California Elder Abuse Lawyer Blog

January 1, 2021

What You Should Know about Theft in Nursing Homes

It’s never an easy decision to place your loved one into a nursing home. And it certainly isn’t easy for an individual to make the transition from living at home to living in a new setting. However, in the sea of new faces and different furniture and walls, a few well-placed keep sakes can help an unfamiliar setting feel more like home. So, you decide to make sure that you’ve packed Mom’s favorite jewelry and picture frames when she moves into her new nursing home. Then you’re dismayed when you discover that her items have disappeared. Your mom’s things were taken from her room. Unfortunately, theft in nursing homes is a common problem. Read on to learn about information about nursing home theft and guidance on how to deal with this issue.

Common Types of Property that Go Missing in Nursing Homes

Obviously, any object can be taken from the nursing home. However, there are certain items that are more likely to be reported missing. They include the following:

December 25, 2020

Is it Time to Take my Loved One Out of a Nursing Home?

By Walton Law, A.P.C.

If you’ve made the difficult decision to place your loved one into a nursing home, then you have weighed the advantages and disadvantages, made financial considerations, while keeping in mind what’s best for your family member’s well-being. The same reasoning should be applied when contemplating whether they should remain in the nursing home you chose. With the Covid-19 pandemic happening, many children, spouses, and other relatives wonder whether they should bring their loved one home during these unprecedented times, especially if there are known cases at the facility. Before you take steps to make this move, there are several issues to think about. Here are four factors to consider.

The Nursing Home’s Response to the Covid-19 Crisis

How is the facility dealing with the coronavirus? Is the place understaffed? What procedures are being done to ensure the safety of the residents? Are there cases already there and what is the facility doing to isolate those who have the virus? Do the members of the staff use adequate PPE (personal protective equipment)? Focus on the testing practices for both the staff and the residents to help determine what to do. Also, think about the ratio of staff to residents.

December 18, 2020

How to Deal with Workplace Retaliation

By Walton Law, A.P.C.

Although it may be difficult to do, employees have the right to say something when they believe that their employer has violated the law. If the employee has been harassed or mistreated, they should be able to voice their concerns about the employer’s wrongdoing without it impacting them negatively, such as a reduction in hours or outright firing. Fortunately, there are federal and state laws in place to protect workers from retaliation.

Definition of Workplace Retaliation

Employment retaliation occurs after an employee files a formal complaint about the workplace involving discrimination and/or harassment. The employer or company leader then takes negative action against the employee.

December 10, 2020

Steps to Take After You’ve Been Bitten by a Dog

By Walton Law, A.P.C.

Being bitten by a dog can be a traumatic event. In the moment, you may be so shocked that you don’t know what to do. However, you should try to stay calm and follow these steps that can protect you, and help you later if you decide to seek compensation for your injuries from the dog’s owner. Read on to learn about key steps to take after you’ve become a dog bite victim.

What to Do After a Dog Bite:

Obtain Immediate Medical Assistance: You should immediately get medical assistance right after the bite occurs. There are a lot of medical risks that are tied to animal bites. If you delay being treated right away, it could lead to a serious infection.

November 20, 2020

Sexual Abuse in California Nursing Homes – What You Need to Know

By Walton Law, A.P.C.

Skilled Nursing facilities are places for seniors and others who don’t need hospitalization, but can no longer care for themselves at home. Unfortunately, the place that is supposed to be a safe haven is just the opposite when the residents are subjected to abuse. Compared to other forms, sexual abuse in nursing homes doesn’t occur as often, but it appears to be increasing. According to the Administration for Community Living, there have been over 20,000 complaints of sexual abuse in nursing homes over the past 20 years. This equates to be about three people being sexually abused at a nursing home every day.

Because there’s no national database, it’s difficult to know how extensive this problem really is. Given the stigma associated with sexual abuse and the illnesses such as dementia that many patients suffer, many cases go unreported. The Covid-19 panic has only made things worse due to social distancing that has made it more difficult to detect signs of abuse.

