West Covina, California

Welcome to the City of West Covina’s official elder abuse and neglect website for the Law Offices of Ben Yeroushalmi. Mr. Yeroushalmi and his associates are passionate about protecting the rights of the elderly, especially those residing in nursing homes and assisted living facilities. With over 16 years of experience in elder law, Mr. Yeroushalmi pursues every one of his cases with compassion and vigor.

As part of the Los Angeles County, West Covina is located almost 20 miles away from Downtown Los Angeles. According to the United States Census, the city had a population of 106,098, making it the 62^nd most populous city in California. Popular US television shows, such as the Crazy Ex-Girlfriend series, are set in West Covina and the San Gabriel Valley. Along with its many health care facilities that includes the primary hospital Citrus Valley Medical Center, West Covina has 6 nursing home facilities and 2 assisted living facilities.

Hip fractures that occur among older adults frequently lead to severe functional impairment and deteriorating autonomy in daily living. Although some patients are able to achieve almost full functional restoration, most suffer from continuous decline. The average geriatric patient with hip fracture experience increasing dependency on need of care and must face huge hospital and long-term costs of care. It is therefore important to identify positive and negative factors that influence regeneration to implement optimized treatment of all adjustable factors during rehabilitation.

Malnutrition is very common among the older hospitalized population, with about 63% of older adult patients with hip fracture being malnourished or at risk of malnutrition. Hospitalized geriatric patients with poor nutritional status are vulnerable to more complications, rehospitalizations, and mortality compared to those who are well-nourished. Furthermore, malnutrition catalyzes age-related decline in muscle mass and strength, also known as sarcopenia, thus likely having an effect on function and mobility. Older patients with hip fractures are commonly malnourished or at risk of malnutrition. Because it is unclear how nutritional status before HF affects postoperative functional recovery in older adult patients with hip fractures, a recent study analyzed the relationship between nutritional status of elderly patients (aged 75 years and older) from all functional and cognitive levels before hip fracture and their functional and clinical course up to 6 months following hospital discharge.

Of the 97 patients that participated in the study, 17% were malnourished and 38% were at risk of malnutrition before hip fracture. It was found that worse prefracture nutritional status was correlated with worse functional status and more frequent remnant functional loss, whereas the trajectory of activities of daily living (ADL) recovery and clinical course was not significantly different. Skilled nursing facilities should therefore ascertain that their patients are being properly nourished at all times so as to avoid malnutrition and the potential negative effects it may cause.

If you or someone you care about has been a victim of elder abuse or neglect in a long-term care facility, contact our office immediately for a free consultation. Nursing home and assisted living facilities are responsible for providing the best quality of care for their elderly residents. It is reprehensible and unacceptable when elder care facilities fail to properly maintain or enhance their patients’ quality of life and wellbeing.