No. Stebner, Gertler, & Guadagni works on contingency, so there's no fee unless we recover compensation for your family, and the initial case review is free.

Get medical treatment first, and photograph the wound with the date noted before it's cleaned or covered. After that, file a report with Contra Costa APS or the Ombudsman, and bring in an attorney early — facility records tend to get harder to obtain the more time...

No. A serious wound is reason enough to start looking into it. Once you retain an attorney, they can request the staffing logs, care plans, and wound-care records that show what actually happened.

It usually strengthens it. A resident who can't self-report pain relies entirely on staff to catch problems early, so a bedsore developing under those conditions points more directly to a supervision failure than to anything else.

It varies with the severity of the injury, but typical recoveries include medical and wound-care expenses, pain and suffering, and — in the most serious cases — damages connected to sepsis or death. A case review is the only way to get a real number for your...

California generally allows two years from the date of injury, though the clock can start at a different point depending on when the injury was discovered. Because that window is strict, it's worth confirming your specific timeline with an attorney rather than assuming.

Not quite. Nursing homes are medical facilities with mandatory, frequent skin-assessment requirements, so a bedsore there points to a specific missed step. Assisted living facilities carry a lighter regulatory load but still owe residents basic safety — a bedsore...

Contra Costa County Adult Protective Services runs a 24-hour line: (877) 839-4347 from a landline, or (925) 602-4179 from a cell phone. For a licensed nursing home or assisted living facility specifically, the Long-Term Care Ombudsman Program at (925) 685-2070 handles...

Often, yes. A pressure sore that's advanced to Stage 2 or further usually means something specific broke down — missed repositioning, thin staffing, or inattentive wound care. Reviewing the facility's own records is the fastest way to find out whether that happened...

It starts as skin — most often over the tailbone, hips, or heels — that stays red or discolored well after pressure is taken off. If that spot doesn't return to normal color within a short time, it's the first sign something needs to change in how the resident is...