Definition of Sexual Abuse

November 13, 2020

California Lactation Breaks and Remote Work

By Walton Law, A.P.C.

Long before the pandemic hit, nursing mothers had to balance taking care of their child’s nutritional needs while maintaining their work schedule. The rise of remote work has helped in this goal.

Your Rights at the Workplace Apply Remotely

The recent shift to working from home has made it easier to have a place to breast feed and pump, but that doesn’t mean that anything has changed when it comes to your rights regarding lactation breaks. Whether you’re working from home or working onsite, you’re entitled to break times. Generally, all of the rights that you have as an employee in the office are retained when you’re working remotely.

November 6, 2020

How Do Insurance Policy Limits Impact Your Car Accident Value?

By Walton Law, A.P.C.

You were driving down the road to pick up groceries when suddenly a car doing about 65 comes crashing into you. You decide to file a claim so that you can get compensated for your injuries, including your medical expenses, pain and suffering, lost wages, and quality of life losses. In order to properly get reimbursement for the damages that you sustained, you will usually have to rely upon the insurance company of the other driver. The value of your claim is the total of what you can collect. It depends on many factors, including the injuries you suffered and the amount of the insurance policy the other driver has available to them to pay the claim. In most scenarios, the realistic maximum amount of money that can be collected—regardless of the injury—is the amount of insurance policy. It plays a significant part in a car accident case and policy limits determine the total amount of money that an insurance company may pay. Read on for information on how insurance policy limits impact your car accident value.

Determining Fault

California does not recognize “no-fault” laws. Therefore, a preliminary step in your car accident case, before you can recover damages, is determining that another driver is at fault. Multiple parties can be at fault and you can file against any or all of them. Even the plaintiff can be partially be at fault. California is a comparative negligence state, which means that a negligent plaintiff can still recover damages. However, the monetary amount is reduced by their degree of fault.

October 16, 2020

Is It Better to Settle or go to Trial for Your Personal Injury Case?

By Walton Law, A.P.C.

Law is hard to navigate when you need the Legal System to help right the wrongs against you. The goal of any personal injury and wrongful death case is to get fairly compensated following your accident. As one of the top San Diego and Riverside County personal injury law firms, we are dedicated to getting results for our clients. Whether it is through a settlement or taking your case to trial, both have advantages and disadvantages.

Pros and Cons of a Personal Injury Settlement

Roughly 95% of all Personal Injury cases settle prior to trial. Some of the benefits of settling your case include:

October 16, 2020

5 Common Nursing Home Neglect Scenarios

By Walton Law, A.P.C.

One big fear many families have regarding nursing homes is the lack of appropriate and personalized care for their loved ones. Over the years, there have been countless cases of the elderly being abused and neglected in long term care facilities and nursing homes. Families need to be aware that neglect and abuse in a nursing home do not always present with obvious physical injuries, but rather as emotional abuse. In the majority of cases, elderly patient abuse in nursing homes is due to the actions or inactions of the nursing home staff.

What type of neglect can occur in nursing homes?

Medical Health Neglect: This occurs when the nursing staff fails to attend to, prevent, or treat an existing or new health problem in the senior. For example, patients with strokes who are bedridden are prone to bedsores. Universally there are established protocols to help prevent these skin problems, which are sometimes not followed. For instance, diabetic patients not only need their medications/insulin on time, the nursing staff has to simultaneously monitor the blood sugars, which if not controlled can lead to worsening of any open wound, urinary tract infection, or sepsis. Any time a senior has a change in his/her health status like the development of confusion, weakness, inability to walk or speak, this must be reported immediately to the primary care provider to determine the cause. Failure to do so can seriously compromise the health of the senior.

October 9, 2020

Are You Required to Show Your Employer Proof of Disability?

By Walton Law, A.P.C.

The employment scenario: You have a disability and have requested certain accommodations at work. Your employer is now asking to see proof of your disability and/or asking for more specific details about your disability.

The question: Is an employer’s request for disability documentation legal?

The answer: Not necessarily.