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A nursing home abuse lawyer in California who is also a registered nurse investigates bedsores, falls, dehydration, medication errors, understaffing, and neglect in skilled nursing facilities. Skilled nursing facilities are paid to keep residents safe, fed, clean, and medicated correctly. When a facility is short-staffed, cuts corners, or ignores its own care plans, residents are injured. Jasinska Law Firm Professional Corporation investigates these cases with a nurse’s eye for what the chart should show and does not.
A nursing home abuse lawyer in California who is also a registered nurse investigates bedsores, falls, dehydration, medication errors, understaffing, and neglect in skilled nursing facilities. Skilled nursing facilities are paid to keep residents safe, fed, clean, and medicated correctly. When a facility is short-staffed, cuts corners, or ignores its own care plans, residents are injured. Jasinska Law Firm Professional Corporation investigates these cases with a nurse’s eye for what the chart should show and does not.
Why Nursing Experience Matters
Why Nursing Experience Matters
In elder abuse cases the medical details decide the outcome. A nurse knows what a complete assessment looks like, what a copied-forward note looks like, and how an electronic record timestamps every entry. Eliza Jasinska, Esq. spent 25 years at the bedside before becoming a lawyer. She reads the nursing notes, medication records, care plans, weight logs, and wound assessments the way the facility’s own nurses do, and that review happens in-house before any outside expert is retained.
How Understaffing Becomes Neglect
How Understaffing Becomes Neglect
California requires skilled nursing facilities to provide at least 3.5 nursing hours per resident per day, with 2.4 of those hours from certified nursing assistants (Health and Safety Code section 1276.65). When a facility runs below that line, the work that keeps residents safe is the first to go: repositioning every two hours, answering call lights, helping with meals, toileting on schedule. The injuries that follow are predictable. A facility’s own payroll and census records can prove the harm was foreseeable.
Common Forms of Nursing Home Neglect
Common Forms of Nursing Home Neglect
Pressure ulcers and bedsores Nursing Home Pressure Ulcers / Pressure Ulcers and Bedsores in Nursing Home
Falls and fractures Falls and Fractures
Dehydration and malnutrition Dehydration and Malnutrition
Infection, sepsis, and delayed treatment Infection, Sepsis, Delayed Treatment
Medication errors Medication Errors
Elopement and wandering Elopement and Wandering
Physical abuse Physical Abuse
Sexual abuse Sexual Abuse
Physical injuries from rough handling or unsafe transfers Nursing Home Physical Injuries
Wrongful death Wrongful Death In Nursing Homes
How a Case Is Evaluated
How a Case Is Evaluated
The family tells us what happened and what they saw.
We obtain the facility chart, hospital records, and incident reports.
A nurse reviews the chart against the standard of care.
We examine staffing on the shifts that matter, charting patterns, and the facility’s state survey history.
We give the family a straight answer about whether the facts support a claim and what pursuing it would involve.
What We Look For
What We Look For
Staffing records showing how many nurses and aides were on each shift
Care plans and whether they were followed
Charting that was copied, back-dated, or left blank
Incident reports and whether the family and physician were notified
The facility’s state survey history and prior citations
What California Law Provides
What California Law Provides
The Elder Abuse and Dependent Adult Civil Protection Act (Welfare and Institutions Code section 15600 and following) protects residents 65 and older and dependent adults 18 to 64. Neglect under the Act includes failing to provide food, water, hygiene, medical care, or protection from health and safety hazards (section 15610.57). When neglect is proven to be reckless by clear and convincing evidence, the family can recover attorney’s fees and costs and damages for the resident’s pain and suffering even after death (section 15657). These remedies are in addition to ordinary negligence and wrongful death claims, and they are not subject to the damages limits that apply to medical malpractice.
Take Action to Protect Your Loved One
Take Action to Protect Your Loved One
Write down dates, times, names of staff, and what you saw.
Photograph injuries and conditions, with the date, if the resident consents.
