New York Times: Some Assisted-Living Residents Don’t Get Promised Care, Suit Charges (February 14, 2020)

It’s common in Assisted Living facilities to regularly assess individual residents to determine whether a resident needs help bathing or dressing, for example, or suffers from dementia. But often the results of those assessments are used to show increasing need, and to justify increased costs, but not to make staffing decisions to reflect the greater needs and costs. Now a group of law firms is suing California assisted living facilities. There are several ongoing suits. Justice in Aging attorney, Eric Carlson, was interviewed for this story. About the lawsuits and what they uncover he said, “It gets at internal systemic issues. When facilities disclose information like how much time staff members spend on tasks, it gets at what’s happening behind closed doors.”