Treating California’s Injured With Dignity And Respect

Protect Your Loved Ones From Elder Abuse

Physical abuse, financial abuse and neglect of vulnerable senior citizens living in nursing homes and skilled nursing facilities are a growing problem in California and nationwide. Large parent companies seeking to cut costs understaff their facilities and rely on unqualified personnel to perform medical and caregiving services. Bedsores, prescription errors, stealing from the elderly and other abuses are sadly too common.

At Abramson Smith Waldsmith LLP, our trial attorneys represent seniors and their family members in abuse and neglect cases involving unnecessary pain and suffering, severe bruising, falls and broken bones, bedsores and untreated infections leading to amputations, malnutrition, dehydration and wrongful death.

We Fight For Justice

Throughout our personal injury practice, we choose our cases carefully and devote our full personal attention, the strength of our experience and our firm’s resources to each one. In elder abuse cases, we involve medical and nursing experts to help us prepare our cases for presentation to a jury, and we systematically investigate and document the causes of injuries and deaths.

While no amount of money can compensate for injury to, or the loss of, a loved one under abusive or neglectful circumstances, damage awards against nursing home parent companies provide powerful financial incentives for significant improvements in staffing and care. We are especially proud of our successful cases that also resulted in improved conditions in nursing homes.

Making Sure Nursing Home Residents Have Respectful, Safe Environments

Senior citizens deserve dignity and safety in their nursing homes. Too often, though, they become victims of abuse or neglect. If you suspect that someone you love has suffered mistreatment at the hands of nursing home staff, Abramson Smith Waldsmith LLP can help you hold the perpetrators accountable, prevent the facility from enabling such behavior and recover compensation for your damages.

Since 1974, we have advocated fiercely for the people of the Bay Area and throughout California who have suffered abuse, accidents, personal injuries and other acts of negligence or maltreatment. We treat you and your loved one with the respect that you deserve as we fight for what is right.

Understanding The Elder Abuse And Dependent Adult Civil Protection Act (EADACPA)

California law provides elder abuse victims and their families with legal protections that go well beyond what standard personal injury claims offer. Under California Welfare and Institutions Code § 15657, when a nursing home or care facility acts with recklessness, oppression, fraud or malice, the court may award:

Attorney fees and costs, meaning your family pays nothing out of pocket for legal expenses if you prevail
Pain and suffering damages, including compensation for the victim’s suffering prior to death in wrongful death cases – a remedy unavailable under standard wrongful death claims
Punitive damages in cases involving malice, oppression or fraud

Many families never pursue these cases because they assume they cannot afford to go up against a large nursing home chain. The EADACPA’s attorney fees provision removes that barrier entirely. We are here to make sure cost never stands between your family and justice.

What To Do If You Suspect Abuse Or Neglect

What makes elder abuse so sinister is that many elderly people have disabilities, can no longer defend themselves physically or cannot communicate what they experience. It is important to remain on the lookout for signs of abuse or neglect such as:

Malnutrition and dehydration: Look for sudden weight loss, dry skin, cracked lips or persistent complaints of hunger and thirst. While appetite can decline with age, rapid physical deterioration in a care setting typically signals that staff are failing to meet a resident’s basic nutritional needs. Consistent failure to provide adequate food and hydration may constitute actionable neglect under California law.
Unexplained bruises or lacerations: Bruising in unusual locations such as the torso, back or inner arms, or injuries that staff cannot adequately explain warrant serious concern. Patterned bruising or wounds in various stages of healing suggest ongoing mistreatment rather than accidental contact. When injuries appear repeatedly or explanations are inconsistent, it is time to consult an attorney.
Depression or anxiety: Watch for sudden withdrawal, loss of interest in conversation or a noticeable shift in your loved one’s overall mood. These changes are not an inevitable part of aging and frequently indicate chronic stress or emotional mistreatment. When behavioral shifts coincide with other warning signs, they can support a broader pattern of abuse in a legal case.
Fearful behavior around certain staff members: If your loved one becomes visibly distressed or withdrawn when a particular staff member is present, take that reaction seriously. Elderly residents often cannot verbalize abuse, making physical and emotional reactions around specific individuals a meaningful indicator of mistreatment. Documented patterns of fearful behavior can serve as important evidence in a claim.
Bedsores: Pressure ulcers develop when residents go without repositioning for extended periods. These are largely preventable outcomes with proper care. Their presence almost always reflects a failure in basic nursing protocols rather than an unavoidable medical condition. When bedsores progress to infections or serious complications, the facility may face significant legal liability.
Poor hygiene, including soiled garments: Unwashed hair, body odor, soiled clothing or unchanged bedding indicate that a resident’s daily care needs are going unmet. Hygiene-related neglect is not a byproduct of aging – it is a direct result of understaffing or staff indifference. Persistent failures that go unaddressed after notification can constitute actionable neglect under California law.
Bleeding or bruising in the genital area: Unexplained injuries in the genital area are among the most serious warning signs of sexual abuse in a care facility. These injuries have no benign explanation in a nursing home setting and should be treated as a medical and legal emergency. Families who discover these injuries should contact law enforcement and an elder abuse attorney immediately.
Unexplained financial transfers or withdrawals: Financial abuse often surfaces as sudden account withdrawals, missing valuables, changes to estate documents or a resident’s confusion about their own finances. Unlike other signs of abuse, financial mistreatment leaves a paper trail that can prove critical in building a legal case. When a caregiver or staff member exerts undue influence over a resident’s finances, California law provides meaningful remedies.

Try to document every suspicious sign that you notice by taking photographs or keeping a diary. Then, contact a nursing home abuse lawyer immediately to discuss your options and rights. At our firm, we understand the sense of powerlessness that accompanies elder abuse. We do everything we can to gather evidence, put together a claim and stop the abuse immediately.

We Want To Help You Protect Your Loved Ones

If you know or suspect that an elder family member is receiving substandard care or is being abused in a nursing home or long-term care facility, please contact our law offices at 866-399-3548 today for skilled and knowledgeable legal counsel.