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Home care neglect is one of the least visible problems facing older Californians. Families choose home care for good reasons. Most seniors want to stay in their own homes, and a paid caregiver can make that possible. But once a caregiver is alone with your parent, much of the protection you assume exists may not be there.

What Home Care Is, and What It Isn’t

Home care is non-medical help: bathing, dressing, meals, light housekeeping, companionship, and rides to appointments. It is different from home health care, which is medical care from licensed nurses and therapists. It is also different from a nursing home or assisted living community, where staff, other residents, and state inspectors are all present.

In April 2020, Plaintiff Magazine featured a heartfelt and deeply personal article by elder abuse attorney Sanford Horowitz, known to friends and colleagues simply as Sandy. Written during the first week of COVID-19 lockdowns, the piece is part professional reflection, part life story, and all about the passion that has defined Sandy’s decades-long career fighting for the rights of vulnerable elders.

Sandy begins by looking back on his earlier articles for Plaintiff Magazine — one that explored the unique stories behind every elder abuse case, and another that shared his personal journey navigating his father’s decade-long battle with Alzheimer’s. Six years after his father’s passing, Sandy found himself once again in a contemplative state, reflecting not only on his work but on the twists and turns of life.

From the start, Sandy took a less conventional path as a lawyer. After a short stint at a San Francisco law firm, he chose to set up his own practice in Sonoma, far from the hustle of the big city. That decision wasn’t just about work; it was about living in harmony with nature and focusing on what truly mattered — family, community, and a meaningful life. Over the past 25 years, he has built a career around prosecuting long-term care corporations for neglecting the elderly, a cause that he calls both challenging and profoundly rewarding.

Hospice is everywhere. California has over 1,200 hospice providers, a roughly 10-fold increase in the last decade. Why the growth? Because hospice can be a very profitable business, and it has very little government oversight.

At Southern California Nursing Home Law Group, we frequently hear that same story: Mom or dad has some health event and skilled nursing, or assisted living is recommended. At the time of admission, an employee of the facility asks (out of the blue), “have you considered putting mom/dad on hospice?”

“Hospice?” a family member responds, “but mom/dad is not dying.”