Free Consultations With Our Nursing Home Neglect Lawyers
If your loved one suddenly died in a California nursing home, assisted living facility, or in a California rehabilitation hospital, you must prove that someone in the skilled nursing facility accidentally or deliberately caused or contributed to the death of your loved one to sue the skilled nursing facility. Elder abuse in nursing homes and assisted living facilities is not necessarily lack of adequate medical care or physical abuse. An elder is an adult 65 years old or older. Elder abuse may be financial fraud, theft, or a breach of a fiduciary duty. Elder abuse may be by a family member, by nursing home staff, or by a third-party who saw a way to profit from association with your elder.
Death of Seniors During Covid-19 Pandemic
From June to August 2020, Forbes magazine and the New York Post reported that 43 percent of all the people who died from covid-19 in the United States were elders living in nursing homes and assisted living facilities. Sick nursing home residents died in hospitals, and cardiac arrests were not necessarily sent to the hospital during the height of the Covid-19 crisis.
Elder Abuse Lawyers Los Angeles
If you suspect your senior family member is being abused in a nursing home, assisted living facility, or hospice, our elder abuse lawyers Los Angeles can help you or a probate officer form a guardianship to assume care of your family member and his or her finances. Your loved one's assets can be held in trust to pay for his or her living expenses with the balance payable on death to his or her beneficiaries.
Breach of Duty
Our nursing home neglect lawyers can help you during your difficult time of grief. If your elder died of covid-19 in a skilled nursing facility within the state of California, you have to prove that the skilled nursing facility or its personnel contributed to the death of your loved one to file a wrongful death lawsuit.
Physical Abuse
If you suspect that your loved one is being physically abused in a nursing home where he or she should be safe, our injury lawyer Los Angeles can investigate your complaint. You can report the abuse to Adult Protective Services within the state of California, or our injury attorney will report the abuse for you. Adult Protective Services is the California agency that investigates complaints of physical elder abuse in nursing homes.
Financial Abuse
Elder financial abuse is often reported by a bank officer who notices large withdrawals from the senior's bank account or an attorney who notices an unusual modification to a resident's trust funds or will. Financial abuse can be a scam, excessive fees and charges, or stealing personal information to get counterfeit credit cards in one's own name. Financial abuse can be stealing a nursing home resident's property or cashing checks signed by the elderly resident. Financial abuse often leaves the nursing home resident without adequate funds to pay for his or her living expenses.
Recognizing Financial Abuse
If you notice credit card charges, money transfers, or withdrawals that your loved one can't explain, missing checks, sloppy signatures, unpaid bills, or a family member or friend gets closer to your loved one and visits him or her often, you should report your suspicions to your loved one's bank. Bank tellers and officers may be able to end the financial abuse immediately, or they are required by federal law to submit a Suspicious Activity Report and report nursing home neglect to the federal government for further investigation.
Financial Crime Officers
Complaints of abuse or neglect from a bank, lawyer, or family member are investigated by California financial crime officers who subpoena your loved one's financial records to see if there is any unusual activity on your family member's bank account. If the financial crime officer determines that someone is misappropriating your loved one's funds, he or she contacts a California probate officer to report nursing home neglect.
Probate Officers and Attorneys
In nursing home abuse cases, probate officers or probate attorneys petition a California judge alleging financial abuse has occurred and recommend putting your family member in a conservatorship to safeguard his or her remaining accounts and assets.
Suing a Nursing Home for Negligence
Suing a nursing home for negligence through a medical malpractice lawsuit requires your nursing home neglect lawyers to file a diagnosis of your elder’s injuries or illness caused by the negligence of the nursing home. The diagnosis must be followed by a certificate of merit signed by a physician that offers prima facie evidence that medical malpractice occurred. If you can prove your case has merit, the health care provider may offer you a medical malpractice settlement rather than engage in costly medical malpractice litigation.
Conservatorship
If your loved one is no longer able to take care of him or herself, pay all of his expenses, or manage her own finances, your elder abuse lawyers Los Angeles or California probate officer can petition a judge to appoint a conservator to take responsibility for your loved one's care and finances. The California probate officer identifies and notifies the elder's family hoping for his or her next of kin to take responsibility. If the next of kin cannot be located or if the family does not reside in or near California, the probate officer can act as guardian.
Estate Law
Our injury lawyer Los Angeles can tenaciously represent your elder, you as his or her guardian, court-appointed trustee, and your elder's other family members. Our nursing home neglect lawyers can perform the fiduciary duties of trust and estate management, mediate or litigate estate related disputes, and review financial transactions, deposits and expenses to file your deceased’s final taxes, pay his or her final bills, and distribute your loved one's remaining wealth held in trust to his or her beneficiaries.
The Law Office of Nigel Burns
Call our elder abuse attorney today to schedule an appointment or discuss the abuse of your elderly loved one in a California skilled nursing facility. Our probate attorney administers simple or complex estates with multiple beneficiaries, the succession of small businesses, and high net worth estates with taxation issues. You can schedule an appointment in our conveniently located Los Angeles office. Our fees are reasonable.