When you entrust your loved one’s care to professionals, we’re the attorneys there with you to hold them accountable.
You love your family and want only the best for them. Unfortunately, regardless of California’s state mandated standards, facilities and care providers can be disturbingly indifferent when it comes to making sure your loved ones are properly cared for. Don’t become overwhelmed by the bureaucracy and red tape. Attorney Robert Bristow helps families every day to put a stop to substandard care, neglect and abuse of the elderly. He and his legal service step in and break the cycle, they get the attention of those responsible, and gets results. All without any upfront cost to you. Think of Robert as the attorney in your family.
Get care providers to stop and actually pay attention to your concerns.
Enjoy the confidence that your family’s care will improve and that changes will be made immediately.
Get relief from all of the burden, time, and cost of the process – we do literally everything for you.
Watch care providers change their tune quickly when faced with legal action. We know how to expedite the process and get the attention you deserve right now.
the neglect
of your loved one
you direct access to your attorney
significant settlement value
We’ve seen families who are dealing with endless cycles of frustration when trying to help their elderly family members. Often, they face care providers making excuses, deflecting responsibility, ignoring calls or other tactics to avoid the issues. Our attorney breaks through the roadblocks—whether it’s demanding immediate changes in care, coordinating with protective services, or applying legal pressure to remove your loved one from harm’s way. We take action fast, so you don’t have to wait another day for change.
Facilities management can be experts at dodging blame—lost records, missing documentation, and endless finger-pointing. The State of California can be equally unhelpful to family members. We cut through the red tape. From gathering hard-to-get evidence to filing a claim that forces answers, we make sure no excuse, delay, or legal loophole stands between your family and justice.
Elder abuse is any act or omission by a professional care provider causing harm or distress to an elderly person, including physical, mental, emotional, or sexual harm, financial exploitation, neglect, abandonment, or isolation. The Elder Abuse and Dependent Adult Civil Protection Act (EADACPA) is a California law designed to protect elders and dependent adults from abuse, neglect, and other forms of mistreatment. The Elder Abuse Act represents California’s recognition that elder and dependent adults are particularly vulnerable populations requiring special legal protections against abuse and exploitation.
The Elder Abuse Act enables injured elders and dependent adults to sue their abusers for damages, including pain and suffering. The Elder Abuse Act also allows for enhanced remedies, including attorney’s fees, costs incurred during the case, and punitive damages in cases of recklessness, oppression, fraud, or malice by the abusers.
Elder abuse and neglect is an epidemic in California. Adult Protective Services receives about 15,000 reports per month of abuse. However, there are estimates as low as only 1 in 24 cases are ever even reported to authorities.
Of the cases which are reported, the graph represents the most common.
Physical abuse is the use of physical force resulting in bodily injury, pain, or impairment. It includes acts like punching, slapping, pushing, and improper use of physical restraints. Signs of physical abuse include fractured bones, bruising, cuts, and other injuries.
Neglect is the failure to provide necessary care, assistance, and protection to an elderly person. It can be intentional or unintentional and often results in significant harm or distress. Indicators of neglect include skin wounds, falls, infection, malnutrition, dehydration, poor hygiene, and understaffing.
Pressure ulcers, also called bedsores, are injuries to the skin and tissue caused by prolonged pressure that cuts off blood flow. They often affect immobile individuals and can range from mild redness to deep wounds exposing muscle or bone.
Nursing-home falls happen when residents lose balance or slip from beds, wheelchairs, walkers, or during transfers, often due to frailty, medications, or poor supervision. They’re the top preventable accident in long-term care, causing most hip fractures, ER visits, and fall-related deaths.
Sexual abuse is any non-consensual sexual contact or activity. This can range from unwanted touching to rape. Elderly individuals who are sexually abused may show signs of trauma, sexually transmitted infections, and emotional distress.
Neglect is the failure to provide proper care to an elderly person, leading to harm like wounds, malnutrition, or poor hygiene. It can be intentional or unintentional. Emotional abuse includes threats, insults, or isolation that cause fear or distress. Victims may appear anxious, withdrawn, or depressed.
Financial abuse involves illegal or improper use of an elder’s funds, property, or assets. This can include theft, fraud, forgery, and coercion to change wills or financial documents. Victims of financial abuse may experience significant financial loss, inability to pay bills, and sudden changes in financial status.
