Downey, California

Welcome to the Downey Nursing Home Neglect website for the Law Offices of Ben Yeroushalmi. We have created this page because as Los Angeles elder abuse attorneys, we would like to extend to you our knowledge on the litigation of nursing home neglect, and increase awareness of its dangers and implications.

Located 13 miles southeast of downtown Los Angeles, Downey was founded by and named for its former and youngest ever governor of California, John Gately Downey. Knowing oranges would flourish in Southern California, Downey imported several varieties, and set in motion what became one of the state's biggest cash crops. Suburban homes and factories replaced the farms after World War II, and Downey was incorporated in 1956. Downey is home to the third and oldest surviving McDonald's. It is also where folk singer Karen Carpenter lived and died. But the city may be best known as the birthplace of the Apollo Space Program. As of the 2010 census, the Downey had a total population of 111,772. The city has four Skilled Nursing Facilities.

As you engage in the process of choosing a nursing home that is suitable for yourself or your loved one, there are a certain issues that you must keep in mind. A sensible place to begin your search is by looking at a facility's brochures. Here you can ascertain basic information about the facility and identify its mission statement and promises to its residents. However, you must take these promises with a grain of salt, seeing as many nursing homes often fail to execute them. In order to gain a full sense of the quality of care that a skilled nursing facility will provide to you or your loved one, you must physically visit the home. We recommend that you visit at different times, in order to gauge the staffing levels at various hours of the day. While homes may appear to be fully staffed during the daytime, we often find that they are chronically understaffed at night.

It is also important for you to ensure that the facility is adequately staffed during mealtimes. Despite the fact that we reside in a country with an abundant food supply and clean drinking water, many nursing home residents suffer from malnutrition and dehydration as a direct result of a facility's understaffing. Even when a facility is adequately staffed, the nurses are sometimes improperly trained and feed residents foods that do not comply with physician's orders or foods that are simply unhealthy for the resident. Consequently, many residents often develop health problems because they are not receiving proper nutrition. In the most extreme cases, patients have actually starved to death because facilities are understaffed and the sparse staff that is available has many other duties to fulfill and simply forgets to feed certain residents.

If you are or have been a victim of malnutrition or dehydration, please contact us today. As specialists in nursing home abuse litigation, we will combine our extensive knowledge of elder abuse with our fervent dedication to helping the elderly who have been harmed by the neglect of skilled nursing facilities to advocate on your behalf, saving you the frustration and stress of handling the problem alone. As specialists in the area of nursing home neglect, we possess a thorough knowledge of the complexities of elder abuse litigation and will employ the proper tools and strategies to ensure maximal benefits for our clients.

For example, referring to the situation discussed above, we can begin to gather information about the facility by scrutinizing its brochure. We can then identify the nursing home's promises to your loved one, as a resident, both verbal and documented, and hold the facility accountable for these promises. This information can be helpful in drafting the initial complaint, or in questioning the nursing staff in depositions. While these few steps in the litigation process may seem perplexing to you, we are here to help you navigate through these complexities and make this difficult process as easy as possible for you. Contact us today for a free consultation. If you cannot come to us, we will come to your home or hospital bed to meet with you or your loved ones.