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

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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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Seniors residing in Riverside County nursing homes can sustain injuries in a wide range of circumstances, and in many of those cases, the facility may be liable. In some situations, elder abuse or neglect may be the cause of a resident’s injury, while other instances of harm might result from the facility’s negligence in maintaining safety protocols. Abuse or neglect in a nursing home can take many different forms, from acts of intentional physical or psychological abuse to passive neglect that can result in injuries like bed sores. It is important to know that the use of physical restraints can constitute unlawful abuse, and it may be possible to hold the facility accountable. Our Riverside County nursing home abuse attorneys can tell you more about physical restraints, and we can discuss your case with you today.

Knowing the Law on Physical Restraints

The use of restraints among nursing home residents has been a concern for elder safety advocates for decades, and the federal Nursing Home Reform Act was intended in part to “crystallize a growing consensus against the use of restraints throughout all sectors of nursing home service delivery,” and it ultimately “led to a complete change in how restraint use is viewed,” according to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). That law clarified “the right to be free from . . . any physical or chemical restraints imposed for purposes of discipline or convenience and not required to treat the resident’s medical symptoms.”

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Elderly adults in San Diego County nursing homes and at facilities elsewhere in Southern California frequently are subjected to abuse and neglect. Yet as a recent study underscores, many cases of nursing home abuse and neglect go unreported, and the most common reason for the lack of reporting might be a fear of retaliation. Seniors in nursing homes and assisted-living facilities and their families should be able to trust that all employees at the facility have their best interests in mind and that the facility is properly staffed to prevent injuries resulting from neglect. However, abuse and neglect injuries are much more common than many people think, and facilities do not always move quickly, if they move at all, to terminate employees who have caused harm.

What do you need to know about the recent study and its implications for addressing nursing home abuse in Southern California? Our San Diego nursing home abuse lawyers can tell you more.

Nursing Home Residents Fear Retaliation and Avoid Reporting Abuse 

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Summertime brings even hotter temperatures to Southern California than the Los Angeles County region experiences in other parts of the year, and seniors in nursing homes and assisted-living facilities can suffer harm if these facilities do not take additional precautions. Moreover, the summer months do not have any reduced likelihood of common nursing home abuse and neglect injuries that are unrelated to higher temperatures, and it is important to be on the lookout for those harms, as well. As recent research reported in Science News highlights, rising temperatures can also make people more aggressive, which might result in shorter fuses for nursing home employees who are providing care for residents and patients. Indeed, humans have difficulty “coping with extreme heat,” and during heat waves, in particular, employees could be more likely to behave aggressively.

What do you need to know if you have an elderly loved one in a nursing home or assisted-living facility in Southern California? Our Los Angeles County nursing home neglect lawyers have some key things to keep in mind.

Hot Temperatures Can Result in Distinct Injuries Due to Neglect

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For quite some time, nursing home abuse and neglect studies have shown that older adults with Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia may be more vulnerable to various types of elder abuse, and it may be more difficult for them to make accurate reports of that abuse, as well. According to a new study published in the journal Health Affairs, researchers contend that nursing home residents with Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia need to be in facilities where “they are the majority” in order to have the best chance at quality care, yet most facilities in California “accommodate a heterogeneous population, where specialized training is limited.” In other words, most dementia patients at California nursing homes may be unnecessarily subject to conditions where they could sustain preventable injuries. 

Dementia Patients Need to Be the Focus of Care

When an older adult has Alzheimer’s disease or another form of dementia, and that person is residing in a nursing home, it is particularly important for that person to be in a facility where dementia patients are the focus of the care. According to the study, ADRD residents, or nursing home residents who have been diagnosed with “Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias,” are currently “dispersed throughout all nursing homes, with fewer than half in facilities where they accounted for 60% to 90% of the population.” In these circumstances, the quality of care for ADRD residents was of a lower quality than at facilities where they were at the center of the type of care provided by the facility.

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Nursing home abuse and neglect in Orange County is more common than many people think, and some studies estimate that it impacts 10% or more of older adults. Indeed, according to the National Council on Aging (NCOA), one out of every 10 people aged 60 and older suffers some type of abuse each year, and some studies suggest that only about one out of every 24 cases of elder abuse is actually reported, which could mean that the rates of abuse and neglect are significantly higher than what we already know. Some signs of abuse or neglect may be more obvious than others, such as physical bruises or cuts or reports made by seniors who have experienced abuse. Yet as an article in U.S. News & World Report intimates, it is always important to think about signs and symptoms of abuse that may not be as obvious or transparent. Often, the way to learn about some of these issues is to ask questions. Our Orange County nursing home neglect lawyers can tell you more.

When Nursing Home Abuse is Not Transparent

The article in U.S. News & World Report emphasizes that, more often than you might anticipate, “there are harsh secrets in nursing homes” that frequently include “resident neglect or abuse.” As that piece underscores, the COVID-19 pandemic worsened safety and health issues that were already present in many nursing homes in California and across the country as those facilities failed to implement effective infection control measures or to address the effects of isolation and emotional neglect. Yet often, these kinds of issues will only be known to prospective residents or to current residents’ family members if they ask. 

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Since nursing home abuse and neglect in Riverside County can take many forms, it can be challenging to know whether or not a specific sign is likely to indicate nursing home abuse. It is imperative to keep in mind that any sign or symptom that raises concern should be investigated. Given that even small changes in a senior’s behavior can indicate a much larger problem, it is critical to take any concerns seriously. At the same time, some signs and symptoms of nursing home abuse and neglect are more common than others, so you should be particularly attuned to certain indicators. The following are ten of the most common signs of elder abuse in nursing homes and assisted living facilities in Southern California.

1. Unexplained Bruises and Other Soft Tissue Injuries

Anytime a senior has unexplained bruises, cuts, burn marks, or any other related injuries, they should be taken extremely seriously. They are often a sign of physical abuse.

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Nursing homes must have enough employees to provide sufficient care to residents. When skilled nursing facilities do not have enough employees to attend to the needs of all residents, the nursing home may be understaffed. It is important to know that understaffing can result in resident injuries and can be the cause of nursing home neglect, for which the facility may be liable. A nursing home or its employees do not need to engage in intentional acts of abuse or neglect for the facility to be liable. Rather, “passive neglect,” or unintentional neglect resulting from understaffing that results in injuries, can mean that the facility is legally responsible. Our San Diego County nursing home neglect attorneys can say more.

Staffing Requirements at Nursing Homes

In Southern California and throughout the state, nursing homes have a duty to have sufficient employees to provide care to the residents at the facility. Skilled nursing facilities must employ enough people to ensure that residents receive the attention and care they need and to ensure that residents do not suffer harm as a result of a lack of necessary attention or care. 

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