BMFEA

Elder Abuse
In Nursing Homes

Special Publication

Guide to preventing elder abuse publication image

Publications. This guide is among the resources available in several languages to help fight elder abuse.

Operation Guardians

Operation Guardians is a multi-agency task force established and led by the Attorney General to conduct surprise, on-site inspections of California's 1,500 skilled nursing facilities. The focus is to identify and correct violations of federal, state, and/or local laws and regulations designed to protect elderly patients. The task force is composed of regulatory and law enforcement officials from all levels of government, such as district attorneys, city attorneys, fire marshals, building code inspectors, and ombudsmen. Geriatric-care specialists from the state's top medical schools also are included.

To view reports on surprise inspections, click on "Operation Guardians: April 2001- March 2003 Report" and "Operation Guardians: 2001 Annual Report".

Call Hot line: (800) 722-0432 or file online complaint

Together, these staggering statistics and projections illustrate the urgent need to address and remedy the poor quality of care in many of California's skilled nursing facilities.

Prosecuting Elder Abuse

Elder lady and officerIn response to this crisis, the Attorney General doubled the size of the Department of Justice's elder abuse prosecution program shortly after taking office in 1999. For the first time in the history of California, he directed the Bureau to use its civil, administrative, and criminal enforcement powers to bring poorly performing care facilities into compliance with federal and state laws governing patient stewardship.

The Bureau is composed of three programs designed to bring increased accountability to those who abuse California's elderly population.

Violent Crimes Unit

The Violent Crimes Unit investigates and prosecutes physical elder abuse committed by individual employees against patients in elder care facilities. These crimes include homicide, rape, false imprisonment, assault and battery.

Facilities Enforcement Team

The Facilities Enforcement Team investigates and prosecutes corporate entities, such as skilled nursing homes, hospitals, and residential care facilities, for adopting policies or promoting practices that lead to neglect and/or poor quality of care. Institutional neglect or substandard care includes:

Elder Abuse Enforcement 1999-2006 98/99 99/00 00/01 01/02 02/03 03/04 04/05 05/06
Criminal Filings 55 40 (1) 88 132 108 93 111 108
Criminal Convictions 28 23 40 78 85 56 56 60
Acquittals 1 1 2 2 3 0 1 2
Civil Complaints Filed 0 0 2 (2) 29 1 0 0 25
Civil Judgements 0 0 0 29 1 2 0 22
Civil Dismissals 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1
Restitution and Penalties
(Criminal and Civil)
$68,001 $20,780 $61,301 $739,496 $2,887,632 $70,843 $300,821 $4,806,652
Operation Guardians Inspections (4) n/a 1 68 80 67 98 91 95

Elder Abuse Enforcement 1992-1998 92/93 93/94 94/95 95/96 96/97 97/98
Criminal Filings 4 5 2 4 16 24
Criminal Convictions 8 2 3 0 8 22
Acquittals 0 0 0 0 1 0
Civil Complaints Filed 0 0 0 0 0 0
Civil Judgements 0 0 0 0 0 0
Civil Dismissals 0 0 0 0 0 0
Restitution and Penalties
(Criminal and Civil)
$62,765 $0 $30,230 $0 $3,927 $6,137
Operation Guardians Inspections (4) n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a

  • (1) Preliminary results for fiscal year.
  • (2) Includes State of California's first-ever criminal prosecution of a skilled nursing facility and its owner.
  • (3) Includes State of California's first-ever civil lawsuit against a nursing home chain and its corporate owner.
  • (4)Operation Guardians established April 2000.