What You Need to Know About Nursing Home Lawsuits in California
The elderly community can often be vulnerable and susceptible to harm, and therefore, has various avenues through which to be protected. Here’s what you need to know about nursing home lawsuits in California.
Victims of nursing home abuse have a number of options to recover damages even beyond filing a lawsuit against the nursing facility, such as reporting the abuse to government agencies or filing a police report and seeking criminal charges.
How To Sue a Nursing Home
If directed at a senior (an individual older than 65 years old residing in California) in a nursing home, any of the following can be considered nursing home abuse:
- Physical abuse, including intentionally inflicting unnecessary pain, restraining or administering drugs improperly
- Sexual assault and battery
- Emotional abuse
- Neglect and endangerment
- Financial abuse and exploitation
Civil and criminal lawsuits for any of the above can be brought against staff members who work directly with patients in the nursing homes (such as nurses), administrators and supervisors of the nursing home, or the owners of the facility.
If the case is successful, compensatory damages from the case may cover the following:
- Medical bills and hospital expenses
- Extra care (long or short-term)
- Medical equipment
- Psychological counseling
Reporting Abuse to The Attorney General’s Division of Medi-Cal Fraud & Elder Abuse
The Attorney General established the Division of Medi-Cal Fraud & Elder Abuse (DMFEA) to protect elderly individuals living in nursing homes. The Division is composed of the following three units:
- Criminal law unit, which investigates and prosecutes crimes against elderly people living in nursing homes by employees in these facilities, including physical abuse and sexual assault, as well as financial abuse.
- Civil law unit, which investigates and prosecutes fraud by Medi-Cal providers, and works with other federal and state prosecutors to prevent fraud in the Medicaid system.
- Facilities enforcement team, which investigates and prosecutes owners of nursing homes that promote policies and practices that lead to poor care for residents.
Reports of suspected Medi-Cal fraud or criminal elder abuse are accepted directly by DMFEA through postal mail, two toll-free hotlines or through DMFEA’s online complaint form that can be found on their website. DMFEA’s contact information can be found here.
Reporting Abuse to the California Department of Aging
The California Department of Aging operates the Long-Term Care Ombudsman CRISISline, which is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. It was created specifically to collect concerns from residents in nursing homes. It can be reached at 1-800-231-4024.
Once the ombudsman receives a complaint, it investigates the facility and communicates with various people, which can include the resident, the nursing home’s staff and the nursing home’s owner. If the ombudsman believes that there is a legitimate problem at the facility, they may refer the case to the California Department of Public Health, which may pursue civil charges against the nursing home, or forward the case to the local district attorney’s office or to DFMEA.
FAQs About Nursing Home Lawsuits in California
How many people in California are living in nursing homes?
According to the Division of Medi-Cal Fraud & Elder Abuse, approximately 110,000 California residents live in around 1,300 licensed nursing homes, and approximately 150,000 live in around 7,500 licensed elderly residential care facilities.
How common is nursing home abuse?
In 2009, according to the Division of Medi-Cal Fraud & Elder Abuse, 13% of the complaints received by the California Office of the State Long Term Care Ombudsman involved abuse, neglect or exploitation. This number is over twice the national average.
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