Elder Abuse Attorney

After World War II, we had the Baby Boom, which was the largest expansion of the US population in history over the shortest period of time. Nationwide, there are 1.3 million individuals who are in some form of a nursing home or health care facility. In California, there are hundreds of thousands, and the statistics show that 1 in 10 people have experienced some form of abuse. But only 1 in 14 have made a report. The law in this area says that any person having the responsibility to care for someone or someone in their custody who is dependent upon them must exercise that degree of care that a reasonable person in a like position would exercise. Who is a dependent adult? It's someone with a physical or mental limitation or disability who's required upon others for their care. As we know, there's a large growth in the area of Alzheimer's in memory care units. People who are in those facilities, folks who are completely unable to take care of themselves because of catastrophic injury, who are in long term acute care facilities, those who are dependent on others in nursing homes, and folks who are in 24-hour care facilities are considered to be dependent adults. The law protects not only actual abuse, but neglect that causes harm. The types of abuse suffered by elderly and dependent individuals include physical harm, emotional harm, neglect, abandonment, and unfortunately, we've seen sexual assault. Additionally, there is financial abuse. Financial abuse often occurs when someone gains the confidence or the legal right to act on behalf of an elderly or dependent person. They get control of their assets, sometimes getting power of attorney to be on checking accounts and to transfer property. They may actually transfer property to themselves or sell it on a sweetheart deal to somebody else. Additionally, they may cause a will to be changed such that they become a beneficiary. A lot of these cases, we see that people are being sequestered, that they are being withheld from other family members so that the financial abuse can be done in secret. We've dealt with over a dozen cases involving sexual abuse of adult independent people. These are serious cases. If you believe that there's any type of elder abuse that's occurring to you or someone you love, call Adult Protective Services. Begin to take photographs. Contact the California Department of Public Health and have them investigate. If you want to make sure that your loved one does not suffer abuse, it's suggested that you go to the California Public Health portal that has a list of different facilities, including the numbers and types of violations they have. People who have suffered elder abuse have the right to recover damages. Those damages can include medical bills, they can include special types of devices, chairs, lifts, or other things that are now required because of the injury. They can also recover non-economic damages, and that includes pain and suffering, emotional distress, humiliation, fear, and anxiety. Additionally, the law provides for the recovery of special damages, including attorneys' fees, because the law wants people to prosecute these cases. If you or someone you know, knows of an elder or adult dependent person who has suffered because of neglect or abuse, contact us at the Dolan Law Firm. We take these cases very seriously, and we have been able to recover tens of millions of dollars for victims of this type of abuse.