Sacramento elder abuse lawyer Sean Laird echoes support of advocacy groups calling for minimum staffing requirements in Sacramento nursing homes.
Sacramento nursing home lawsuits often highlight the affects of understaffing at facilities, which leads to vulnerable elders being neglected by staff who simply don’t have enough time to provide adequate care. Elderly abuse advocacy groups are calling for minimum staffing requirements to combat the affects of understaffing at large nursing homes. Recently, the Biden administration announced an effort to implement staffing changes.
In a letter from multiple elder abuse advocacy agencies, they pointed out: “Implementing a minimum staffing standard would be the most significant increase in protection for nursing home residents in decades. As noted in your commentary, implementing a minimum staffing standard also enjoys broad support from the public.1 Additionally, a minimum staffing standard would be a major advance in health, racial, and gender equity for residents and direct care nursing home workers.”
Additionally, the advocates point out and our firm aggress: (1) Overwhelming evidence connects better health outcomes with higher staffing levels. The converse is also true: inadequate staffing results in poorer care and harms residents. (2) Poorly-staffed nursing homes are more likely to be cited for abuse, have worse health inspection results, and have lower overall ratings on CMS’s Compare Care website.
Families often call our office telling us stories that the nursing home their loved one was in was understaffed, that it was difficult to find help when needed, and that the works seemed overwhelmed by the amount of patients for which they had to care. If you have experienced this and your loved one suffered harm, please contact us. Sean Laird is a Sacramento elder abuse attorney and nursing home neglect lawyer who has years of experience suing nursing homes who harm and or kill residents from neglectful care.
