Attorneys in our firm were involved in elder abuse litigation long before the use of the term "elder abuse". Since Welfare and Institutions Code Section 15657, which specifically pertains to a civil action for abuse of elderly or dependent adults, took effect on January 1, 1992, allegations of violations of that statute is a relatively new cause of action. Our lawyers have defended this type of case for more than three decades.

A representative sample of the cases we defended involving "elder abuse" include the following:

• allegations of negligently failing to turn elderly patients in their beds which resulted in decubitus ulcers;
  
  
• improper administration of medicine;
  
  
• misappropriation of patients' money;
  
  
• inadequate assistance for patients when they walked resulting in the patients' falling, and, in some cases, breaking their bones;
  
  
• inadequate supervision of mentally impaired plaintiffs, which, on two occasions, allegedly resulted in the patients jumping out of windows to their death;
  
  
• negligently failing to use medical equipment which is designed to keep blood moving in a patient's extremities which resulted in the formation of blood clots;
  
  
• failing to properly monitor the condition of elderly patients;
  
  
• failing to properly treat elderly patients;
  
  
• allegations of abuse of patients by staff;
  
  
• improper financial arrangements upon admission of patients;
  
  
• failure to readmit an elderly man who had been transferred to a hospital for acute care;
  
  
• improper restraints on patients;
  
  
• improperly attending to patients.