DO YOU SUSPECT ABUSE OR NEGLECT? Contact Us for a Free Consultation

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Registered sex offenders, parolees, and individuals with violent pasts are living in nursing homes and assisted living facilities all over America according to the advocacy organization A Perfect Cause, which found 1,600 registered sex offenders in U.S. nursing facilities with senior citizens.

Wes Bledsoe, founder of the organizations, says that the group has documented over 60 rapes, murders, and assaults committed by criminal offenders inside these facilities. There is currently no federal or state law that keeps sexual offenders out of long term care facilities, and, in fact, many are sent to facilities by local judges, sheriffs, and county workers. Bledsoe is testifying before congress this week on the subject, and will call for the establishment of separate and secure nursing facilities for known sexual offenders, as well as a requirement of criminal background checks on all incoming residents.

“I hope that some of the congressional leaders don’t sleep soundly tomorrow,” said Bledsoe, “and that this makes an impression on them that right now, in this moment, we have people in harm’s way.”

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Walton Law Firm attorney Randy Walton was a guest presenter last weekend at the annual meeting of the California Association of Long Term Care Medicine in Los Angeles. Walton and San Diego attorney Bill Wilson spoke to a group of approximately 150 physicians, nurses, and administrators about legal liability in the long-term care setting. The title of the presentation was Long-Term Care Liability Crisis: Risk Management Update and Mock Trial.

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Elder abuse comes in a variety of forms. The abuse we hear about most frequently is physical abuse, which includes assault, battery, and sexual offenses, and financial abuse, which is usually a matter of fraud or undue influence upon a senior citizen. Both physical and financial abuse are very serous offenses that should be promptly reported to the police, and a private civil attorney.

Another, less discussed, form of abuse is abuse in the nursing home or assisted living setting. In California, there are approximately 100,000 nursing home beds, and probably an equal number of assisted living beds, and the health and well being inside these facilities usually depends on the quality of the care they are receiving. In truth, the word “abuse” is probably a bit misleading, as these occurrences are usually a matter of neglect of the elderly resident, not physical abuse.

Unfortunately, most instances of neglect or abuse are not reported. Elderly residents are often afraid to report an act of abuse or neglect for fear of retribution by staff, or simply because they cannot stand the thought of being transferred to a different facility. Or, more often, the decline in health caused by the neglect is attributed to some other cause, usually related to old age.

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I recently attended a nursing conference where the central theme was elder abuse and neglect. One of the presenters was Charlene Harrington, Ph.D. of UCSF, a professor of nursing and sociology, who is considered an expert on nursing home staffing.

According to Harrington the nursing home staffing picture in California isn’t pretty. She said that there are over 12 million deficiencies in U.S. nursing homes annually, and stated that approximately one-quarter to one-third of all nursing homes provide substandard care.

According to Harrington, sufficient staffing is the number one indicator of the quality of care one can expect to receive in a nursing home. California requires that a licensed skill nursing facility provide at a minimum of 3.2 hours of nursing, per patient, per day. While this is a minimum standard, most California facilities view it as the threshold, striving only to meet it. In fact, RN care has been declining in California, which now has one of the lowest RN per patient, per day ratios in the country.

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According to estimates, there are about 1.6 million people in the United States employed to provide home care for the elderly, and advocates for the elderly say the cases of abuse, neglect, and fraud by home caregivers is growing at an alarming rate. The increase is prompting calls for more government oversight as home-care assistance grows along side the aging baby boomers, and the desire of people to avoid nursing homes.

Because the bulk of home care is being provided by non-licensed or certified nurses, who are typically regulated under state, home caregiver frequently have no training, receive minimal pay, and loosely supervised. In California, home aides who do not provide medical care are not even required to pass a criminal background check.

To research the problem, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid funded a study that screened 214,167 people who held jobs provided assistance to the elderly and discovered that over 5,000 of them had criminal histories. Advocates for the elderly are advising consumers to verify background checks from any agency that offers home care services, and those who hire directly are strongly encouraged to check references.

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About four years ago I had a very interesting case involving the death of a developmentally disabled adult in a San Bernardino care facility. In my case, the thirty-year old severely disabled man was found barely breathing on the floor next to his bed just after midnight. Medics were called, and tried to sustain his life, but sadly the man died. Staff and the family presumed it was a heart attack, since the decedent was very obese and had a history of some heart problems.

An autopsy, however, showed a different case of death. The medical examiner ruled the death a homicide, finding that the man died from blunt force trauma to his abdomen. The next question for use was Who did it?