Request the care plan, medication list, and weight records in writing.
Report concerns to the facility administrator in writing and keep a copy.
Report to the Long-Term Care Ombudsman (800-231-4024) or the California Department of Public Health.
Call before the records change hands.
Time Limits
Time Limits
Most elder abuse and neglect claims must be filed within two years of the injury (Code of Civil Procedure section 335.1). Claims pleaded as professional negligence have a shorter window (Code of Civil Procedure section 340.5). Claims against a public facility require a written government claim within six months (Government Code section 911.2). Call early.
Most elder abuse and neglect claims must be filed within two years of the injury (Code of Civil Procedure section 335.1). Claims pleaded as professional negligence have a shorter window (Code of Civil Procedure section 340.5). Claims against a public facility require a written government claim within six months (Government Code section 911.2). Call early.
Questions Families Ask
Questions Families Ask
Q: What is the Elder Abuse and Dependent Adult Civil Protection Act, and why does it matter?
It is the California law that treats neglect of an elder or dependent adult in a care facility as more than ordinary negligence. When the facility’s conduct was reckless, it allows the family to recover attorney’s fees and the resident’s pain and suffering, which ordinary negligence and wrongful death claims do not.
Q: What is the Elder Abuse and Dependent Adult Civil Protection Act, and why does it matter?
It is the California law that treats neglect of an elder or dependent adult in a care facility as more than ordinary negligence. When the facility’s conduct was reckless, it allows the family to recover attorney’s fees and the resident’s pain and suffering, which ordinary negligence and wrongful death claims do not.
Q: Who is protected?
Anyone 65 or older, and any adult 18 to 64 with physical or mental limitations that restrict the ability to protect their own rights, including every patient admitted to a 24-hour health facility (Welfare and Institutions Code sections 15610.23 and 15610.27).
Q: Who is protected?
Anyone 65 or older, and any adult 18 to 64 with physical or mental limitations that restrict the ability to protect their own rights, including every patient admitted to a 24-hour health facility (Welfare and Institutions Code sections 15610.23 and 15610.27).
Q: How do I know whether this was a mistake or something more serious?
A single missed dose is a mistake. A resident who lost fifteen pounds in two months with no dietitian note, or who fell four times with no change to the care plan, is a pattern. Patterns are what the Act was written for.
Q: How do I know whether this was a mistake or something more serious?
A single missed dose is a mistake. A resident who lost fifteen pounds in two months with no dietitian note, or who fell four times with no change to the care plan, is a pattern. Patterns are what the Act was written for.
Q: What makes a case under the Act stronger than a regular negligence case?
The facility’s own records. Staffing sheets, care plans, and nursing notes are evidence of what the facility knew and what it chose to do. A nurse attorney reads those records at intake.
Q: What makes a case under the Act stronger than a regular negligence case?
The facility’s own records. Staffing sheets, care plans, and nursing notes are evidence of what the facility knew and what it chose to do. A nurse attorney reads those records at intake.
Q: Do I need medical records before calling?
No. Tell us what you saw. We request the records.
Q: Do I need medical records before calling?
No. Tell us what you saw. We request the records.
Q: If the facility blames old age, does that matter?
Age explains decline. It does not explain a stage 4 wound, an unwitnessed fall from a bed that was supposed to be alarmed, or a fever charted for two days before anyone called the doctor.
Q: If the facility blames old age, does that matter?
Age explains decline. It does not explain a stage 4 wound, an unwitnessed fall from a bed that was supposed to be alarmed, or a fever charted for two days before anyone called the doctor.
Q: What if my loved one has passed away?
The estate can bring the elder abuse claim the resident could have brought, including pain and suffering, and the family can bring a wrongful death claim for its own loss. The two-year deadline still applies.
Q: What if my loved one has passed away?
The estate can bring the elder abuse claim the resident could have brought, including pain and suffering, and the family can bring a wrongful death claim for its own loss. The two-year deadline still applies.
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