Articles Posted in Riverside Nursing Home

Yorkshire-300x156A major elder abuse investigation is underway at Yorkshire Assisted Living and Memory Care in Hemet after California law enforcement agencies executed a search warrant at the facility and removed several residents who required emergency medical care. Yorkshire Village is licensed for 100 beds and at the time of the search was running near full, with about 95 in its care according to reports.

At Nursing Home Law Group, we are closely monitoring this developing investigation. We are already speaking with families who have loved ones at Yorkshire Assisted Living and are investigating potential claims arising out of the care provided at the facility.

Multi-Agency Investigation Began After Ombudsman Complaint

bedsore-300x200Yes. If your loved one developed bed sores while living in a nursing home or assisted living facility in Riverside County, you may have the right to file a lawsuit for neglect. Pressure sores are widely recognized as a preventable condition when residents receive proper care and supervision. When a facility allows these wounds to develop or worsen, it often signals serious failures in basic caregiving. A qualified Riverside bed sore lawyer can investigate whether neglect contributed to the injury and help your family pursue accountability.

How Bed Sores and Pressure Wounds Develop

Bed sores, also known as pressure ulcers or pressure injuries, form when prolonged pressure on the skin cuts off blood flow to the tissue underneath. This most commonly occurs in elderly residents who cannot reposition themselves without assistance.

daan-stevens-282446-1-copy-300x191If you have ever walked into a nursing home and felt that something was off, call lights ringing, residents waiting too long for help, staff moving at a sprint, you already understand the core issue. Safe nursing home care depends on having enough trained people on the floor, for enough hours, every day.

That is why minimum nursing hours are imperative. They are not a luxury, and they are not a paperwork exercise. They are the basic guardrails that prevent predictable harm.

Recently, a coalition of Attorneys General from across the country sent a formal letter to federal leadership urging strong, quantitative staffing requirements for skilled nursing facilities. The letter is signed by many state Attorneys General, including California Attorney General Rob Bonta, and leaders from New York, Massachusetts, Arizona, Colorado, and many others.

IMG_29490008-300x227When a loved one is injured or declines unexpectedly in a nursing home or assisted living facility, families in Riverside County often feel caught off guard. Many facilities are located far from hospitals, understaffed, or operated by large corporate chains that prioritize occupancy over care. Knowing how to find a qualified nursing home neglect lawyer in Riverside County can make the difference between unanswered questions and real accountability.

Why nursing home neglect cases in Riverside County require careful legal selection

Riverside County has one of the fastest growing senior populations in Southern California. With that growth has come a rapid expansion of skilled nursing facilities and assisted living communities, many of which operate with thin staffing margins. Neglect cases frequently involve preventable falls, pressure ulcers, dehydration, medication mismanagement, and delayed responses to medical emergencies.

Do you have an elderly loved one in a Riverside County nursing home or elsewhere in Southern California? If so, it is critical to be able to recognize the signs of elder abuse and neglect in general, but especially psychological abuse. According to a recent study published in the journal Frontiers in Public Health, psychological abuse is routinely cited as the most common form of nursing home abuse, yet it is among the types of abuse that are most difficult to spot and that tends to be studied the least. Indeed, as the authors of the study write, “although psychological abuse has been found to be the most frequent form of abuse, specific knowledge regarding this form of violence is still lacking.”

How can you learn more about psychological abuse, and what specific signs should you be looking for when you visit or speak with an elderly loved one in a nursing home? Our Riverside County nursing home abuse attorneys can say more. 

Psychological Abuse is Common, But Iit Can Be Difficult to Define and Identify

Older adults in Solano County and throughout California are not only at greater risk of falling than younger adults, but they are also more likely to sustain serious injuries when they do fall. According to a recent report in The New York Times, falls are nearly always preventable, yet they continue to harm seniors in assisted-living facilities and nursing homes. Sometimes falls occur because a facility has an inadequate number of staff, such that residents do not receive the help and assistance they need with mobility tasks. In other circumstances, a facility might have certain hazards on the premises that result in a fall. At the same time, nursing homes and assisted-living facilities may not prioritize fall prevention, and thus they may not be employing many of the “small changes and good habits” that the report suggests can make a significant difference in reducing falls among the elderly.