Through the discovery process in a lawsuit we filed against the facility, we believed the death was caused by either a disgruntled employee, who was tired and angry at the resident for the demands he made on staff time, or an autistic room mate (who could not speak), who accidentally kicked the decedent in an act of self-defense. The case settled before trial, so those questions were never fully answered.

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Studies have suggested that approximately one-third of all nursing home residents suffer from some form of dehydration or malnutrition, a condition that can cause or aggravate more serious medical conditions, and may be caused by elder abuse or neglect.

Much of the problem can be attributed to poor staffing, whether inadequate numbers of staff, poor staff training, and a lack of individualized care. While California law requires 3.2 hours of certified nursing per patient, per day – a minimum number many nursing homes fail to meet – many experts believe the law is inadequate, advocating for an increase to 4.1 hours per resident, per day.

Karen Davis of the Commonwealth Fund, the funder of a report on nursing home care, says, “malnutrition, dehydration, and weight loss in nursing homes constitute one of the largest silent epidemics in this country.”

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The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation is donating millions of dollars to build small, home-like nursing homes as an alternative to the large institutional nursing homes we have come to know (and despise). Imagine what it would be like to have a country filled with nursing facilities like the one profiled in this video.

To read The Wall Street Journal article on the subject click here

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This list contains the issuance of citations to Southern California nursing facilities by the California Department of Public Health over the last six months. All the citations listed are issued for reasons related to patient care. For verification of the citation, please contact the local department office or Walton Law Firm LLP.

<font size='2'Facility Date Citation
Los Angeles County
Alden Terrace Convalescent Hosp. 04/09/08 Class B
Chandler Convalescent 02/13/08 Class A
Chatsworth Park Care Center 03/13/08 Class B
Country Villa Park Marino 01/28/08 Class B(3)
Country Villa Pavilion Nursing 03/19/08 Class B
Ember Health Care 01/31/08 Class AA
Gardena Convalescent Hosp. 02/05/08 Class B
Heritage Manor 03/07/08 Class B
Imperial Convalescent 03/27/08 Class B
Lancaster Health Care Center 02/13/08 Class A
Oceanview Convalescent 02/20/08 Class B
Royal Oaks Care Center 12/11/07 Class B
Sophia Lyn Convalescent 04/14/08 Class B
St. John of God Retirement 02/27/08 Class B
Studio City Rehabilitation 04/02/08 Class A
Sunnyview Care Center 04/29/08 Class B
Tarzana Health and Rehab. 02/13/08 Class A
Whittier Hills Health Care Center 01/07/08 Class B
Windsor Palms Care Center of Artesia 04/15/08 Class B
Orange County
Country Villa Plaza Convalescent 03/12/08 Class B
Fountain Care Center 03/13/08 Class B
Newport Subacute Healthcare 02/06/08 Class A
Palm Terrace Healthcare & Rehab Center 02/01/08 Class AA
Park Regency Care Center 04/11/08 Class B
San Bernardino County Elder Abuse
Cherry Valley Healthcare 02/14/08 Class B
Country Villa Rancho Mirage 02/05/08 Class A(2)
Cypress Gardens Rehabilitation 03/20/08 Class A
The Springs At The Carlotta 03/21/08 Class AA
San Diego County
Children’s Convalescent Hospital 02/21/08 Class B
Edgemoor Geriatric Hospital 05/09/08 Class B
Point Loma Convalescent Hosp. 03/10/08 Class B
Ventura County
Brighton Gardens of Camirillo. 4/16/08. Class B

Class AA: The most serious violation, AA citations are issued when a resident death has occurred in such a way that it has been directly and officially attributed to the responsibility of the facility, and carry fines of $25,000 to $100,000.

Class A: Class A citations are issued when violations present imminent danger to patients or the substantial probability of death or serious harm, and carry fines from $2,000 to $20,000.

Class B: Class B citations carry fines from $100 to $1000 and are issued for violations which have a direct or immediate relationship to health, safety, or security, but do not qualify as A or AA citations.

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A jury in Santa Ana awarded the family of Mary Adams $2 million after the 104-year-old was neglected in a Laguna Hills nursing home. The jury awarded $1 million for the Villa Valencia Health Care’s negligence, and another $1 million in punitive damages.

Juror Rory Paster, a 41-year-old engineering analyst who lives in Huntington Beach, said the jury wanted to “send a message that the company should do a better job of treating patients.”

According to reports, Adams admitted herself into the nursing home after suffering a fractured leg. Shortly after admission, Adams developed pressure sores on her heels, which were ignored, and not adequately treated. As a result, she contracted sepsis, and died about two months after her admission.

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