Articles Posted in Elder Care

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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.”

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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.
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A recent article in Reuters reported that the mayor of Los Angeles has declared his support for “a new state law barring public agencies from refusing job applications from people convicted of a crime.”  But could such a law place residents in nursing homes and assisted-living facilities at greater risk of nursing home abuse and neglect?

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No Outright Criminal Background Checks for Employees?

The California law isn’t intended to put California residents at risk, but rather to encourage social rehabilitation.  According to Reuters, Garcetti’s support of the law comes with a deep concern “that millions of people who have been to prison, particularly from minority communities, have little prospect of landing a job once they admit to a conviction.”  The law isn’t just for nursing homes or other care facilities for older adults.  Rather, it’s part of a larger movement to make criminal background checks less of a priority at the start of an interviewing process at many public agencies across the state of California.

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We live in an age of technology, yet the elder care industry doesn’t seem to have taken notice.  According to a recent article in Forbes, the internet and other digital tools may be able to improve the quality of elder care, and to attend to matters of elder abuse and neglect across the country.  We mentioned a recent story about elder financial abuse and online mapping.  This is only one of the tools that may help our older loved ones in the years to come.

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Taking care of our elderly loved ones will be especially important in the coming years as the large number of Americans who make up the baby boomer generation grow old and require care in assisted living facilities and nursing homes.  While none of us likes to believe that nursing home neglect is a problem that can affect our loved ones, recent news stories throughout California suggest that elder abuse is a problem that afflicts many people.  As a result, it’s important to contact a nursing home abuse attorney if you suspect that your elderly loved one has been the victim of nursing home neglect.

High Costs of Elder Care

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As many California residents know, our state has made national news over the last year for concerns about nursing home negligence and nursing home abuse.  A recent article in the Sacramento Bee reported that Los Angeles County public health officials, “in an effort to reduce California’s backlog of health and safety complaints at nursing homes,” might have urged inspectors “to close cases without fully investigating them.”  Internal memos sent between managers, inspectors, and supervisors from the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health suggest that these quick and potentially harmful case closures are part of an effort called the “Complaint Workload Clean Up Project,” and it has been in effect “since at least the summer of 2012.”

What does this mean for elderly nursing home residents?  In short, complaints at nursing homes and nursing facilities in Los Angeles County might not have been adequately investigated, and county supervisors could be held liable for injuries that occurred.  Do you have a loved one who resides at a nursing facility in Southern California?  At the Walton Law Firm, our California nursing home abuse attorneys have years of experience handling elder law claims and can speak with you today.

Nursing Home Residents at Risk of Inattention in Southern California

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Profiting from Bad Hospice Ethics

Last week, we discussed a recent phenomenon in the hospice care industry that’s quickly becoming an elder abuse concern. Specifically, hospice—a form of care designed to allow “patients to die at home or in other familiar surroundings,” according to an article in the Washington Post—has turned into a financially lucrative business. But is it an ethical one? Are hospice companies acting outside the boundaries of the law? And is it possible to take legal action against hospice chains that recruit patients who aren’t suffering from a terminal illness?

Old%20Dying%20Woman.jpgFirst, it’s important to have a clear idea about why hospices are bringing in relatively healthy older adults, and how these companies are profiting from non-terminal patients. How did this start to happen? In short, many hospice care centers have begun recruiting patients with aggressive marketing tactics, and many of those patients aren’t terminal. It’s in the financial interest of a hospice chain to “find patients well before death,” the Washington Post reported. And the reason is simple: “Medicare pays a hospice about $150 a day per patient for routine care, regardless of whether the company sends a nurse or any other worker out that day. That means healthier patients, who generally need less help and live longer, yield more profits.”

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Have you been urged to place your elderly parent in hospice care despite the fact that he or she is not terminally ill? Hospice care is intended for patients who are terminally ill and for whom there is no cure. So why are healthy older adults ending up in hospice? A recent article in the Washington Post revealed that this phenomenon might be a larger problem than we’d like to think. Indeed, over the 2000s, the newspaper reported that the “number of ‘hospice survivors’ in the United States has risen dramatically.” What’s going on? According to the article, “hospice companies earn more by recruiting patients who aren’t actually dying,” since “healthier patients are more profitable because they require fewer visits and stay enrolled longer.”

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If you have been pressured to move a parent into hospice care, your elderly loved one might not receive the kind of treatment she or he needs. For-profit companies shouldn’t be allowed to take advantage of older adults. Indeed, we might think of these actions as another form of elder abuse. It’s important to speak to an experienced elder law attorney about your options.

Hospice Discharge Statistics

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About a month ago, the New York Daily News reported that fourteen nursing home residents at Valley Manor Community Care Home, also called Valley Springs Manor, were abandoned in “filthy and unsafe” conditions. According to the article, some of the residents at this Castro Valley, California facility were bedridden, while others were ill and simply required significant care. Reporters from NBC Bay Area referred to the situation as a “botched closure,” as the California Department of Social Services had closed the nursing facility days before but hadn’t accounted for the safety of these residents. At the time, these social services officials closed nursing home “because of deplorable conditions.”

Sheriff%27s%20Badge.jpgWhen we think about transitioning an elderly loved one into a nursing home or an assisted-living facility, we expect that the facility will provide care and won’t engage in acts of nursing home abuse or neglect. However, nursing home abuse occurs more often than we’d like to think. If you’re concerned about a loved one’s safety or care, a California elder justice advocate can discuss your case with you today.

Details of the Nursing Home Shut Down and Resident Abandonment

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Sometimes we forget that nursing home abuse isn’t always physical, and it may not be obvious. Particularly with older adults, abuse can be verbal, and it can wound seniors both emotionally and psychologically. A recent study conducted by researchers at Northeastern University emphasized that older adults typically aren’t openly willing to discuss their experiences with abuse, so the study provided elderly participants with more privacy when responding to questions about mental and physical anguish. According to an article in the New York Times, the study revealed that more than one-third of seniors have suffered physical abuse, usually at the hands of their caregivers.

Yelling.jpgIt’s no secret that elder abuse and neglect is a serious issue in California and throughout the country. Indeed, over the past few months we’ve mentioned that PBS Frontline and other national news outlets, as well as our own local U-T San Diego, have attempted to raise awareness about nursing home abuse and its serious consequences. Are you concerned that an elderly parent or loved one has been abused in a nursing home or assisted-living facility? It is never too early to speak to an experienced California nursing home abuse lawyer.

Studying “Words that Wound” Older Adults

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A few days ago, Los Angeles’ local ABC 10 News released an article about the Ensign Group’s agreement to a $48 million settlement related to claims of Medicare billing fraud at six nursing facilities in Southern California. And the Medicare fraud wasn’t the worst of it. According to the article, “the lawsuit also claimed some patients were kept in the nursing homes longer than was necessary.” Indeed, the story quickly became national news, as Market Watch from the Wall Street Journal reported on the pricey settlement brought about by the qui tam (or whistleblower) lawsuit.

Cash%20Stack%20Credit.jpgNursing home abuse has been in the spotlight in California over the last couple of months, and as a result, this news might not come as much of a surprise. But it does emphasize that, even though California elder advocates are creating substantial awareness campaigns, nursing home neglect and abuse continues to occur in our state. Do you have an elderly parent or loved one who currently resides in a nursing home or assisted-living facility? It’s important to make sure that your loved one receives the care she or he needs. If you suspect your older parent has been the victim of nursing home abuse, it’s important to contact an experienced California elder law attorney. The dedicated nursing home abuse lawyers at the Walton Law Firm have been handling these cases for years and can discuss your claim with you today.

Details of the Ensign Group’s Medicare Fraud

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Are you worried that an elderly loved one has been a victim of financial abuse? Each day, older adults become targets for financial scammers. Commentators are concerned that privacy laws are likely to protect some of these financial scammers, preventing elderly victims from seeking justice. According to Herb Weisbaum, “The Consumer Man” for NBC News, there’s a major disconnect in the financial world. “When,” he asks, “does the suspicion that an elderly customer is being defrauded overcome laws protecting privacy rights?” In an earlier post, we mentioned that banks might be “quiet enablers” of this kind of elder abuse.

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The problem of elderly financial abuse occurs across the country, and California isn’t immune. Who is responsible for making sure that older adults aren’t taken advantage of financially? For many victims of elder financial abuse, the ramifications are just as vicious as physical nursing home abuse. If you suspect that your elderly parent or loved one has been the victim of a financial crime, it is important to contact an experienced elder justice advocate. With years of experience handling nursing home abuse and neglect cases in Southern California, the dedicated elder law attorneys at the Walton Law Firm can speak to you today about your claim.

Bank Employees in a Position to Help?

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