Premises and Injury
Neglect in a licensed facility is a violation of rights the law spells out
Pressure ulcers, dehydration and repeated falls are not the natural course of aging. They are documented consequences of inadequate staffing and care planning.
About nursing home abuse and neglect claims
California gives residents of skilled nursing and intermediate care facilities enumerated rights, and Health and Safety Code section 1430 allows a resident to bring a private action for a violation of those rights in addition to ordinary negligence claims. The Elder Abuse and Dependent Adult Civil Protection Act provides further remedies where the conduct rises to recklessness, oppression, fraud or malice, and it can reach individual managers as well as the corporate operator.
The harm patterns are well documented and largely preventable: pressure ulcers that develop and advance because repositioning and skin assessment were not performed, falls that repeat because a care plan was never updated after the first one, dehydration and malnutrition, untreated infection including sepsis, medication errors and inappropriate chemical restraint, elopement by a resident known to wander, and physical or financial abuse. Almost every one of these traces back to staffing levels, training and whether the facility followed its own care plan.
These cases are built from the chart and the facility’s own records. Nursing notes, treatment administration records, wound care and skin assessment documentation, fall risk assessments, care plan revisions, staffing rosters against required ratios, and state survey and citation history establish both what happened and what the operator knew. Records can be altered or lost, so a preservation demand and a request for the complete chart should go out immediately.
Common injuries
Injuries we see most often in these cases. Every claim is different, and this list is not exhaustive.
- Stage three and stage four pressure ulcers, including osteomyelitis
- Hip and other fractures from repeated unwitnessed falls
- Dehydration, malnutrition and unexplained weight loss
- Sepsis and untreated urinary or respiratory infection
- Medication errors, oversedation and chemical restraint injury
- Wandering, elopement, physical abuse and wrongful death
Who can be held liable
Responsibility often extends well beyond the most obvious company. We look at every party in the chain.
- The licensed facility operator
- The parent or management company that set staffing and budget
- The administrator or director of nursing responsible for care systems
- Individual staff who abused a resident or falsified records
- A staffing agency or contracted therapy or wound care provider
Evidence that matters
What we work to preserve and obtain early, because this proof tends to disappear with time.
- The complete medical chart, including nursing notes and treatment records
- Care plans, fall risk assessments and skin assessment documentation
- Staffing rosters and time records compared against required ratios
- State survey findings, citations and complaint history for the facility
- Photographs of wounds and injuries, and family communication records
Do not wait on the deadline
California generally allows two years to bring a personal injury or product liability claim under Code of Civil Procedure § 335.1, and two years from the date of death in a wrongful death case. Shorter deadlines apply when a government entity is involved, and deadlines can be extended for injured children. Exceptions are fact-specific. Talk to us before you assume anything about your own timeline.
Answers
Nursing Home Abuse and Neglect: common questions
Injured by nursing home abuse? Let us review it at no cost.
A conversation costs you nothing and there is no obligation. No fee unless we recover compensation for you. In some matters a client may still be responsible for case costs and expenses, and we will explain exactly how that works before you decide to hire us.