California Nursing Home Abuse Lawyers: The 13 Kinds of Cases We Handle

Families rarely search for a legal category. They search for what they saw: a bruise nobody can explain, a pressure sore that appeared between visits, a parent who stopped talking, a fall that the facility called an accident. This page is organized the same way. Each of the thirteen pages below covers one kind of harm, what it looks like in a California nursing home or assisted living facility, what the facility was required to do to prevent it, and what a claim under California's Elder Abuse and Dependent Adult Civil Protection Act can recover.

Michael Young and Thomas Wallin spent years defending nursing homes before they started representing families. That history is the reason these pages read the way they do. We know which records a facility keeps, which ones it is required to keep, and where the two tend to diverge when something has gone wrong.

Neglect and injuries

Most harm in a nursing home is not a single act. It is the slow result of too few staff, a care plan nobody followed, or a warning sign nobody charted. These are the injuries that pattern produces.

• Nursing home neglect the failure to provide basic care, and the most common claim we bring. This page explains how neglect is defined under California law and how it differs from ordinary negligence.
• Bedsores and pressure ulcers almost always preventable with repositioning and skin checks. Stage 3 and 4 wounds are, in most cases, evidence of neglect in themselves.
• Falls and fractures every resident is supposed to have a fall risk assessment and a plan that matches it. A hip fracture in an elderly resident is often life-changing, and frequently the result of a plan that existed on paper only.
• Wrongful death when neglect or abuse causes a resident's death, who can bring the claim in California, what it recovers, and how it differs from a survival action.
• Sepsis and infections untreated urinary tract infections, infected pressure sores, and pneumonia that was never assessed. Sepsis is fast, and the timeline in the chart usually tells the story.
• Dehydration and malnutrition weight loss and dehydration are tracked numbers in every facility. When the numbers move and nobody responds, that is the case.
• Medication errors wrong drug, wrong dose, missed doses, dangerous combinations, and the use of sedatives as chemical restraints, which California regulates strictly.
• Choking and aspiration residents with swallowing difficulties are supposed to have modified diets and supervised meals. Choking deaths are among the most preventable we see.
• Elopement and wandering residents with dementia who leave the building unnoticed. Facilities that accept residents with cognitive impairment take on the duty to keep them safe.

Abuse

Abuse is intentional or reckless, and it is far more common than the reported numbers suggest, because the people it happens to often cannot report it.

• Physical abuse hitting, rough handling, and improper restraints. What the warning signs look like and why facilities are responsible for the staff they hire and supervise.
• Sexual abuse residents with dementia or physical limitations are the most frequent targets. Facilities have specific duties around background checks, supervision, and response to allegations.
• Emotional abuse threats, humiliation, isolation, and being ignored. Harder to photograph than a bruise, and recognized by California law all the same.
• Assisted living abuse residential care facilities for the elderly are licensed and regulated differently from skilled nursing facilities. This page explains what changes and what does not.

If you are reading this because something already happened, you do not need to finish the page. Call (888) 999-0169 or tell us what you saw and we will tell you, in that first conversation, whether it is worth investigating. Free, confidential, and no fee unless we win.

Not sure which page applies?

Many cases involve more than one of these. A resident who was neglected develops a pressure sore, the sore becomes infected, and the infection leads to sepsis. Start with the page that matches what you saw first, or skip the reading and call. We can usually tell you in a short conversation whether what you are describing is worth investigating, and which records to ask the facility for right away.

Two things matter more than picking the right category. The first is timing on the records: facilities correct and supplement charts after an incident, and requesting the complete record early, in writing, fixes what it said at the time. The second is the deadline. California's statute of limitations for elder abuse is generally two years, and much shorter for facilities run by a government entity, so the clock is often running before a family realizes there is a claim.

Where we handle these cases

We represent families in all 58 California counties, and every county page links to the injury pages above so you can see how that county's facilities compare. If you want to check a specific facility's inspection history before you call, the California nursing home directory shows the public record for every licensed skilled nursing facility in the state.

Talk to a California nursing home abuse lawyer

The first call is short and free. We ask what you saw, when it started, and what the facility has said about it. Then we tell you what we think, including when we think there is no case. Sometimes the honest answer is that we need to see the medical records before we can say, and in that case we will explain how you can request them yourself and what to look for. Once we are retained, we request the complete records ourselves right away.

Call (888) 999-0169 or request a free case review. We are former nursing home defense attorneys, we represent families in every California county, and you pay nothing unless we win.

Disclaimer: this page is general information, not legal advice, and does not create an attorney-client relationship. This page is attorney advertising. Past results do not guarantee a similar outcome.