Undiagnosed and Untreated Infections in San Diego County Nursing Homes

Nursing Home Law Group, including attorneys Randy and Redmond Walton, has spent more than 30 years holding California nursing homes accountable, including facilities in San Diego County where residents died from infections that should have been caught and treated. If your parent or loved one died after a nursing home failed to diagnose or treat an infection in time, a San Diego nursing home neglect lawyer from our firm can help you find out what went wrong.

A healthy child or younger adult usually recovers even when an infection goes untreated for a while. Older residents often have weaker immune systems, chronic conditions, and limited mobility, so a delay of even a day or two can be serious. A Stage 1 bedsore can develop into a deep, infected wound. Influenza, RSV, and COVID-19 can turn deadly when antiviral treatment starts late.

According to AARP, warning signs in older adults include:

• New or worsening confusion
• New or worsening falls or balance problems
• Loss of appetite or refusing meals
• Unexplained fatigue or weakness
• Fever, even a mild one
• Complaints of pain or other new symptoms

My loved one just seemed "off." Could that be an infection? Yes. In older adults, a sudden change in alertness or behavior is often the first sign, and it is a reason for staff to check vitals and call a doctor.

In plain English, "negligence" means the facility didn't provide the care a reasonably careful nursing home would have provided. You do not have to prove anyone meant to cause harm. Whether the cause was understaffing, burnout, or a staff member avoiding a resident's needs, a San Diego County nursing home neglect lawyer can evaluate whether the facility's failure caused the death.

We obtain the chart, nursing notes, lab orders, vital-sign logs, and physician communications to build a timeline. Did staff record a fever and not call the doctor? Did a lab result sit unread? We bring in medical experts to say when the infection should have been recognized and what treatment would likely have changed the outcome. We have also handled many resident transfer injury cases, where a skin tear or fracture from a poorly performed transfer became an infection that was never treated.

Lawsuits are filed in San Diego Superior Court, and the case follows that court's local rules and scheduling procedures along with state law.

San Diego County has roughly 80 active skilled nursing facilities with about 8,300 beds, based on mid-2026 data. Assisted living communities are licensed by the state as residential care facilities for the elderly (RCFEs), and the county has about 600 of them, from small homes to large communities. “Board and care” is not a separate state license. The term usually describes small residential homes, including many of those RCFEs as well as adult residential facilities for younger adults with disabilities or mental illness.

A resident in a San Diego County facility has a low-grade fever and new confusion for several days. Staff chart the changes but don't notify a physician, and the resident is rushed to the hospital with sepsis and later dies. We would gather the chart and staffing records, have an infectious disease expert review the timeline, and, where warranted, file in San Diego Superior Court.

Do I need to prove the nursing home knew about the infection? Records often show staff noticed symptoms and failed to act. Our attorneys review those records to find where the care fell short.

If your loved one died after an infection went undiagnosed or untreated in San Diego County, don't wait. Contact the Southern California Nursing Home Law Group for a free, confidential consultation.