Articles Posted in Elder Abuse

Justice always requires someone willing to seek it. In many cases, the first step towards justice is a witness or victim speaking up and reporting a wrong. All too often, as our Oakland elder abuse law firm knows from first-hand accounts, witnesses and victims are afraid to speak. Even the most well-meaning and good-hearted people can be worried about retribution or be paralyzed by doubt about their role and whether it is their place to speak up. The law can help by clarifying responsibilities. A new provision in California law on mandatory reporting of elder abuse seeks to do just this, making it clear that certain witnesses have an obligation to speak up when they see a wrong and allowing the law to guide them when they might doubt the proper response.

Obligation to Report Elder Abuse Expanded for Care Center Staff

As reported recently in The Napa Valley Register, a new law took effect on January 1st that aims to help combat the problem of caregivers abusing, neglecting, or stealing from seniors by expanding mandatory reporting requirements. Assembly Bill 40 doubles prior reporting duties for those required by California law to report witnessing abuse of long-term care center residents. The mandatory reporters covered by the provision are employees, supervisors, and administrators at such facilities. Such individuals no longer have the option of choosing between reporting alleged crimes to either the center’s ombudsman or law enforcement; they now must notify both. This duty includes contacting local law enforcement by both phone and written report within two hours of a suspected incident involving an injury or within twenty-four hours when no injury occurs. Failure to comply with this duty to report abuse is classified as a misdemeanor and carries a maximum penalty a $1,000 fine and/or six months jail sentence.

We have recently focused a number of entries on this blog on the problem of elder abuse in California. This is not a new issue and it is not a new area of practice for our experienced Northern California elder abuse attorney. However, the problem is growing at a startling rate and we are committed to informing the public about the threat to our seniors. We hope this knowledge allows our readers to be better equipped to spot elder abuse and encourages them to speak up if they suspect someone they know is being mistreated. Just as it takes a village to raise a child, it takes a community to protect our older residents, especially those made vulnerable by physical or mental decline.

We have written about physical abuse, neglect, and financial exploitation of the elderly. This post will focus on a familiar topic but one that people rarely associate with the senior population. It speaks well of most of us that we’d never imagine the crime, but it is important that people become aware of the very real threat of sexual abuse of seniors, a danger lurking in nursing homes, other care centers, and even private homes.

Investigators Suspect More Victims May Be Involved in Nursing Home Sexual Abuse Case

With the holidays upon us and with the tragedy in Connecticut still fresh in our minds and our hearts, many people are holding tight to the core values of family and community. Along with thinking about the joy and beauty of youth, many are also visiting with older family members and friends, embracing traditions and the knowledge that comes with age. Our San Francisco elder law team believes in protecting the elderly and in supporting efforts to combat the alarming epidemic elder abuse.

The Upsetting Numbers: One in Ten Seniors Report Occurrence of Elder Abuse

An article in the San Francisco Chronicle contains an appalling figure – there were almost six million reported cases of elder abuse in our nation in the year 2010 alone. This number, reported by the National Center on Elder Abuse (“NCEA”), means that nearly one in ten American seniors reported some form of abuse. While this seems high, it is actually likely that the figure is even higher since many victims do not report the problem because they fear some form of retaliation. Reporting can be especially difficult in cases of abuse by a family member, a significant issue given that the NCEA study found 68% of elder abuse cases involved abuse by a family member of loved one

Placing a loved one in a senior care facility is never an easy decision. When you select a nursing home or other care center, you place trust in the hands of the institution and the people who work there. You trust that they will take good care of a loved one who can no longer care for him or herself. Our Oakland nursing home abuse law firm is here to help when this trust is violated. We also understand that neglect can be as dangerous as physical or emotional abuse and we work with families to seek justice when nursing home neglect has serious, even tragic, consequences.

Alzheimer’s Patient Dies of Heatstroke After Wandering Away from Concord Assisted Care Center

The Oakland Tribune recently provided an update on a tragic case of elder care neglect that shocked many in our Northern California community this fall. Eighty-six year old Yolanda Membreno suffered from Alzheimer’s disease and dementia and was being cared for at Julia’s Home, a residential assisted care center. On September 30, she wandered away from the facility. She was later found dead at a park, located only a little more than a block from the center. According to a recently completed autopsy report, Membreno died as a result of heat stroke. Her family reports that, aside from the dementia related issues, she had been in good health. The Tribune noted that current law requires care facilities to alert the state when a resident leaves and may be in danger, but they are not required to contact police. Membreno’s family is working with police to pursue possible criminal charges against those who operate the facility.

We are proud to serve as a Sacramento nursing home abuse law firm, helping victims and families bring claims in civil court. As we have noted many times, the civil and criminal systems are separate and the viability of a civil claims does not depend on the success of a criminal case. However, while the systems are separate, the courts serve victims best when both parts work together to achieve justice that punishes wrongdoers and compensates victims.

