IndependenceJusticeCenter - Legal Services
Legal help for Conservatorship, Guardianship, Civil Litigation, Probate, Elder Abuse, Special Needs Trust, and Estate Planning.
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Elder Abuse
California takes elder abuse very seriously and has laws to protect older and dependent adults from neglect, financial, mental or physical abuse which cause suffering to a victim.
Types of Elder Abuse
Representing clients who face many kinds of abuse, including:
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Financial abuse or exploitation: When a caretaker, misuses an elder’s money or property for their own benefit. This can also include theft, scams, fraud, identity theft, changing names on insurance, wills, financial accounts or property titles.
Nursing home and assisted living facility abuse: When medical staff and/or employees fail to provide the proper care for an elder.
Physical abuse: This can include both threats of violence and actual physical force causing pain, injury or impairment to an elder.
Emotional abuse: Includes emotionally distressing activity such as yelling, threatening, intimidating, ignoring or using hurtful words. It can also include isolating the elder from their friends or family members.
Neglect: When a caregiver fails to provide basic necessities such as food, shelter, and water. Can also include the failure to provide proper hygiene, giving incorrect medication dosage, not providing health care when needed and social neglect.
Where to Report Abuse
Reporting elderly abuse in California can be confusing with many agencies accepting abuse and neglect reports. The correct agency or department depends on where the senior lives (community, public or private facility) and sometimes the type of abuse.
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Here are some of the appropriate community agencies you should contact.
California Adult Protective Services (APS): Investigates abuse of an elderly person or dependent adult in a private home, apartment, hotel, or acute or inpatient hospital in California.
California Long Term Care Ombudsman: Handles reports of abuse in nursing homes, adult residential facilities, adult day programs, and day health centers.
Attorney General’s Bureau of Medi-Cal Fraud & Elder Abuse: Investigates and prosecutes elder abuse and Medi-Cal fraud committed by care facility employees, Medi-Cal providers, and operators of hospitals, residential care facilities, and skilled nursing homes.
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