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Author Archives: Adam Peck

 About Adam Peck

Adam J. Peck, ESQ is a principal with Peck Law Group, APC. In 2008, Mr. Adam Peck received his Juris Doctorate from Whittier Law School where he graduated Cum Laude. His practice is primarily dedicated to representing Elders, Dependent Adults, along with their loved ones and family members, who have suffered horrific personal injuries.
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Elder Abuse Victims Are Three Times More Likely To Die Sooner Than Non-Victims

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Elder Abuse Statistics are Shocking

  • 7.6-11% of people 60+ at home are victims of elder abuse, neglect or exploitation.
  • 47% of people with dementia at home are abused or neglected by their caregivers.
  • For every one case of elder abuse that comes to light, 23.5 do not.
  • 50-90% of nursing homes are understaffed at levels that harm residents.

Elder abuse includes abuse, neglect and financial exploitation. It occurs in homes and facilities; cuts across all demographic groups; and causes untold suffering and cost, not just for its victims, but also for those who care about and for them. Victims often live their last years–impoverished, injured, neglected and in fear–with little effective assistance, protection or attention from any system.

Victims of elder abuse suffer more injuries and illnesses and are three times more likely to die sooner than non-victims. In addition to depleting the resources of already stressed individuals and families, elder abuse costs taxpayers billions of dollars annually in Medicare, Medicaid and other federal, state and local program expenditures.

“We are at the early stage of a hidden epidemic. As 77 million baby boomers age and caregiving shortages grow more acute, the problem will grow. Wealth and fame do not provide immunity, as the plight of Mickey Rooney and Brooke Astor show. A 2011 General Accountability Office (GAO) report documents the need for more funding and federal leadership. Yet, our response to elder abuse lags 40 years behind child abuse and 20 years behind domestic violence.” says California Elder Abuse Lawyer Steven C. Peck.

Understaffing is A Major Cause of Nursing Home Abuse and Neglect

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People are paying a bundle to keep a loved one in a nursing home these days. The average cost of an annual stay at a facility is $71,000 for a private room in the United States. What is appalling is that this estimate doesn’t reflect the care and attention that patients deserve when submitted to these facilities. One of the reasons for this rise in substandard care is understaffing. And Facilities that are understaffed usually have patients that suffer from nursing home abuse and neglect.

The majority of homes in the US are for-profit enterprises, usually operating with too few staff assigned to too many patients. The Department of Health and Human Services estimate that over 90 percent of nursing homes operating in the United States do not have enough staff to provide proper care. Staff also tends to be overworked and underpaid, which leads to a high turnover rate at most facilities. Replacement rates at some nursing homes approach 100 percent annually. With new staff coming and going, it is easy to see how a patient’s particular needs might not receive the special care that they deserve.

Over several decades, many many states have tried to pass legislation to force the nursing home industry to provide better care. Unfortunately for victims of abuse and neglect, legislators are not trying hard enough. Ultimately it is up to the families and friends of the patient to bring about real change. One step you can take to prevent abuse is visiting your loved one often. If a patient doesn’t receive a lot of visitors, staff forgets that the patients are real people. Another step you can take if you suspect abuse is to talk to The Peck Law Group Nursing Home Abuse and Neglect Lawyers.

California Adult Day Health Care An Alternative To Nursing Home Care Shall Soon Vanish

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Recent front-page Sacramento Bee headlines about tragedies in California nursing homes should be glaring reminders about the reasons California pioneered the Adult Day Health Care (ADHC) alternative to nursing home care 40 years ago.

If you are old, or are planning to be – pay attention – because this system is about to vanish.

Facing severe budget pressures, the Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) is currently dismantling the ADHC program in California.

This proven cost-effective program that has worked well to keep Californians out of nursing homes for the past four decades has fallen victim to an annual game of “budget chicken.”

How did this happen?

In response to well-documented stories of institutional abuse in long-term care facilities in the 1980s, California pioneered Adult Day Health Care, a community-based, integrated health and social services program designed to keep frail and disabled persons out of nursing homes.

Since that time, the ADHC daytime congregate care program has saved the state hundreds of millions in nursing home and emergency services costs by providing frail seniors with multiple complex medical conditions a safe daily care setting.

Over the past several years, California’s continuing fiscal woes have seen Republican and Democratic Governors alike cutting this MediCal “optional” program. Each time, advocates sued, with the courts blocking the cuts. In fact, a suit to block the elimination of ADHC is pending now.

Gov. Jerry Brown proposed the elimination of the ADHC program in his 2011-12 budget.

Without support for revenue extensions, all Assembly Democrats voted for the governor’s proposal, with the understanding that AB 96, legislation that provided for a “step-down” alternative ADHC program would take its place.

This new program, “Keeping Adults Free of Institutions” – or KAFI – was budgeted at $85 million, half of the current cost of ADHC.

The governor vetoed AB 96 unexpectedly at the end of July, throwing the ADHC community into confusion and chaos.

With a looming deadline of Dec. 1, 2011 for program elimination, DHCS has started to shift ADHC recipients to Medi-Cal managed care and is contracting with out-of-state corporations to provide less reliable and more costly services.

Thirty-seven of my colleagues, including 35 Assembly members and two state senators,

There is no doubt that the destruction of the ADHC program will result in increased 911 calls, hospital emergency room visits, nursing home placements, and investigations for abuse and neglect.

Demands for mental health care, and in-home supportive services will also rise–at a time when budgets for all of these programs are being slashed.

Without safe adult daycare, working family members will either have to quit their jobs to care for their loved ones or place their family members in less appropriate settings – often, nursing homes.

Both Gov. Brown and I are senior citizens. My hope is that you will become one, too.

With an exploding population of baby boomers, persons with autism and Alzheimer’s, returning veterans with disabling conditions and traumatic brain injuries, along with increasing numbers of impoverished adults with multiple chronic conditions in our communities, is this the time to take a wrecking-ball to a proven, cost-effective program serving our state’s most vulnerable?

Will the courts again provide relief at the expected November 8 hearing, three weeks before the Dec. 1 elimination date?

History will be the judge of my vote and the governor’s veto. But unless we raise our voices now, we will all surely suffer the consequences.

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