Abandonment is when a caregiver deserts an elderly person who requires care and protection. Abandonment can leave elderly people vulnerable to harm and neglect. Signs of abandonment include the elder being left alone in unsafe conditions without necessary care or supervision.
An insidious sign of neglect
Pressure ulcers and skin wounds are a significant indicator of care quality in nursing homes. Their presence often reflects underlying issues such as neglect, inadequate staffing, or poor clinical oversight. Here are some key statistics highlighting their prevalence and implications.
Research indicates that nursing homes self-reported only 59.7% of hospitalized pressure ulcer injuries for long-stay residents, suggesting a substantial underreporting problem that can obscure the true extent of the issue.
In California, settlements and verdicts for skin wound and pressure ulcer cases against nursing homes and assisted living facilities can range from $200,000 to more than $1,000,000 dollars. The settlement amount depends on the severity of the injury, stage of the wound, and establishing elder abuse. Cases involving Stage 4 pressure injuries and evidence of a pattern of neglect by a nursing home can lead to settlements and jury verdicts of multi-millions of dollars. While pain and suffering damages in California medical malpractice claims are capped at $430,000 for non-death cases and $600,000 for death cases, elder abuse claims are not capped which allows for significantly larger settlements.
In California, all professional care providers are subject to standards that serve as the basis for your case. These include:
Skilled Nursing Facilities
Nursing Homes
Assisted Living Facilities / Residential Care Facilities for the Elderly (RCFE’s)
Memory Care Units
Home Health Care Agencies
Up to 75% of nursing home residents fall each year.
Elderly people who suffer hip fractures due to a fall have a mortality rate of 20-30% within one year.
Residents taking psychotropic medications have a 30-50% higher fall risk.
An issue pointing to a pattern
Falls are one of the most common causes of injury in nursing homes and assisted living facilities. Falls can result in serious injuries such as fractures, tears, and brain injury. A fall that results in injury to an elderly person can lead to an overall decline in their physical and cognitive health, which can cause or contribute to their death.
Nursing home fall cases can range from $50,000 to $500,000 or more. Cases involving severe injuries or a pattern of falls are worth higher amounts which can exceed $1,000,000.
Elder abuse claims can be established by showing that a nursing home failed to implement interventions which resulted in a pattern of falls causing injury to a resident. There is no cap on the amount of damages in an elder abuse case. The value of an elder abuse case can range from $250,000 to $1,000,000 or more.
If you think you may have a case, start with a conversation with attorney Robert Bristow. He can help you evaluate your options and understand your next steps.
California licensed care facilities, agencies, and individual providers have a legal duty to provide safe, attentive, and competent care to every resident. When they fall short—through neglect, poor oversight, or inadequate staffing—and a resident is harmed, families have the right to take action. These aren’t just ethical lapses; they are violations of clearly established standards of care. California law allows families to seek compensation when such breaches result in injury, illness, or loss. Examples include:
These are just some examples of common breaches of the trust you may have placed in a care provider and each can be the basis for legal action when it results in harm. If you suspect that your loved one has suffered due to substandard care, we are prepared to help you understand your options—and, where appropriate, take legal steps to demand accountability.
Robert Bristow prides himself in putting your needs and the needs of your family first and foremost. His practice focuses on the unique needs of cases involving injury, neglect, and abuse of the elderly or other dependent adults. As a Marine Corps veteran and an attorney with more than 13 years of experience, Robert has handled thousands of cases and knows what to say and do to get the maximum amount of compensation for you and your family. More than that, Robert is someone that truly cares about other people and has your best interest at heart.
As a client you’ll enjoy:
Our signature Direct Attorney Access service: you are never handed off to a case manager or fight gatekeepers to get in touch.
Years of dedicated experience working on elder abuse and neglect cases. This is the kind of experience you won’t typically find with a general trial or personal injury attorney.
Attention to detail and a personal touch that aren’t found at large firms employing teams of paralegals and case workers handling cases in an “assembly line”.
Aggressive and tenacious representation to help your family get relief quickly.
No upfront legal fees - Robert only gets paid when your case settles or wins in litigation.
Fill out the form for a no-cost case evaluation personally from Robert Bristow,
Elder care, injury, and abuse attorney. Stop the cycle. Robert is here to help.
© Copyright 2025 Elder Abuse & Injury, APC. All rights reserved
