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.

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.

Elder abuse can take many forms, but some commons signs are: