California Elder Abuse Lawyer Blog

September 24, 2021

Women are More Likely to Experience Nursing Home Abuse

Nursing home abuse takes place when caregivers harm residents of the facilities. Whether it’s intentional or unintentional, it’s still considered abuse and the consequences can be dire, with the end result of distress, physical pain, medical injuries, or even death in extreme cases. Certain groups are more vulnerable than others when it comes to abuse; like many other types of abuse, victims of nursing home abuse are more likely to be women.

Women are More Likely to be Elder Abuse Victims

For elder abuse in general, studies have shown that individual-level factors which may increase the risk of abuse include the gender of the victim. Women likely have a higher risk of more constant and severe forms of injury and abuse.

September 17, 2021

Factors to Consider When Selecting a Nursing Home

By Walton Law, A.P.C.

A nursing home helps to provide a living situation for adults who have difficulty living on their own. Elderly adults can get assistance with meals, housekeeping, medical care, activities, and transportation, among other services. The first step is deciding that it’s time to consider placing your loved one into a nursing home. The next step is you to decide as a family the best place to make their new home. In no particular order, here are the main factors to think to help with your selection of a nursing home.

Location

One of the first things that you should consider when deciding on a nursing home is the location. For instance, it might be a deal breaker if a facility is not located close enough to where family members live. Another key element location is the proximity to hospitals and medical centers because this can be very important to a resident’s health. Additionally, the location may come into play due to the laws that can affect their residency. You should also pay attention the layout of the facility and whether it’s appropriate for your loved one’s specific needs, like mobility issues.

September 10, 2021

How Social Media Can Hurt Your Personal Injury Claim?

By Walton Law, A.P.C.

Silence is golden. Or at least it probably should be when it comes to social media and personal injury claims. It may start out innocently. You were involved in a serious car accident and suffered severe injuries. You make some social media posts because your friends and family are worried about you, and you want to ease their concerns. Social media is increasingly becoming more of our mode of communication. However, relying so much on social media can cause harm to your personal injury claim if you aren’t careful because much of the information obtained is fair game. As soon as you were involved in your accident or event, you want to make sure that you don’t jeopardize your upcoming case or current one.

Confidentiality

You shouldn’t talk about your potential claim or your case and certainly should not disclose certain details with anyone except an attorney. With your lawyer, the things that you talk about are confidential, and protected under the attorney client privilege. However, you lose that privilege the moment that you post something online; it is now public information. The general public, including the other side, can now be privy to the following:

September 3, 2021

Can I Sue for Hostile Work Environment if I Work from Home?

By Walton Law, A.P.C.

A work from home (WFH) schedule offers many benefits to employees. You’re spending less money and aren’t stressing out from a long commute and can go to work without ever leaving the comfort and convenience of your home. But at the same time, this more laid-back atmosphere may lead to situations that are ripe for illegal harassment. Even without being physically at the worksite, you’re still subject to some of the same challenges that you can encounter in the physical workplace.

A remote setting can’t negate a hostile work environment although it may change the number of claims arising in the workplace and the way that the harassment occurs. It’s very early to say how the increase in WFH workers will impact instances of hostile workplaces. However, when there isn’t a centralized worksite, people are less connected and fell less accountable for their conduct. It’s possible to be a victim of a hostile work environment even as a WFH employee, and it’s possible to sue your employer if you have a valid claim.

What is Considered a Hostile Work Environment?

August 27, 2021

Questions to Ask Nursing Home Residents about Abuse

By Walton Law, A.P.C.

The statistics about the frequency of nursing home abuse and neglect are far too common. It doesn’t even take in consideration, the numerous cases that go unreported every year. When it does happen to them, nursing home residents may be reluctant to speak out because they are afraid that reporting it will result in additional abuse. Sometimes victims of abuse carry shame and embarrassment and sometimes they suffer from dementia and other ailments which make it difficult to report the mistreatment. To help protect your relatives and loved ones, you can ask them questions that can get them talking and can result in exposing nursing home abuse.

Questions about Daily Activities

It’s important to ask about the residents’ daily activities and whether anyone is interfering with them. When this does occur, it can be considered willful deprivation and shows signs of neglect or a form of emotional abuse that attempts to exert control over individuals. Here are questions to ask:

August 20, 2021

Why Well-Timed Hospital Care is Significant to Nursing Home Residents

By Walton Law, A.P.C.

When you and your loved one decides that it’s time for them to move into a nursing home, you have likely made the decision based on the difficulty of them staying in their own home. You expect to depend on the care that they will receive from the nursing home staff. On some occasions, your loved one may need additional help that the nursing home can’t directly supply.

When something goes wrong with a nursing home resident, the first course of action is often to treat the problem onsite first. Depending on the level of harm, this may not be enough to treat the resident. The type of medical issues that older people generally have may require more specialized care that makes a visit to the hospital necessary.

This is why efficient hospital care is a pivotal part of an elderly person’s health care management and should be part of the consideration for nursing home residents. Included in this plan is making certain that speedy transportation is readily available.

August 13, 2021

How Do I Work with an Attorney on a Contingency Basis?

By Walton Law, A.P.C.

Many people are reluctant to hire a lawyer because they don’t think they can pay for legal fees out of pocket. Obviously, lawyers operate businesses and are paid for the work that they do. However, in personal injury cases, attorneys often don’t require payments from their clients at the onset. Instead they offer their services on a “contingency fee” basis.

The contingency fee arrangement allows an individual who has suffered a personal injury a way to hold those responsible accountable and to get the compensation that they deserve even if they can’t afford an attorney outright. This way they can seek out justice without the expense of a hefty monthly attorney bill that most other types of clients receive.

What is a Contingency Fee?

July 16, 2021

Does Your Loved One Need Memory Care?

By Walton Law, A.P.C.

Your loved one is having trouble remembering certain facts; they are disoriented and confused about a lot of details. It seems like they may have a condition beyond just aging memory issues and something more akin to developing dementia or Alzheimer’s disease. It’s worth investigating whether your loved one needs Memory Care and if so what to look for in a nursing home that offers this type of specialized care.

What is Memory Care?

Memory Care differs from regular care at nursing homes or assisted living facilities because Memory Care is specifically designed for individuals who suffer from Alzheimer’s or other types of dementia. Unlike an assisted living facility where a resident has enough independence to set their own schedules, (such as deciding when they will eat and when to engage in activities) a Memory Care facility is more like a nursing home in that the resident must have the staff manage their time and attend to their needs very closely.

July 9, 2021

What’s the Difference Between Personal Injury and Medical Malpractice?

By Walton Law, A.P.C.

Consider the following scenario: You trip and fall at the grocery store, which results in a broken leg. You want to get compensated for your health care costs and lost wages. You realize that you would want to consult with a personal injury attorney to assist you with a claim against the supermarket. But in this same situation, you receive medical care from a doctor who uses an incorrect surgical device which makes your injured leg require an additional surgery. While you’re in the hospital, you acquire an infection with the end result being an amputation of your leg. Suddenly, it occurs to you that you might need another type of attorney for your claim against the surgeon. You ask around and realize that you want someone who specializes in medical malpractice. Read on to understand the difference between personal injury and medical malpractice.

Personal Injury vs. Medical Malpractice

By being exposed to solicitations and legal advertising, many people realize that when someone experiences a physical or emotional injury due to another party’s fault, then they could pursue a claim under personal injury law and would seek this type of attorney. However, if that injury is the direct result of a medical professional like a physician, then you would consult with a medical malpractice attorney. Medical malpractice is a legal specialty under the umbrella of “personal injury law.” Thus, all malpractice lawyers are personal injury lawyers, but not all personal injury lawyers are malpractice lawyers.

July 2, 2021

5 Reasons Why Nursing Home Abuse is Frequently Unreported

By Walton Law, A.P.C.

For residents moving into nursing home facilities, there are a lot of things they must face when they move out of their own homes. Unfortunately, one of the things that they may encounter is abuse of various types, including physical, sexual, emotional, financial, and neglect. But one aspect of the abuse faced by seniors is that a lot of it remains unknown. Some studies indicate that as many as fourteen or fifteen cases of elderly abuse go unreported. Understanding why this happens isn’t simple, but there are possible factors that help to explain this phenomenon. Read on to learn about five reasons why nursing home abuse is frequently unreported.

Failure to Recognize Signs: Nursing home abuse isn’t always obvious, even to the victims. Many of the relatives and loved ones of nursing home residents aren’t familiar with the signs of abuse and thus, don’t take note of them when they occur. Even the nursing home staff may not properly identify the signs of abuse either because they erroneously associate the symptoms with the residents’ age, medical conditions, or cognitive issues, such as dementia or Alzheimer’s disease. This impacts the residents’ own perceptions of what happened to them and makes it difficult to describe the situation or in some cases, adequately recall the experience if they are suffering from emotional conditions, such as PTSD, depression, anxiety, or are disabled. While different forms of nursing home abuse manifest in multiple ways, there are various red flags to look out for. Watch out for the following indicators of abuse:

Bedsores;