Elder Care

May 30, 2013

Staffing Shortages Can Lead to Nursing Home Abuse and Neglect

A recent article investigating nursing home abuse and neglect claims in New York could have significant implications in southern California. According to the Post Star, nursing home understaffing looks to be a major cause in nursing home neglect cases, along with medical training deficiencies and state inspection errors.

Local Felony Charges Due to Understaffing?

Last summer, Tiffany Vanalen, a licensed practical nurse with more than 10 years of experience, was arrested on felony neglect charges. The Post Star reported that she hadn’t intended to harm anyone at the Pleasant Valley nursing home where she had been employed, yet a state investigation showed that Vanalen failed to give required medications to five residents at the nursing facility, and then she proceeded to falsify documents to make it look like she had, in fact, given the medications.

May 20, 2013

Depression May Lead to Dementia in Elderly Patients

by Nursing Home Law Group

Many older adults who experience depression may see their risks for developing Alzheimer’s and dementia increase, according to a recent article in the New York Times. This is a serious issue for patients in nursing homes and other elder care facilities. While elder abuse and neglect can take many forms, the failure to provide for a patient’s mental needs, such as depression, may constitute neglect.

Statistics on Depression and Alzheimer’s Disease

The New York Times article reported that current research suggests that “late-life depression” has not only led to increased risks for “social isolation, poorer health, and an increased risk of death,” but it also may lead to Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of vascular dementia. With an increasingly large population of older adults, these facts are concerning.

April 12, 2013

Dementia Cases and Costs to Drastically Increase in Coming Decades

by Nursing Home Law Group

Do you have a loved one who is suffering from Alzheimer’s or another form of dementia? According to a recent article in the New York Times, dementia care costs are projected to double by the year 2040. This story comes just a few days after a new report in The New England Journal of Medicine that measured the monetary costs of dementia in America.

What do these new figures mean for nursing home costs and long-term care facilities in the San Diego area? While experts can’t make definitive predictions, many researchers fear that “it’s going to swamp the system,” creating more elderly persons in need of care than there are available caregivers and facilities.

How the Study was Conducted