The nursing facility industry is highly regulated by State and Federal government. There are regulations for the ratio of nursing hours to residents, the temperature of hot water, frequency of required physician visits, the type of medical equipment available, the number of registered nurses who need to be available and a large number of other aspects of operation and maintenance.

Some of the aspects of nursing facilities that are regulated are:

• Admission contracts.
• Required services.
• Licensing.
• If a resident's condition is capable of improvement, the nursing facility must provide services which will allow the resident to improve.
• If the decline in a resident's condition is inevitable, the nursing facility must provide services to keep that decline at as slow a rate as possible.
• The facility must create an appropriate care plan which should reflect the resident's choices and the choices of the family.
• The facility must be capable of providing services pertaining to medication, nutrition, mental health, vision, injections, colostomies and other services.
• The facility must provide services for both prevention and treatment (for instance, a facility must take steps to prevent bed sores and, if they occur, to treat bed sores).
• The facility must ensure that a patient is able to exert as much independence as possible in his or her activities of daily living.
• A nursing facility must make sure that the resident receives all proper physical, mental, occupational and speech therapy.
• A resident has the right to be free from any physical or chemical restraints imposed for purposes of discipline or convenience and not required to treat the resident's medical symptoms.
• As much as possible, the resident's individual needs should be recognized unless it creates a danger to other residents.
• A nursing facility must have a medical director who is responsible for "standards, coordination, surveillance and planning for improvement of medical care in the facility."

If you are a concerned relative or friend of an elderly person that you believe is suffering from elder abuse in the Los Angeles area, we'd like to hear from you. Contact us online or call us at 818-756-2029 to set up a FREE consultation to discuss your legal options.