Personal Injury Law

Reckless Neglect And Abuse By Sacramento Nursing Home, Part 4 of 11

By Moseley Collins, Esq.

(Please note: the names and locations of all parties have been changed to protect the confidentiality of the participants in this elder abuse/wrongful death case and its proceedings.)

Plaintiffs State A Claim for Willlful or Reckless Neglect of An Elder By Alleging That Defendants Failed to Make Effective Changes To Their Care Plans for Fall Prevention and Medication Administration Despite Being On Notice of Falls By Mr. Brown And Errors With His Medications.

The courts have held that Title 22 regulations governing Residential Care Facilities For The Elderly establish a special relationship to use due care between a facility and its residents, and that these regulations inform the standard of care owed to a resident, upon which the resident may rely in a direct action against the facility to establish negligence per se. (See Klein v. Bia Hotel Corporation (1996) 41 Cal.App.4th 1133 (Title 22 regulations in a residential care facility establish duty of care owed to resident of facility). Section 1569.312 of Title 22 Required Universal Care to provide Mr. Brown with care and supervision, monitoring to ensure his health, safety and well-being, assistance with activities of daily living (such as walking) to meet his needs, and planned activities.

A defendant is liable for reckless or willful neglect of an elder when it fails to protect an elder from health or safety hazards by failing to implement or change a care plan that protects against such hazards. In Intrieri v. Superior Court (2004) 117 Cal.App.4th 72, decedent was a resident of defendant's nursing home. She was attacked by another resident who entered the Alzheimer's ward. She fell, broke her hip, and ultimately passed away. Prior to the attack, the nursing home was aware of the danger the other resident posed, but did not take steps to protect the decedent and other vulnerable residents on the Alzheimer's ward. The nursing home also let the decedent develop pressure ulcers on her leg, and knowing that the resident had developed pressure sores, failed to take action so that the sores wouldn't get worse. Id. at 85.

Full post as published by Sacramento Injury Lawyer Blog on March 10, 2010 (boomark / email).