know what you should be observing and reporting. Our Orange County nursing home abuse and neglect attorneys have tips. The following are the top ways to spot nursing home abuse in Orange County.

Learn About Different Forms of Abuse and Neglect

Nursing home abuse and neglect can take many different forms, so it is critical to understand the types of abuse that can occur. Those forms of abuse typically include physical abuse, emotional or psychological abuse, sexual abuse, willful deprivation, and passive neglect.

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Staff at nursing homes and assisted living facilities often discuss being overworked, feeling burnt out, and being employed at facilities where they do not earn enough money to stay engaged in their jobs. When employees at nursing homes and assisted living facilities feel overworked, underappreciated, and burnt out, the overall quality of their work can suffer, which can ultimately have a negative effect on the residents of these facilities for whom those workers provide the necessary care. Could an increase in wages for workers at nursing homes and assisted living facilities reduce the incidents of nursing home neglect or nursing home negligence in Southern California? 

According to a recent article in McKnight’s Senior Living, California’s Governor Gavin Newsom recently signed new legislation into law that will increase the minimum wage for workers at nursing homes and assisted living facilities to $25 per hour. Our Riverside County nursing home negligence lawyers want to discuss the potential impact of the increase in pay on residents at these facilities throughout the state.

Details of the Newly Signed Legislation

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Having an elderly loved one in a nursing home or assisted living facility in San Diego County can be stressful, especially when there is so much news coverage about abuse and neglect impacting residents at these types of facilities. There are also many different forms of elder abuse, which can make it difficult for family members and friends to have the information they need about a particular kind of abuse. Our San Diego nursing home neglect attorneys can give you more information. The following are some of the most important things to know about passive neglect.

Passive Neglect is Not Usually Intentional

The term “passive neglect” refers to a type of elder abuse where a resident of a nursing home or assisted living facility does not receive the type or amount of care they need, but it is not usually intentional. The National Council on Aging (NCOA) defines passive neglect as “a caregiver’s failure to provide an older adult with life’s necessities, including, but not limited to, food, clothing, shelter, or medical care.” Passive neglect frequently occurs when a nursing home is understaffed.

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Do nursing homes in San Bernardino County and elsewhere in Southern California have enough staff members to prevent resident injuries due to negligence? Nursing homes have a duty to provide residents with the specific types of care they need, and when a facility is understaffed and a resident suffers an injury as a result of the understaffing, the facility may be liable. According to a recent report in The New York Times, federal officials have proposed new rules for increasing the number of staff members at nursing homes throughout the country. How do the newly proposed standards compare with current requirements in California? And what should you do if you believe an elderly loved one at a nursing home suffered serious or deadly injuries due to neglect and understaffing?

Our San Bernardino County nursing home neglect lawyers are here to help, and we can tell you more.

Learning More About the Newly Proposed Federal Rules

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Do nursing homes in Los Angeles County have the capacity to provide appropriate care to residents with mental illnesses, or are facilities that house large populations of residents with mental illnesses more likely to be sites where injuries arise out of nursing home negligence? According to a recent KQED podcast, while nursing homes are typically thought of as spaces for older adults who need assistance with care due to physical incapacitation or cognitive impairment, “a new LAist investigation finds that thousands of people with serious mental illness are living in California’s nursing homes,” and it could potentially be a violation of federal law. In addition, nursing homes with high rates of residents with mental illness could put other residents at risk of abuse or could take necessary care time away from residents who need assistance with various activities of daily living (ADLs).

What should you know about mental illness and nursing home negligence in Southern California? Our Los Angeles nursing home neglect lawyers can tell you more. 

Nursing Homes Not Designed to Care for Residents With Serious Mental Illness

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Many nursing home residents in Orange County and throughout Southern California, as well as at assisted living facilities in the area, require help with activities of daily living (or ADLs). Activities of daily living include things like getting dressed, bathing, using the bathroom, and eating. Help with ADLs does not need to be provided by a nurse, but families should be able to expect that their elderly loved ones will have the assistance with these activities that they need at any nursing home or assisted living facility in Orange County. When a facility is negligent or when an employee fails to adequately assist a resident with one of these ADLs, the resident can suffer serious and sometimes life-threatening injuries. When it comes to eating, there is a serious risk of choking among older adults who need assistance.

What do you need to know about choking hazards among older adults and facility liability for these injuries? Our Orange County nursing home neglect attorneys can say more. 

Choking Hazards and Older Adults

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