Articles Tagged with nursing home abuse and neglect

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Deciding to move an elderly parent or loved one into a skilled nursing facility is one of the most difficult emotional and logistical challenges a family can face. In San Diego County, we are fortunate to have numerous options for senior care, but with those options comes the heavy responsibility of ensuring our loved ones remain safe, respected, and healthy.

To advocate effectively for your family, you must separate fact from fiction. Misconceptions about how and where maltreatment occurs can leave seniors vulnerable. If you suspect your loved one has been harmed, consulting with a San Diego elder abuse lawyer from Nursing Home Law Group is a critical step in securing justice and safety.

Below, we explore and debunk five common myths regarding elder abuse and neglect to help you better navigate the complexities of long-term care.

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obed-hernandez-592136-unsplash-copy-212x300If you are seeking out a nursing home for an elderly loved one in Orange County, it can be difficult to identify a facility that has a strong history of complying with safety regulations and providing quality care for patients. While you might think that a more expensive nursing home is less likely to engage in hiring practices that could lead to injuries caused by nursing home abuse or neglect, the price of a nursing home is not necessarily indicative of its quality. Even expensive nursing homes can have safety citations and histories of nursing home abuse injuries. According to a recent article in McKnight’s Long-Term Care News, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has plans to update its “Nursing Home Compare” information to include an “abuse icon” that will alert potential patients and their families to dangerous histories of abuse and neglect. 

CMS Data Update Will Add an Abuse Icon

Currently, potential nursing home residents and their families can access information about nursing homes from the CMS “Nursing Home Compare” website. The website allows consumers to compare multiple nursing homes, assessing CMS ratings for those facilities and other important information that can illuminate whether the nursing home is a good fit. Yet that data can be difficult to navigate, especially for individuals and families who do not have experience analyzing detailed information about nursing homes. In order to make it easier to assess these facilities and to learn whether the facility has a recent history of abuse, CMS will be adding an “abuse alert icon.”

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rt_k9r80pya-jean-gerber-300x200In Valley Center and throughout California, laws are in place that are designed to protect older adults from nursing home abuse and neglect. While elder abuse can occur in a variety of settings, caregivers and staff members are nursing facilities can be held accountable under both civil and criminal law in California. When families are considering filing a nursing home abuse claim against an individual or a facility, it is important to understand how criminal laws in California provide language that can help to define the type of abuse that has resulted in a senior’s injuries. 

A recent article in Valley News discusses basic California law related to elder abuse and neglect, and we want to provide more information about the key definitions and components of those laws.

Understanding Legal Definitions Related to Elder Abuse and Neglect in California

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parker-byrd-139348-copy-300x200Whether you have an elderly loved one in a nursing home in Poway or in an assisted living facility elsewhere in California, it is extremely important to know how the facility makes hiring decisions and whether the facility has been subject to elder abuse violations in the past. While even the best and most thorough research may not always uncover risks of nursing home abuse and neglect in San Diego County or farther north in California, background research can help you to avoid selecting a facility for your elderly loved one that has a history of elder abuse. Part of choosing the best nursing home is having access to proper information about facilities and their safety ratings.

 
A recent article in the Fresno Bee discusses an elder abuse case that resulted in a senior’s death. This incident highlights the need for better CMS oversight of nursing home resources.

 
Elder Abuse Results in Fatality at California Assisted Living Facility

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brandon-holmes-199535-unsplash-copy-300x200When nursing homes are cited for nursing home abuse and neglect in Poway, how are those citations determined? What can the type of citations a facility has received in the past tell potential residents about the quality of care at the facility?

It can be difficult to find a skilled nursing facility in Southern California that has a strong record when it comes to patient safety and patient care. One clear way to know that a facility has had problems in the past is to look into its citation history. However, nursing home citations can be difficult to understand. While a citation of any sort indicates that there is a problem, the different citation levels, including the most serious of the penalties, do not always clearly indicate by title alone that the facility has been cited for a serious incident of nursing home abuse or neglect. The following will explore these citations and describe the different categories.