What should you know about falls and fall risks in California nursing homes? Our Riverside County nursing home neglect attorneys can tell you more.

Why is Falling So Common Among Older Adults?

Older adults in Riverside County can experience nursing home abuse or neglect regardless of the status of their mental or physical health, but older adults with cognitive impairment tend to be at greater risk of sustaining harm as a result of abuse and neglect. Sometimes cognitive decline occurs gradually, and family members do not realize that an elderly loved one is more vulnerable until it is too late. In other circumstances, an elderly nursing home resident may have already been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease or another form of dementia, and may be particularly vulnerable depending on the degree of their cognitive impairment.

Our Riverside County nursing home abuse and neglect attorneys can tell you more about why cognitive impairment makes older adults particularly vulnerable to abuse, and we can begin working with you as soon as you have concerns about an elderly loved one’s safety.

What is Cognitive Impairment?

For anyone with a loved one in a Riverside County nursing home or assisted living facility, it is important to make sure that the facility is providing proper care to your elderly parent or relative. Discussions about nursing home abuse and neglect and red flags associated with mistreatment can be more than disconcerting to hear about from friends or family members or to read about in news stories. You may know how important it is to look for signs of nursing home abuse or neglect whenever you visit your loved one, including signs of physical harm like cuts, bruises, or burns, as well as physical indicators of negligence such as bed sores or broken bones. But how can you determine whether nursing home abuse is happening when there are no physical signs?

Emotional and psychological abuse is one common type of abuse that occurs in nursing home settings, and signs of it may not always be obvious. Among nursing home residents with Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia, as well as other forms of cognitive impairment, psychological abuse may be particularly difficult to uncover. Our Riverside County nursing home abuse and neglect lawyers can tell you more. 

Understanding Psychological and Emotional Abuse in Nursing Homes

Nursing home residents in Riverside County and throughout Southern California can experience a wide range of injuries, infections, and other types of harm as a result of nursing home negligence and inadequate care. While many people assume most injuries from nursing home abuse and neglect result from intentional acts — and certainly, intentional harm does occur — there are many injuries reported that arise from passive neglect. When nursing homes and assisted-living facilities do not have enough staff members to attend to the specific needs of individual patients, serious injuries can occur. Contractures are a somewhat common but lesser-known type of harm that can affect nursing home residents, resulting in increased disability and injuries frequently as a result of neglect. Our Riverside County nursing home negligence lawyers can tell you more.

What are Contractures?

What are contractures? According to Stanford Medicine: “Contractures are an abnormal occurrence that happens when a large area of skin is damaged and lost, resulting in a scar. The scar formation pulls the edges of the skin together, causing a tight area of skin. The decrease in the size of the skin can then affect the muscles, joints, and tendings, causing a decrease in movement.” Contractures can occur in a person at any age, but they present particular problems for older adults with mobility issues. They can have various causes, including certain medical procedures, infections, and other skin and mobility issues.

Whether it is in Riverside County or elsewhere in Southern California, it is critical for friends and family members of older LGBTQ adults who reside in nursing homes and assisted-living facilities to be at severe risk of injuries from abuse and neglect than others. Indeed, according to a study published in the Journal of the American Geriatric Society, although there is insufficient research on elder abuse and neglect among members of the LGBTQ community in California and elsewhere, it is clear that “this population faces a greater risk of abuse and likely experiences abuse differently, and needs different resources.” 

If an elderly parent or loved one is a member of the LGBTQ community and is currently living in a nursing home or assisted living facility, what do you need to know? Our Riverside County nursing home abuse and neglect attorneys can tell you more.

LGBTQ Seniors Experience Abuse and Neglect in Nursing Homes and assisted living Facilities in Southern California

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