An article in The Modesto Bee reported yesterday that Donna Darlene Palmer, former head nurse at a Placerville nursing home, will stand trial for felony elder abuse. Palmer and Rebecca Smith are the two nurses criminally charged by the California Attorney General for their involvement in the death of a…
The Mercury News recently reported that a former commander in the Pinole Police Department, and his wife, have been charged with trying to defraud an 82-year-old Pleasanton woman. Matthew Messier, the 36-year-old former police commander was charged with several crimes including four counts of elder abuse. Messier and his wife…
Families with loved ones in adult care facilities are pushing for new legislation that will affect how the facilities handle missing patient situations according to a recent article in the Mercury News. The legislation is not up for a vote yet, but if enacted, the law will require care facilities…
The California State Attorney General, Kamala D. Harris, has plans to “aggressively” pursue and build more criminal cases against nursing homes as reported in The Sacramento Bee. Much of the article is discussed within the backdrop of Don Esco’s story. Mr. Esco recently died at the age of 82. The…
Dealing with abusive behavior from an in-home caregiver is a nightmare scenario for the victims and their loved ones. In previous blog posts, we discussed issues surrounding the selection of at home caregivers, but sometimes nefarious individuals slip through the cracks. In certain situations, firing an in-home caregiver suspected of…
Many individuals automatically assume that issues of elder or dependent adult abuse strictly involve physical or mental abuse occurring within nursing facilities or perpetrated by in-home caregivers. Individuals see images of bed sores where patients were not rotated correctly or bruises from an abusive caregiver who became impatient with someone…
The University of California Irvine reports that it received a three-year $1 million grant from the United States Administration on Aging in order to help them combat elder abuse involving individuals with dementia. The Program in Geriatrics will use the funds to implement its “Take AIM Against Elder Abuse” program.…
In a recent article in the San Francisco Chronicle, Dr. Edgar Pierluissi brings to light an issue that many people are unaware of. It is an interesting “paradox” as Pierluissi puts it that seniors can be in no better place than a hospital for identifying, treating and monitoring illnesses, but…
The Sacramento Business Journal reported today on a new website that the California Department of Insurance launched in order to help educate California seniors. The article highlights a few aspects of the new site called “Senior Gateway”, but once you visit the site, you see that it has a lot…
Two caregivers are charged with physically abusing a young autistic man inside his family’s home. This story emphasizes the serious issue of whether or not you can trust your in-home caregiver. The U-T San Diego recently reported that two men, Michael Dale Garritson, 61, and Matthew Alexander McDuffie, 27, were…