On June 3, CBS News covered the story of Ruby Frazier, a Dudensing Law client who was a victim of elder abuse and neglect at Oakland Heights Nursing and Rehabilitation in Oakland, CA.
Before Ms. Frazier’s admission to Oakland Heights, she was a relatively healthy 87-year-old and entered the facility in a medically stable condition and with no skin injuries.
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In May 2024, Dudensing Law reached a $5.5 million settlement against an assisted living facility located in California. The settlement was on behalf of a cognitively impaired individual who, because of improper supervision and negligence, left the facility unsupervised, and died as a result.
When the 87-year-old patient was admitted to the residential care facility, she was highly functional but suffered notable cognitive impairment, including “sundowning,” a state of confusion experienced in the late afternoon and lasting into the evening. Even with noted cognitive impairment, her charts maintained by the facility did not contain a documented elopement risk nor a care plan for her cognitive decline.
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Dudensing Law secured a $4 million settlement in April 2024 on behalf of a victim who died from complications related to pressure sores while under the care of a Long-Term Acute Care Hospital (LTAHC) in California.
In 2017, a 72-year-old patient was admitted to the facility at issue following a diagnosis of quadriplegia. Because of this condition, she was known to be at high risk for developing pressure sores, yet the staff failed to take proper precautions to prevent sores from developing. The staff neglected medical advice to turn and reposition the patient over 75% of the time during day and night shifts. By the time the resident was discharged from the facility and treated at a hospital, the infected sores were too advanced for her to recover from, leading to her death.
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In April 2024, Dudensing Law secured $4.5 million on behalf of an elderly victim of reckless neglect by a California assisted living facility. In this case, the victim suffered an infection that led to amputation. This gruesome fate would have been wholly avoidable had the facility properly cared for Mr. Dudensing’s client.
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Dudensing Law reached a $5 million settlement in February 2024 against an assisted living facility in California. The case is on behalf of a patient who suffered multiple falls in the facility, ultimately leading to his death.
The patient, a former high school teacher and assistant principal, was admitted to the assisted living facility in September 2021, following a Parkinson’s diagnosis and signs of dementia that put him at high risk for falls. He was admitted to the facility without the necessary physician assessment to understand his needs and establish a care plan. Within his first month as a resident, he suffered an unsupervised fall in which he broke his wrist. The facility failed to create an incident report for this fall.
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A Sacramento jury rendered a $42.5 million award against long term care provider Eskaton for malicious, oppressive and fraudulent conduct in the care of a 77-year-old resident.
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