Nursing Home Abuse News & Updates
Read the latest updates, news, and legal developments concerning elder and long-term care
2025
A Bay Area assisted living worker, Alisia Rivera Mendoza, pleaded no contest to felony elder abuse after two residents died and another was hospitalized from drinking caustic chemicals at Atria Park in San Mateo. The incident exposed unsafe practices at the facility, including storing cleaning liquids in unlabeled drink pitchers, and highlights ongoing risks to vulnerable residents across Atria facilities.
2025
The U.S. Department of Justice’s 2025 Annual Report details major progress in combating elder fraud and abuse, including more than 280 cases against over 600 defendants who targeted older adults in schemes totaling over two billion dollars. The report also highlights strengthened accountability for nursing home operators, expanded victim support efforts, and new national initiatives aimed at improving coordinated responses and prevention.
2025
A series of lawsuits and investigations have highlighted repeated abuse, neglect, and substandard care in nursing homes owned by Shlomo Rechnitz in California, resulting in multi-million dollar jury awards and ongoing litigation. Despite a long history of regulatory concerns, state oversight has allowed Rechnitz’ companies to continue operating numerous facilities, prompting calls from advocates for stronger accountability and licensing reforms.
2025
A new HHS OIG report finds that while many nursing homes in the Special Focus Facility program show enough progress to graduate, most fail to sustain these improvements and quickly return to serious quality problems. The findings raise concerns about the program’s effectiveness and highlight the need for stronger oversight to ensure long-term resident safety and care quality.
2025
A new AARP report underscores the essential role Long-Term Care Ombudsman programs play in protecting residents in nursing homes and other care facilities, noting that they are the only independent resource families can rely on to address concerns and file formal complaints. The analysis highlights a growing number of resident issues paired with a steep decline in volunteer Ombudsmen, raising concerns about the program’s ability to effectively resolve complaints.
2025
A new ATI Advisory report shows that proposed funding cuts to California’s Medi-Cal Home and Community-Based Services could lead to more than one billion dollars in additional costs over five years, driven by even small shifts of recipients into far more expensive nursing facility care. The analysis warns that reduced HCBS funding would strain state budgets, overwhelm existing facility capacity, and undermine the ability of older adults and people with disabilities to remain safely at home.
2025
A new Consumer Voice report reveals how New Jersey nursing homes routed nearly two billion taxpayer dollars to related companies they own while residents experienced substandard care marked by low staffing levels and poor quality ratings. The findings highlight hidden profits, inadequate oversight, and serious harm reported by residents and families, leading to calls for stronger transparency laws and stricter scrutiny of related party spending.
2025
A new report by Dr. Eilon Caspi exposes widespread social-media–based privacy violations and elder abuse in nursing homes, documenting 147 victims across 30 states whose images and videos were shared online without consent, often in demeaning or abusive contexts. The findings reveal systemic failures in policies, training, and oversight, prompting urgent calls for stronger regulations, better staff education, and greater accountability for facilities and social media platforms.
2025
The California Department of Health Care Services launched new webpages explaining Medi-Cal eligibility changes, including 2026 asset limit updates tied to federal law. These resources aim to help older adults and people with disabilities understand how upcoming rules may affect their coverage.
2025
CMS issued updates to the Civil Money Penalty Reinvestment Program, expanding funding opportunities, clarifying project rules, and increasing transparency around how CMP funds are used to improve nursing home care.
2025
Maria Erolina Delgado, owner of J & M Happy Guest Home in San Diego, pleaded not guilty to felony elder abuse charges after prosecutors alleged she left the facility severely understaffed, causing residents to suffer bedsores, dehydration, malnourishment, and neglect. The charges stem from incidents in 2020 and could carry prison time if she is convicted.
2025
An OIG review found that nursing homes failed to report 43% of serious falls among Medicare residents, leading to misleading “low fall rates” on CMS’s Care Compare website. The report urges CMS to improve data accuracy to give families and consumers a clearer picture of nursing home safety.
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
Nursing homes across the U.S. are increasingly suing friends and relatives of residents over unpaid bills, exploiting admission paperwork to hold third parties liable. With weakened oversight from federal agencies like the CFPB and CMS, advocates warn that aggressive debt collection tactics are leaving families vulnerable to devastating financial judgments.
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.