A recent report in the Sacramento Bee examined the issue of criminal prosecution in nursing home abuse cases. The article cited the case of Don Esco, a California man who spent over four years seeking to hold nursing home personnel criminally liable for his wife’s death. Although he had settled a prior civil case, Esso continued to believe the incident merited criminal accountability. The state reopened a criminal case earlier this year bringing charges that substandard care and the failure to supervise staff contributed to Johnnie Esco’s death following a thirteen day stay at the care center. Don Esco passed away last month, just weeks before the case moved forward with one nurse pleading no contest and another agreeing to cooperate in the case against a supervisor.

While Don Esco did not live to see the nurses and facility held criminally accountable for Johnnie’s death, his persistence is making a difference in the state’s stance on criminal nursing home abuse cases. State Attorney General Kamala D. Harris recently committed to prosecuting more criminal cases relating to nursing home abuse. The AG’s office is setting up three specialized teams aimed at pursuing charges against administrators and employees where the team believes systemic problems led to resident mistreatment. Each team will include an attorney, a nurse, and an auditor and will have support from medical personnel specializing in geriatrics. The teams will build criminal cases involving charges of systemic abuse against facilities that oversee daily activities for older patients, focusing on people and groups that put profit ahead of care rather than isolated incidents of employee error.

Abuse stories are always disturbing, as they should be to someone who believes in treating others, especially those who are most vulnerable, with kindness, love, and care. As an Oakland elder abuse law firm, our team has heard about some upsetting occurrences. It is particularly shocking when the abuse comes at the hands of people who should have been a source of comfort to the victim or whose position is one we usually associate with trust.

Late Friday, according to an article in The Oakland Tribune , an Alameda County judge was arrested on charges of financial elder abuse and perjury, charges based on allegations that he secretly stole from a ninety-seven year old woman. Judge Paul Daniel Seeman, age fifty-seven, had been a respected presence on the bench and had been admired for his work helping people in need. He graduated from UC Berkley’s Boalt School of law and began work as a private sector attorney in 1980 with a focus on juvenile justice before moving to a position as a referee pro-tem for Alameda County juvenile court. Seeman became a court commissioner in 2004 and ascended to the judicial bench upon nomination by Governor Schwarzenegger three years later. As a judge, he served in the county’s drug court before moving to a role presiding over misdemeanor arraignments. Attorneys who appeared before Seeman spoke well of him, noting he seemed to really want to help people and was willing to give every defendant a chance to be heard. Seeman’s neighbors also praised him and expressed doubt that he could be involved in taking advantage of another individual.

Now standing on the other side of the courtroom, in the same courthouse where he one presided, Seeman declined to comment during Friday’s felony arraignment. In stark contrast to the picture painted by his neighbors and colleagues, police and prosecutors presented court records to support allegations that Seeman systematically executed a plan to take money from Anne Nutting over a twelve year span. Per the allegations, Seeman gained Nutting’s financial power of attorney and proceeded to sell off her possessions, including two properties in Santa Cruz, a Lionel model train set, and her collection of stamps and coins. Filings also suggest Seeman stopped making promised payments on a $250,000 loan from Nutting, although he did repay the loan after Berkley Police intervened. Eleven counts of perjury are based on court records that suggest Seeman failed to disclose

Children and the elderly are perhaps the two most vulnerable segments of our society. While child abuse is the subject of wide-ranging awareness and prevention campaigns, elder abuse in Sacramento and elsewhere in Northern California is often a subject that remains taboo. As a Sacramento elder abuse law firm, the team at The Brod Law Firm believes that awareness is a vital step in preventing and reducing instances of elder abuse in our communities.

Police in Woodland are continuing to investigate a suspected case of elder abuse. On Friday April 27, officers arrived at the 200 block of Ablele Street in response to a domestic disturbance report. When they arrived at the scene, they found an elderly man, identified in some reports as Jerry Woodall standing in the front yard of a home. The man was suffering from multiple, non-life-threatening injuries and additional responders were called in to transport him to Woodland Memorial Hospital for treatment.

Officers quickly focused suspicions on the elderly man’s son, 42 year old James Woodall. By the time police arrived, the suspect had returned inside a residence and he refused to open the door when the officers knocked. Police contacted the younger Woodall by telephone but he refused to emerge. Eventually, a team of officers, aided by a police dog, forcibly entered the home. They found that Woodall had barricaded himself in a bedroom and that he had started a fire. Officers retreated out of concern for their own safety. A negotiation team was called in and the suspect eventually began communicating and exited the back bedroom. Police were then able to subdue the man and they apprehended him with the aid of the police canine. The younger Woodland was treated for minor injuries sustained during the apprehension. He was then booked at the Yolo County Jail. He has been charged with suspicion of battery causing significant injury and elder abuse. Additional charges of arson and battery on a police dog have also been filed as a result of the stand-off.