Southern California Nursing Home Abuse Lawyer Blog

The AP has a story out today about the Skilled Healthcare Group verdict in Northern California, where a Humboldt jury awarded a class of plaintiffs $677 million dollars for what it determined was chronic and deliberate pattern of understaffing at its nursing homes that left elderly residents at risk of harm. The jury found that Skilled Healthcare regularly violated state regulations requiring it to keep a minimum number of nurses on duty at its 22 homes in the state.

One witness in the case recalled visiting her father, who had Alzheimer’s disease, and frequently finding him lying in urine-soaked sheets. She said it would routinely take up to 20 minutes for someone to respond to a call light.

“The major problem for most nursing homes in California and in the nation is staffing,” Pat McGinnis, executive director and founder of the California Advocates for Nursing Home Reform, told the AP.

Johnnie Esco, age 77, was hospitalized because of pneumonia, and her husband of 61 years was at her bedside every day. When she recovered, she was sent to a local nursing home for physical therapy, to help her regain her strength, and then she was headed home, where she wanted to be. That day would never come.

After only two weeks in the nursing home, Johnnie’s health had deteriorated to the point that she needed an emergency transport to the hospital, where she died a short time later. Her family was stunned, and now believes that the nursing home’s failure to provide adequate care caused Johnnie’s death.

“If she had received proper care, she would still be alive today,” Johnnie’s husband Don told KCRA news.