Class AA Nursing Home Citations are the Most Serious Citation

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jorge-lopez-284336-copy-300x200Elderly residents of skilled nursing facilities (SNFs) in San Clemente and throughout California could lose important federal protections against nursing home abuse and neglect, according to a recent article in Lake County News. However, California Attorney General Xavier Becerra is working to prevent this from happening. As the article explains, “Becerra has led a coalition of 16 states and the District of Columbia in submitting a letter to the United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and its Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).” The letter “condemn[s] federal actions that would delay the enforcement of protections for Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries who receive care in skilled nursing facilities.”

In 2016, regulatory reforms resulted in improved “protections against abuse, neglect, and exploitation.” During the June rule-making period, Becerra and other attorneys general have “grave concerns” that the federal government will “revisit requirements deemed to be burdensome for facilities.” In other words, Becerra and others expect that CMS will change the way it deals with protections for seniors in SNFs, allowing facilities to be less burdened by regulations, thereby jeopardizing the health and safety of the patients at these facilities.

Revisiting the Long-Term Care Reforms of 2016

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james-williams-502481-unsplash-copy-300x225Is the state of California doing enough to penalize skilled nursing facilities in Escondido and throughout North County that are putting their patients’ health and safety at risk? According to a recent article from California Health Report, the California State Auditor issued a report declaring that “California’s skilled nursing facilities are increasingly putting their residents’ health in jeopardy, yet the state is failing to adequately crack down on the problem.” In other words, patients may be suffering injuries as a result of nursing home abuse or neglect, but state agencies are not doing enough to punish and prevent those incidents.

What else should seniors in Southern California and their families know about nursing home abuse and the details of the recent report?

Increase in Substandard Care at California Skilled Nursing Facilities

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sergey-zolkin-21232-unsplash-copy-300x200In San Marcos and throughout San Diego County, new plans are being developed to combat elder abuse and to make Southern California a safer place for seniors. According to a recent article in U.S. News & World Report, San Diego County has long been named as a desirable place to live and a great location to take a family vacation. Recently, the area’s “above-average score in public safety” meant that it made the U.S. News & World Report ranking of “America’s Top 500 Healthiest Communities” out of more than 3,000 nationwide. That ranking means that, on average, San Diego County residents are among the healthiest—and happiest—in the country. In fact, the San Diego metro area is growing yet remains one of the safest in the U.S. But does the same hold true for elderly residents of San Marcos and other parts of North County?

According to the article, San Diego County District Attorney Summer Stephan is working on a “blueprint” to help stop, prosecute, and eventually prevent nursing home abuse and elder neglect in the area.

District Attorney’s Office Focuses on Senior Safety Concerns

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alex-boyd-260321-copy-300x200Elder abuse is prevalent in Carlsbad, and many families seeking out nursing homes for their elderly loved one worry about nursing home abuse and neglect. According to an article in Health & Fitness CheatSheet, there are many things that nursing homes do not want patients to know—from information contained within admission contracts to the problems and limitations facing residents within the facility. If you are considering a particular nursing home or assisted-living facility for your loved one, you should always do as much research as possible into the facility, including looking at records of violations and visiting the facility itself to get a sense of the space. In addition, you might consider some of the following issues, which, according to the article, nursing homes may not want you to know.

Many Residents are Isolated from One Another in Nursing Homes

It is important for nursing home residents to have interaction with other people and to be able to socialize. However, residents often do not have as much freedom to move around the facility as they would like, and many feel isolated from other residents. According to the article, in a recent study, about 50% of nursing home patients interviewed reported that they “felt depressed due to a lack of independence and freedom, as well as loneliness.”

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andres-de-armas-103880-copy-300x200News about the opioid crisis or opioid epidemic has put many patients on notice about the dangers of these drugs. But what about nursing home patients in Rancho Bernardo and elsewhere in Southern California who may be suffering harms from opioids, benzodiazepines, and other prescription medications? Should physicians be prescribing such medications for seniors in skilled nursing facilities, or could these drugs be doing more harm than good? Is it possible that the use—and overuse—of benzodiazepines and opioids together in nursing homes could rise to the level of nursing home abuse or nursing home neglect?

According to a recent article in The New York Times, use of benzodiazepines is on the rise among America’s seniors, yet older adults are “particularly vulnerable to the drugs’ ill effects.” In combination with opioid prescriptions, elderly adults using benzodiazepines may be at particularly severe risk of harm.

History of Benzodiazepine Dangers in Older Adults

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