San Jose Nursing Home Neglect

January 13, 2026

How to Find the Right Nursing Home Abuse or Neglect Lawyer in the San Francisco Bay Area

Discovering that an older loved one has been harmed in a nursing home or assisted living facility is devastating. Families across the San Francisco Bay Area often describe the same experience: something feels wrong, the explanation from the facility does not add up, and decline happens far too quickly to be dismissed as normal aging.

Choosing the right lawyer in this moment is not just a legal decision. It is about accountability, answers, and protecting vulnerable elders from further harm. In the Bay Area, where care facilities range from small assisted living homes to large corporate skilled nursing centers, finding a qualified elder abuse and neglect attorney requires careful evaluation.

Understanding elder abuse and neglect in Bay Area care facilities

October 3, 2025

Identifying Nursing Home Neglect When Your Spouse is Receiving Long-Term Care

by Walton Law Firm

Nursing home abuse and neglect can happen at any facility in San Jose and throughout California. There are ways to reduce the risk of moving an elderly loved one into a facility where abuse or neglect may be more likely, such as by reviewing facility ratings, researching safety records, and visiting the facility to look for common red flags associated with abuse, neglect, or negligence. Yet even when you take all the precautions, abuse or neglect injuries can still happen. We often think about adult children of elderly residents being the ones to spot the signs of abuse or neglect, but spouses can also be extremely important when it comes to identifying symptoms of elder abuse.

If your spouse is now living in a nursing home and you are still living independently, what should you look for when you visit? The following are some of the most common signs that something is not right, and you should seek advice from a San Jose nursing home neglect lawyer as soon as possible.

Physical or Visible Injuries

August 2, 2024

Traumatic Brain Injuries in San Jose Nursing Homes

by Walton Law Firm

When an aging parent or loved one can no longer live safely at home, families in San Jose often turn to nursing homes or assisted living facilities with the hope that their loved one will receive attentive, professional care. Unfortunately, that trust is not always rewarded. Across Santa Clara County, issues such as chronic understaffing, inadequate supervision, and poor care planning continue to put elderly residents at serious risk. One of the most devastating and frequently overlooked consequences of these failures is traumatic brain injury or TBI.

TBIs are commonly associated with sports injuries or serious car crashes, but they occur far more often than many families realize in nursing homes and assisted living facilities. Falls, medication related confusion, and lack of supervision can all lead to head injuries that permanently alter an older adult’s health and independence. San Jose nursing home neglect and abuse lawyers regularly see cases where a single preventable fall changes the entire trajectory of a resident’s life.

Traumatic Brain Injuries and Cognitive Decline in Older Adults

January 24, 2020

Federal Nursing Home Bills Aims to Prevent Abuse

by Walton Law Firm

A new federal nursing home bill is designed to prevent elder abuse, and it could help patients at facilities in San Jose and throughout California. According to a recent article in Skilled Nursing News, the proposed legislation “seeks to protect individuals in nursing homes by implementing more stringent staffing protocols—including increased clinical hours and training—among other safety measures for residents.” Nursing home abuse and neglect often occurs as a result of understaffing. If a federal law were to mandate certain staffing numbers in facilities, rates of abuse and neglect could drop.

Learning More About the Quality Care for Nursing Home Residents Act

The proposed law is known as the Quality Care for Nursing Home Residents Act. The bill is co-sponsored by two Democratic lawmakers, Rep. Jan Schakowsky (Illinois) and Sen. Richard Blumenthal (Connecticut). It has support from lawmakers in both the House and Senate. In addition to requiring certain staffing levels for facilities receiving payments through Medicare and Medicaid, the bill would also make other changes to nursing home mandates. First, nursing staff members would be required to go through “heightened training” and would be subject to heightened “supervision obligations.” This requirement, in connection with the requirement for increased staff numbers, aims to prevent nursing home abuse and neglect by targeting staff at these facilities. Three registered nurses (RNs) would have to be on staff as “management personnel.”

May 8, 2008

Elder Neglect: Dehydration in the San Francisco Bay Area Nursing Homes

by Randall Walton

Dehydration and malnutrition remain two of the most serious and most overlooked forms of neglect in nursing homes and assisted living facilities. While these conditions may sound simple or even mild, the reality is far more dangerous. In elderly and dependent adults, dehydration and malnutrition can rapidly lead to organ failure, infection, falls, hospitalization, and death. For families in San Jose and the greater Bay Area who trust facilities to protect their loved ones, these outcomes are both devastating and preventable.

The human body depends on adequate fluids and nutrition to function. When an individual becomes dehydrated, the body begins to shut down essential processes. Common symptoms include an increased heart rate, decreased urination, dry mouth, confusion, dizziness, headaches, muscle cramps, extreme fatigue, and tingling in the hands or feet. In older adults, dehydration often presents differently than it does in younger people. Seniors may not feel thirsty, may be unable to communicate their needs, or may suffer cognitive impairment that prevents them from asking for water. This makes them uniquely vulnerable in the nursing home setting.

Malnutrition often goes hand in hand with dehydration. When residents are not receiving adequate calories, protein, or essential nutrients, their bodies lose the ability to heal, fight infection, or maintain muscle strength. Malnourished residents are at higher risk for pressure ulcers, falls, aspiration pneumonia, and immune system failure. In severe cases, malnutrition contributes directly to death.