Welcome to the Yeroushalmi Law website for the city of San Leandro. We are proud to offer our services to the San Francisco Bay Area. Our attorneys are solely dedicated to nursing home neglect litigation and can help you if your loved one has fallen victim to elder abuse. Nursing home neglect is a very specialized sector of the law that requires specific knowledge of the injuries that frequently occur in skilled nursing facilities. With over 16 years of experience in elder abuse litigation, our attorneys have achieved numerous favorable results for our clients.
San Leandro is located in the east San Francisco Bay Area. The city was incorporated in 1856. The current population of San Leandro is 84,950 and the city historically has a large Portuguese population. There are seven skilled nursing facilities located in San Leandro.
All too often, we find that nursing homes will place profits over people by cutting necessary resources and staffing to save money. Taking shortcuts when providing care to patients, however, can accelerate the already declining health of the elderly. Our attorneys have heard personal accounts from clients whose loved ones were healthy and able to care for themselves. After just a few months in the facility, however, the health of these residents declines very rapidly as patients become increasingly dependent upon caregivers.
This is because understaffed nursing homes do not always provide an environment in which independence in activities of daily living is encouraged. For example, some patients simply need assistance using the restroom. However, nurses in understaffed facilities will sometimes force these patients to wear diapers, even when they are not incontinent, because it is more convenient than constantly having to help the patient to the restroom. Instead of encouraging the patient to maintain his or her continence, putting patients in diapers when they do not need them facilitates the development of incontinence.
Other cases that we have seen also involve patients who require assistance to use the restroom. To alert the staff that they need assistance, patients will push their call lights. In understaffed facilities, however, patients can sometimes be left waiting for over an hour. The patients will then attempt to get out of bed to use the restroom without assistance, fall and injure themselves.
Whether it is incontinence or the prevention of falls, however, both of these issues can be tied to understaffing. While some facilities claim to meet the minimum 3.5 nursing hours per patient day (NHPPD) that is required by California law, many of them continue to violate Health and Safety Code 1599.1 (a). Under this regulation, skilled nursing facilities are required to provide sufficient staff to tend to the needs of all patients, even if this exceeds the minimum 3.5 NHPPD. Based on our experience in elder abuse litigation, the patients who reside in nursing homes usually require far above the minimum.
If you believe that your loved one resides in a home that is understaffed, he or she may be a victim of neglect. Contact us today for a free consultation.