California Advocates for Nursing Home Residents (CANHR) has obtained and released reports issued by the California Attorney General’s “Operation Guardians” that detail widespread abuse, neglect, and generally terrible conditions in the fourteen nursing homes inspected since 2010.

Since 2000, Operation Guardians (OG) has been conducting surprise, on-site inspections of California nursing homes in an effort to protect residents and improve care for elderly and dependent adult residents. Each inspection culminates in a report (often supplemented by physician findings) detailing the facility’s compliance with basic sanitation and quality of care standards. Among the problems discovered and reported in the OG reports are:

• Bed sores that are under-reported and under-treated, resulting in painful skin ulcers that do not heal;
• Overmedication with psychotropic drugs which are often administered without consent;
• Elementary medication mistakes leading to harmful overdoses;
• Residents left in feces and urine for hours;
• Filthy resident rooms, showers, and kitchens;
• Falsified medical records and fraudulently billed services

Pat McGinnis, Executive Director of CANHR, said “Operation Guardians is an extremely valuable program, uncovering hundreds of instances of inexcusable elder abuse and neglect in our nursing homes. But its findings are completely unknown to nursing home residents and their families. We’re pleased to be able to publicize this information so residents and their loved ones can be better informed when choosing a nursing home.”

The reports have been shared with the Department of Public Health for follow-up and investigation but the Department has taken little subsequent enforcement action. Mike Connors, CANHR Advocate stated “The indifference to the shocking findings of neglect is appalling, especially considering that the mistreatment was uncovered by California’s top law enforcement agency”