Placentia, California

Welcome to the website of Placentia, CA for the Yeroushalmi Law. This page is intended to provide information about elder mistreatment or neglect in nursing homes to protect the residents of Placentia from patients’ rights violations. At Yeroushalmi, we believe no older adult placed in the trusted care of medical institutions should experience the trauma from abuses. However, were such incidents to occur, we are here to provide legal expertise to support you or your loved one.

Placentia literally means a “pleasant place to live”. Its origins as a city date back to the early 1800’s when it was used mainly for agriculture, growing citrus fruits, nuts, grapes and even avocados. In 1926, Placentia residents voted to incorporate it officially as a California City, and now it is home to 50,533 people according to 2016-2017 demographics. In the 70’s, Placentia was awarded the prestigious “All America City” Award, which is given to only ten cities in the U.S., recognizing the unity of the people in working together to address community issues.

As a place where citizens look after one another, it is paramount to have the same conscientiousness for elder care. There are zero nursing homes in the city of Placentia itself, but 12 facilities near the city. Because elder mistreatment may not be a common topic of local discussion, we hope this page can provide adequate knowledge in protecting our older adults. A common area of elder neglect includes mismanaged medications, which can fatally lead to falls and/or rehospitalizations. Mismanaged medications may include lack of thorough communication during a patients’ care plan to provide the correct medication, or the wrongful distribution—or lack of distribution—of medication by nursing homes. Polypharmacy, or the use of multiple drugs to treat a single condition, is common amongst older adults, and some reports say on average, each resident at a nursing home takes seven different medications. Neglect of careful management of a patients’ medication and their condition afterwards can cause rehospitalization and at times, fatal consequences. Further, when certain medications, such as sedatives or antidepressants are not regulated properly, the patient also may be at risk of falling.

According to 2016 statistics from the U.S. Center of Disease Control and Prevention or CDC, about 2.8 million older Americans are hospitalized annually due to fall injuries. In addition to causing of billions of dollars of medical care costs, falls today have become the number one cause of death and injury for U.S. older adults. Falls are particularly dangerous for older adults due to normative aging changes, such as weaker muscles and/or vision changes. However, as aforementioned, certain medications will cause more dizziness and sleepiness, resulting in a greater likelihood for falls to happen. Nursing homes’ main responsibility is to oversee the medical recovery and maintenance of their residents. Therefore, medications should be administered properly, and elder neglect or mistreatment leading to fatal consequences, such as falls, should never happen.

At Yeroushalmi Law, we believe nursing homes should be held accountable for the elder care they provide. Should you feel a nursing home or assisted living facility has committed improper care towards you or your loved one, contact us for a free consultation.