ATTORNEY NEWSLETTER
New California Law Adds Remedy For Abandoned Older Persons
Abandonments During 2017 Wildfires Behind New Measure
Sadly, at least 20 frail elderly residents of care facilities were abandoned during the North Bay fires in the Fall of 2017. In response, a new California law adds “abandonment” to the list of wrongs against seniors that entitle injured seniors to enhanced remedies against those responsible. The elder abuse attorneys at Evans Law Firm represent seniors who have suffered any kind of abuse, including abandonment by a caregiver, nursing home or other care facility. If you or someone you know is suffering from any form of elder abuse in Marin County or elsewhere in California, call our elder abuse attorneys today at 415-441-8669, and we can help.
“Abandonment” is defined under the California Elder And Dependent Adult Abuse Prevention Act as follows: “the desertion or willful forsaking of an elder [anyone 65 year of age or older] or dependent adult by anyone having care or custody of that person under circumstances in which a reasonable person would continue to provide care and custody.” Calif. Welf. & Inst. Code § 15610.05. Persons and entities responsible for the abandonment or other abuse of an elderly person may be subject to extra damages for injuries sustained and in certain circumstances under the new provision for the attorneys’ fees and costs incurred by the senior in bringing an action against them for abandonment. Calif. Welf & Inst. Code § 15657. If you or a loved one has suffered injury as a result of abandonment or other form of elder abuse call Ingrid M. Evans and the other elder abuse lawyers at Evans Law Firm today.
Abandonment mostly occurs in institutions. About 400,000 Californians live in nursing homes and another 150,000 seniors live in assisted care facilities throughout the State. Most are not able to protect themselves from danger or to care for themselves; that’s why they’re in a home. Their protection and care are in the hands of facility owners, administrators, staff and caregivers. This new law will hold owners, administrators and staff responsible when they abandon seniors during emergencies or at other times. Seniors with dementia who wander off or elope from facilities may do so because they have been abandoned by caregivers. Sometimes understaffing results in patients being ignored or abandoned altogether. The risks of any sort of abandonment of an elderly person unable to care for themselves can be fatal.
Contact Us
If you or a loved one is or has been the victim of abandonment or any form of elder physical or financial abuse in Marin or elsewhere in California, contact Ingrid M. Evans and the other Marin elder abuse attorneys at the Evans Law Firm at (415) 441-8669, or by email at <a href=”mailto:info@evanslaw.com”>info@evanslaw.com</a>. We can help guide your case through a jury trial or toward an equitable settlement. We handle cases involving physical and financial elder abuse, qui tam and whistleblower law, nursing home abuse, whole life insurance and universal life insurance, and indexed, variable, and fixed annuities.
