Skilled Nursing

June 25, 2025

California Attorney General Sues Skilled Nursing Chain for Systemic Neglect and Fraud

California Attorney General Rob Bonta has filed a lawsuit against Sweetwater Care, a San Diego-based operator of 19 skilled nursing facilities across the state, for gross violations of elder care standards. The lawsuit, filed under California’s Unfair Competition Law, alleges that Sweetwater endangered vulnerable residents by repeatedly failing to meet the state’s minimum staffing requirements—leading to widespread neglect, abuse, and even physical injuries.

The lawsuit follows a sweeping investigation by the California Department of Justice’s Division of Medi-Cal Fraud and Elder Abuse (DMFEA), which uncovered a disturbing pattern of misconduct at Sweetwater facilities between 2020 and 2024. According to the findings, Sweetwater violated minimum staffing laws more than 14,000 times, placing elderly and disabled residents in harm’s way.

The consequences of this understaffing were severe:

April 6, 2023

When Private Equity Buys Nursing Home, Residents Lose

by Walton Law Firm

“Cost-cutting is to be expected in any business, but nursing homes are particularly vulnerable. Staffing often represents the largest operating cost on a nursing home’s ledger. So, when firms buy a home, they cut staff. However, this business model has a fatal flaw. “Nurse availability,” Gupta and his colleagues wrote, “is the most important determinant of quality of care.”

“The data revealed a troubling trend: when private-equity firms acquired nursing homes, deaths among residents increased by an average of ten per cent.”

Read this compelling article from the New Yorker.

May 2, 2019

New Law Requires Minimum Number of Hours With Nursing Home Patients

by Walton Law Firm

Whether nursing home patients reside at a skilled nursing facility in Escondido or elsewhere in California, they now have greater protections against elder abuse and neglect. According to a recent article in the Los Angeles Times, a new California state law requires that patients receive a minimum number of hours of care from certified nursing assistants (CNAs). The law took effect on July 1, 2018, but will patients see an immediate change in the way staffing works at nursing homes across the state? Will staffing increases reduce the rates of nursing home neglect in the state?

Staffing Requirements Stricter, But Will Facilities Meet Those Requirements?

Under the new law, what kinds of staffing requirements are required at nursing homes in Escondido and throughout California? As of July 1, facilities must provide each patient with at least 3.5 hours of direct care every day. This number increased from a previous requirement of 3.2 hours of direct patient care per day. But that change is not the most drastic of the shifts in the law. The significant change is that at least 2.4 of these daily hours of direct patient care must be provided by CNAs.

February 4, 2015

Staffing Shortages at Skilled Nursing Facilities

by Walton Law Firm

When does a staffing shortage at a nursing home or assisted-living facility become grounds for an elder neglect case? According to a recent article in the San Francisco Examiner, staffing levels at skilled nursing facilities and other residences for elderly Californians “is an ever-expanding problem.” The need for support services continues to grow in the state, yet the demand doesn’t always fit the need.

To be sure, “individuals 85 years and older, the oldest of the old, are one of the fastest-growing segments of the population.” But, does California have the tools it needs to properly care for these elderly residents?

Rapidly Growing Elderly Population