Project Description
There are nearly 49 million elders in the United States, a number that is rapidly increasing due to the advances in life sustaining technologies. Sadly, there has been a corresponding increase in elder abuse and neglect in many nursing and long-term care facilities. With your loved one in a nursing facility or long-term care facility, it can be difficult to determine if there has been any abuse or neglect. At Rencher Law Group, our talented counselors at law have the skill and experience to expose elder abuse and neglect and to bring those at fault to justice.
What is Elder Abuse?
Elder abuse is defined as “a single, or repeated act, or lack of appropriate action, occurring within any relationship where there is an expectation of trust, which causes harm of distress to an older person” and is protected under California Penal Code section 368, which provides that offenders can be prosecuted as either a felony or a misdemeanor, depending on all the factors of the case.
Elder abuse can take many forms, including physical abuse, financial abuse, or physical neglect. It commonly occurs in institutional settings, particularly long-term care centers, nursing homes, and skilled nursing centers. Often in these settings, the perpetrators are kind and attentive when family members are present, but become abusive and neglectful when left alone with the people they are charged with taking care of. Elders can also be abused at home by family members, such as by spouses or adult children.
Signs of Elder Abuse
Elder abuse can take many forms, but some commons signs are:
Bedsores: Sores that develop on a person’s underside from a lack of movement.
Bodily damages: Includes bruises, scratches, open wounds, burns, and/or sores.
Lack of proper cleaning: Includes unkept sheets, un-swept/mopped floors,
Poor hygiene: Includes unwashed hair, dirty clothes, uncombed hair, unkept appearance, poor skin, and/or untrimmed finger nail or toe nails.
Malnourishment or dehydration.
Overmedication: Excessive use of antipsychotics, sedatives and other prescription drugs to “chemically restrain”
Lack of supervision: Includes staff that are inattentive to the needs of the patients.
Emotional abuse: verbal abuse and subsequent feelings of Depression and hopelessness
Contact Rencher Law Group
If you believe a loved one is suffering for elder abuse of any kind, contact Rencher Law Group today for a free case evaluation.
California law provides for the recovery of damages for pain and suffering, economic damages, and punitive damages when there has been recklessness, fraud and/or patient abandonment. It is important that you contact an attorney immediately to secure your rights.
We are leaders in representing individuals and their families subjected to elder abuse and neglect at senior, assisted living and nursing homes and will fight for you and your loved one.
We proudly serve San Francisco Bay and San Diego Areas
Alameda County
Contra Costa County
San Francisco County
San Mateo County
Santa Clara County
San Diego County
North San Diego County