Nursing Home Abuse News & Updates
Read the latest updates, news, and legal developments concerning nursing homes and elder care
2025
Maria Erolina Delgado, owner of J & M Happy Guest Home in San Diego, has been charged with two felonies and two misdemeanors of elder abuse after allegedly leaving her facility severely understaffed, causing residents to suffer from bed sores, dehydration, and malnourishment. The California Attorney General’s Office says some residents were left in soiled diapers for days, with all alleged conduct occurring in 2020.
2025
Consumer Voice reports that Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is considering an interim final rule to rescind the federal minimum staffing requirement for nursing homes, a regulation projected to save 13,000 lives annually. The move, currently under review by the Office of Management and Budget with no opportunity for public comment, would override Congress’s recent decision to delay—but not eliminate—the rule, and could result in widespread harm to vulnerable nursing home residents.
2025
Lanzone Morgan, LLP secured a landmark $7.6 million jury verdict against Alameda Healthcare & Wellness Center for egregious elder neglect and violation of residents’ rights, where failures in care led to a veteran’s severe pressure sores and disrupted cancer treatment. The verdict highlights widespread falsification of care records, understaffing, and corporate profiteering that compromised resident safety and well-being.
2025
Genesis Healthcare, a bankrupt nursing home chain, is accused by personal-injury claimants of attempting to use Chapter 11 bankruptcy as a strategy to erase tort liabilities before its private-equity investor, Joel Landau, reacquires the company’s assets at a reduced price. Recent court filings claim Landau and other insiders are leveraging a $30 million loan to take control of the bankruptcy process and buy back Genesis’s 175 facilities free from previous legal claims.
2025
Consumer Voice Leadership Council member and New Jersey nursing home resident Raymond DiFrancesco submitted testimony to the Senate Special Committee on Aging’s hearing, “Awareness to Action: Combating Elder Abuse & Neglect.” Drawing on his own experiences and those of fellow residents, Ray highlighted how neglect, loss of dignity, and lack of accountability from nursing home owners are widespread issues that harm residents’ safety, humanity, and quality of life.
2025
After nursing homes adopted the Patient Driven Payment Model (PDPM), a recent JAMA study found facilities increased coding residents as sicker and reduced therapy minutes, boosting revenue without improving patient outcomes. The findings highlight that financial incentives, rather than actual clinical needs, are now driving care decisions in nursing homes.
2025
A nationwide study found that COVID-19-related staffing shortages and inspection delays led to more health deficiency citations in nursing homes, especially at for-profit facilities, while remotely tracked staffing metrics remained stable. The findings suggest nursing homes prioritize metrics consistently monitored and that inspection delays longer than 24 months can sharply worsen care quality, underscoring the need for robust and timely inspections.
2025
Attorney General Rob Bonta has filed a lawsuit against Sweetwater Care, which operates nineteen nursing homes across California, accusing the company of over 25,000 violations of state minimum staffing laws between 2020 and 2024 that resulted in resident harm and neglect. The complaint alleges Sweetwater redirected tens of millions in public funds through self-owned third-party entities, prioritizing profits and expansion over resident care and legal compliance.
2025
The Bellefontaine Healthcare Center in Pasadena, CA, was cited with a deficiency for immediate jeopardy to resident healthy or safety following failures in administering and monitoring anticoagulant medication (Plavix) to a resident post lumbar surgery, which resulted in fatal brain hemorrhages. The facility neglected to verify hospital discharge orders properly, failed to monitor the resident for bleeding complications, and did not provide necessary continuity of care, contributing directly to the resident’s decline and death.