San Francisco California Elder Abuse Law Blog

Last Christmas Eve, authorities arrested two women on their way to Hong Kong as suspects for a scamming practice targeting elderly Chinese women. A few weeks ago, a third woman was arrested for alleged involvement with the blessing scam.

The scheme involved convincing elderly Chinese women that a healer could mend their physical ailments. Scammers would convince the women to bring valuables in a bag to a location for a blessing. A “healer” would put a blessing on the valuables and banish the ghost or spirit that was causing their ailments. During the “ritual” the scammers would switch the valuable bags with a ringer, tell the mark to leave without looking into the bag and keep the valuables.

As our elders begin to need daily assistance, many of us start to research nursing homes and assisted living facilities. We all want our older family members to receive proper care but we also want them to feel happy and fulfilled. You probably already know how physical elder abuse can injure or even kill older California residents, but psychological or emotional abuse also causes serious damage to these vulnerable members of society.

Cruelty and emotional abuse leave no physical scars to alert us to any danger our elders may be facing. Since older people typically want to minimize the worry their families feel, they may not report the abusive behaviors. These two factors can make it difficult to spot psychological abuse. Therefore, we must look deeper so that we can distinguish normal aging behaviors from signs of harmful emotional trauma. These signs include the following.

• Sudden or unexplained fearfulness
• Reduced participation in enjoyable activities
• Loss of interest in one's self
• Difficulty making eye contact, especially with a care provider
• Unexplained confusion or paranoia
• Withdrawal, resignation and other unusual reactions to the environment

Did you know that the development of bedsores (aka pressure ulcers) is a preventable phenomenon? The presence of bedsores is a massive problem in California nursing homes, leading family members to believe that the issue is unavoidable. In truth, when residents suffer from ongoing and persistent bedsores, it may indicate that long-term care facility neglect is the true culprit.

It is safe to assume that most nursing home workers care about their patients and work hard to make residents healthy, safe and comfortable. Unfortunately, many of these facilities are understaffed. When there are not enough employees to go around, the risk of long-term care facility neglect leading to patient health concerns increases.

When the time comes to place a beloved family member into a nursing facility, you may experience a great deal of apprehension. After all, the news media is full of disturbing reports about elder abuse in these facilities. Families often worry that they will inadvertently expose their elders to such abuse.

Unfortunately, you cannot always know whether your family member experiences mistreatment after becoming a resident. However, you can stack the odds in your favor by doing a little research. Below you will find four free resources to assist you when looking into the background of California nursing homes.