Articles Tagged with San diego elder abuse attorney

Many of us have heard about assisted living facility reforms pending before the California legislature, as well as those aimed specifically at residential care facilities for the elderly (RCFEs).  But are those reforms sufficient to ensure that California seniors are safe from elder abuse?  According to a recent story from KQED’s State of Health, many elder justice advocates in California do not believe the reforms are going to do enough.

Recent History of Elder Abuse in San Diego

According to Deborah Schoch, an advocate with the California HealthCare Foundation Center for Health Reporting, the number of assisting living facilities in our state essentially doubled over the last 25 years.  For whom are these faciwoman-65675_1280lities designed?  According to Schoch, they are intended for older, healthy adults who are “relatively independent.” Yet many of these facilities have taken in patients who require much more extensive levels of care, and assisted living facilities “are not designed to deliver skilled nursing care.”

It’s no secret that California assisted living facilities have been in the national news due to reports of nursing home abuse and neglect.  Indeed, over the last year, elder rights advocates have emphasized the need to make information about nursing homes and assisted living facilities readily available to older adults and their loved ones.  Without such information at our fingertips, how will we know which facilities are safe and can provide a high quality of care for our elderly parents?  According to a recent story from KPBS San Diego Public Radio, this kind of information remains pretty difficult to access.

iPhone search

Lacking Internet Information About California Assisted Living Facilities

According to the recent KPBS story, it’s not easy to access information about the quality of nursing homes and assisted living facilities in Southern California.  For example, Lorid Macri’s mother suffers from dementia, she told KPBS.  At the beginning, Macri cared for her mother.  However, the stress of caring for a dementia patient became “overwhelming.”  And when Macri herself needed hospital care, she realized she needed to find an assisted living facility where her mother could receive quality care.

Southern California Insurance Agent Charged with Financial Abuse

Elder abuse comes in many forms, from physical violence to financial fraud.  A recent article in Consumer Affairs reported that a licensed insurance agent in Southern California was recently arrested fo  elder financial abuse.  The insurance agent, John Paul Slawinski, 59, was charged with “five felony counts of financial elder abuse and five counts of burglary.”  What did he do?  Specifically, the charges allege that he “ripped off five senior citizens for more than $2 million through the sale and surrender of investment annuity products.”

Feel free to use this image just link to www.rentvine.com
Earlier in the summer, the California Department of Insurance received complaints about Slawinski and decided to launch an investigation.  The complaints claimed that Slawinski had convinced five different senior citizens to give up annuities and investments, promising that he could get them higher returns on their money.  Yet Slawinksi never purchased additional annuities or investment products with the seniors’ money, and he never gave back the funds, either.  In other words, he “conned the victims into giving him money to invest for them.”

When our elderly loved ones require care at a nursing home or assisted living facility, we need to balance the costs of a facility with the quality of care we know they’ll be receiving.  It’s necessary to remember that nursing home abuse and neglect can occur at even the most high-end, expensive facilities, so it’s important to do our research.  But what about older Americans who can’t afford to comparison shop?

Old Guy
If you have concerns about your elderly loved one’s safety and care in a nursing home or assisted living facility, it’s important to talk with an experienced San Diego nursing home abuse lawyer.  At the Walton Law Firm, we have years of experience handling elder abuse claims in Southern California and can speak to you today.

Rates of Emotional and Physical Abuse Among Seniors

Many of us in the San Diego area have seen commercials for liquid nutritional supplements, particularly those marketed toward older adults.  According to a story in the New York Times, these bottles have become “staples in older people’s refrigerators, in nursing homes and assisted living facilities, and in hospitals.”  As such, it’s only logical to assume that these liquid supplements are healthy and can even benefit the elderly.

However, a recent set of recommendations from the American Geriatrics Society suggested that these drinks aren’t as beneficial as their manufacturers would like us to believe.  Indeed, replacing elderly adults’ meals with these liquid supplements may even rise to the level of nursing home neglect.

Ensure

Dangers of Boost, Ensure, and Other Supplement Drinks for the Elderly

With more than two out of five Americans caring for their aging parents—many of whom do so because they cannot afford to pay for other elder assistance—it’s often difficult to find time for both work and caregiving.  Indeed, according to a recent article in Forbes, many children who act as caregivers worry that, without assistance from their employers, their aging parents may face nursing home neglect.  Lately, however, more employers are “now providing help for employees who feel that they just have to ‘suck it up’ in managing this care and their careers.”

Old Man
What’s the relationship between elder abuse and workplace assistance?  Many factors could play into this correlation, including:

  •      When employees don’t have time to properly locate elder care resources, they make uninformed decisions about nursing homes, assisted-living facilities, or even in-home nurses.  Help from an employer can mean the difference between a care facility with a strong patient record and one with a history of nursing home abuse violations.

Collaboration on Dementia Awareness and Abuse

Old Lady
Do you have a parent who currently suffers from Alzheimer’s or another form of dementia?  These degenerative brain diseases are difficult not only on patients, but also on their family members and caregivers.  In response to elder abuse advocates’ concerns about educating and empowering family members of those with dementia, a number of organizations have teamed up to provide a series of “webinars” this summer.

According to a recent press release from the Administration for Community Living (ACL), the ACL will join the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the National Institute on Aging (NIA), and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in hosting a series of three webinars in July, August, and September.  The organizations have collaborated in order to “increase knowledge about Alzheimer’s disease and related dementia,” as well as to provide “resources that professionals in the public health, aging services, and research networks can use to inform, educate, and empower community members.”  More education about the risks associated with dementia care can help family members and caregivers to quickly spot and report signs of elder abuse.

Global and Local Awareness About Aging and Elder Abuse

Old Guy
Earlier this month, San Diego County’s Aging Summit, which focused on Alzheimer’s disease and caregiving issues, occurred just as the National Center on Elder Abuse (NCEA) and the Administration on Aging launched the eighth “World Elder Abuse Awareness Day.”  The two projects represent both global and local initiatives to educate family members, caregivers, and the public generally about important issues that older adults face today, as well as the prevalence and risk factors for elder abuse.

Nursing home abuse and neglect is an important issue in California, particularly as we await potential changes to the law surrounding residential care facilities for the elderly (RCFEs).  At the same time, however, elder abuse is a nationwide—and indeed, a worldwide—concern that affects us all.  If you have questions about how you can help an older adult who has sustained injuries because of elder abuse, don’t hesitate to speak to an experienced San Diego elder justice advocate.

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.

Old Man

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.

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?

Old Woman
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

Contact Information