ELDER ABUSE  & NEGLECT

Is your loved one a victim of Elder Abuse or Neglect?

Whether it is in a Skilled Nursing Home (SNF) or a Board & Care/RCFE, Hospital or other Care Custodian Joel Selik has over 20 years experience In  Elder Abuse and Nursing Home Cases.

Many of the abuse committed include:

  • Bedsores (decubitus ulcers)
  • Dehydration (failing to provide water)
  • Malnutrition (failing to provide food and nutrition)
  • Medication Errors
  • Bruising and Fractures
  • Infections
  • Falls, Drops and other Injuries
  • Failing to provide for personal hygiene
  • Failure to protect from health & safety hazards
  • Allowing Residents to Lie in their own Wastes
  • Physical & Mental Abuse

Whether it is a violation of the Welfare & Institutions Code, the Nevada Revised Statutes (NRS) or Title 22, Joel Selik has years of experience to help you and your family obtain compensation.

In California the State Has Declared that Elder Abuse Is Something that must be stopped:

WELFARE AND INSTITUTIONS CODE
SECTION 15600-15601

15600.  (a) The Legislature recognizes that elders and dependent adults may be subjected to abuse, neglect, or abandonment and that this state has a responsibility to protect these persons.

(b) The Legislature further recognizes that a significant number of these persons are elderly. The Legislature desires to direct special attention to the needs and problems of elderly persons, recognizing that these persons constitute a significant and identifiable segment of the population and that they are more subject to risks of abuse, neglect, and abandonment.

(c) The Legislature further recognizes that a significant number of these persons have developmental disabilities and that mental and verbal limitations often leave them vulnerable to abuse and incapable of asking for help and protection.

(d) The Legislature recognizes that most elders and dependent adults who are at the greatest risk of abuse, neglect, or abandonment by their families or caretakers suffer physical impairments and other poor health that place them in a dependent and vulnerable position.  …

(h) The Legislature further finds and declares that infirm elderly persons and dependent adults are a disadvantaged class, that cases of abuse of these persons are seldom prosecuted as criminal matters, and few civil cases are brought in connection with this abuse due to problems of proof, court delays, and the lack of incentives to prosecute these suits.

(i) Therefore, it is the intent of the Legislature in enacting this chapter to provide that adult protective services agencies, local long-term care ombudsman programs, and local law enforcement agencies shall receive referrals or complaints from public or private agencies, from any mandated reporter submitting reports pursuant to Section 15630, or from any other source having reasonable cause to know that the welfare of an elder or dependent adult is endangered, and shall take any actions considered necessary to protect the elder or dependent adult and correct the situation and ensure the individual’s safety.

(j) It is the further intent of the Legislature in adding Article 8.5 (commencing with Section 15657) to this chapter to enable interested persons to engage attorneys to take up the cause of abusedelderly persons and dependent adults.

In Nevada NRS 41.1395 Provides:

NRS 41.1395 Action for damages for injury or loss suffered by older or vulnerable person from abuse, neglect or exploitation; double damages; attorney’s fees and costs.

NRS 41.1395 Action for damages for injury or loss suffered by older or vulnerable person from abuse, neglect or exploitation; double damages; attorney’s fees and costs.

  1. Except as otherwise provided in subsection 3, if an older person or a vulnerable person suffers a personal injury or death that is caused by abuse or neglect or suffers a loss of money or property caused by exploitation, the person who caused the injury, death or loss is liable to the older person or vulnerable person for two times the actual damages incurred by the older person or vulnerable person.
  1. If it is established by a preponderance of the evidence that a person who is liable for damages pursuant to this section acted with recklessness, oppression, fraud or malice, the court shall order the person to pay the attorney’s fees and costs of the person who initiated the lawsuit.
  1. The provisions of this section do not apply to a person who caused injury, death or loss to a vulnerable person if the person did not know or have reason to know that the harmed person was a vulnerable person.
  1. For the purposes of this section:

(a) “Abuse” means willful and unjustified:
(1) Infliction of pain, injury or mental anguish; or
(2) Deprivation of food, shelter, clothing or services which are necessary to maintain the physical or mental health of an older person or a vulnerable person.
(b) “Exploitation” means any act taken by a person who has the trust and confidence of an older person or a vulnerable person or any use of the power of attorney or guardianship of an older person or a vulnerable person to:
(1) Obtain control, through deception, intimidation or undue influence, over the money, assets or property of the older person or vulnerable person with the intention of permanently depriving the older person or vulnerable person of the ownership, use, benefit or possession of that person’s money, assets or property; or
(2) Convert money, assets or property of the older person with the intention of permanently depriving the older person or vulnerable person of the ownership, use, benefit or possession of that person’s money, assets or property.

As used in this paragraph, “undue influence” does not include the normal influence that one member of a family has over another.

(c) “Neglect” means the failure of a person who has assumed legal responsibility or a contractual obligation for caring for an older person or a vulnerable person, or who has voluntarily assumed responsibility for such a person’s care, to provide food, shelter, clothing or services within the scope of the person’s responsibility or obligation, which are necessary to maintain the physical or mental health of the older person or vulnerable person. For the purposes of this paragraph, a person voluntarily assumes responsibility to provide care for an older or vulnerable person only to the extent that the person has expressly acknowledged the person’s responsibility to provide such care.

(d) “Older person” means a person who is 60 years of age or older.
(e) “Vulnerable person” means a person who:
(1) Has a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more of the major life activities of the person; and
(2) Has a medical or psychological record of the impairment or is otherwise regarded as having the impairment.
The term includes, without limitation, a person who is mentally retarded, a person who has a severe learning disability, a person who suffers from a severe mental or emotional illness or a person who suffers from a terminal or catastrophic illness or injury.