Can I Sue a Nursing Home in Berkeley for Neglect?

If you are questioning whether your loved one was neglected in a Berkeley nursing home, you are likely dealing with a mix of anger, fear, and heartbreak. Families choose nursing homes in Berkeley because they expect a higher standard of care: attentive staff, safe living conditions, and medical oversight. When those expectations are shattered, the impact is devastating. The short answer is yes — you can sue a nursing home in Berkeley for neglect when the facility’s failures lead to injury, illness, or death.

Nursing Home Law Group has been representing California families in elder neglect and abuse cases for over twenty years. Whether your loved one lived near North Berkeley, the Elmwood District, Southside, West Berkeley, or the areas surrounding the UC campus, we can help you investigate what happened and take legal action when necessary.

Neglect in a senior care home is not just bad service or inattentiveness. In California, neglect is a violation of a resident’s legal rights, and it occurs when a facility fails to provide the most basic necessities — safety, hydration, food, hygiene, medical monitoring, and protection from harm.

In Berkeley nursing homes and assisted living facilities, neglect can take many forms:

• Residents left in bed long enough to develop bedsores
• Missed medications or dangerous medication mix-ups
• A lack of supervision leading to preventable falls
• Poor hygiene causing infections
• Staff ignoring emergency symptoms
• Failure to send a resident to the hospital on time
• Inadequate nutrition or dehydration
• Residents wandering away unnoticed

Some facilities blame residents’ “old age” or “existing health issues,” but an experienced Berkeley nursing home neglect lawyer can identify when the true cause was substandard care.

A lawsuit can be filed when:

• The facility failed to provide reasonable care, and
• That failure caused harm, decline, or contributed to death.

Many neglect cases fall under the Elder Abuse and Dependent Adult Civil Protection Act (EADACPA), a California law designed specifically to protect seniors from negligent or reckless care. These cases allow families to seek:

• Compensation for pain and suffering
• Attorney’s fees
• Damages even if the resident passed away
• Additional damages for reckless or deliberate conduct
• Punitive damages in shocking cases of neglect

Speaking with a Berkeley nursing home neglect attorney is the most effective way to determine whether your situation qualifies under this law.

Berkeley’s senior care facilities face unique challenges that can lead to neglect if management fails to act responsibly:

• High staffing turnover - The Bay Area’s high cost of living makes it difficult for facilities to attract and retain trained caregivers.
• Corporate ownership - Many Berkeley nursing homes are part of larger corporations where financial decisions are made far from the residents they affect.
• Understaffing - Facilities often schedule fewer aides than required, leaving vulnerable residents without help for long stretches of time.
• Inadequate training - Staff lacking proper medical or dementia-care training may miss the early signs of decline.

Neglect is almost always the result of systemic failures, not isolated mistakes.

For more than two decades, Nursing Home Law Group has fought exclusively for victims of elder neglect and their families. Clients choose our firm because:

• We know how to uncover falsified charting
• We have deep experience with California elder abuse laws
• We understand the corporate structures behind many local facilities
• We approach every case with compassion and determination
• We fight for accountability, truth, and justice

You deserve straight answers — and your loved one deserves dignity.

If your loved one suffered neglect in a Berkeley nursing home or assisted living facility, do not wait. Evidence fades quickly, and facilities often deny wrongdoing until confronted with a legal investigation.

Contact Nursing Home Law Group today for a free, confidential consultation with an experienced Berkeley nursing home neglect lawyer. We are ready to stand beside you, uncover what happened, and fight for justice.