Boca Raton is home to a high concentration of assisted living facilities, skilled nursing centers, and memory care communities serving one of Florida's oldest resident populations. Palm Beach County's elder population is among the largest in the state, and with that density comes a troubling number of preventable injuries, bedsores, falls, medication errors, and elopements at facilities that are chronically understaffed.

Why Gold & Gold in Boca Raton

Attorneys David H. Gold and Keith A. Pierro have years of experience pursuing nursing home and ALF negligence claims throughout Palm Beach County. We review state inspection reports from the Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA), depose nursing supervisors, and work with geriatric care experts to connect documented staffing failures to specific resident injuries. Our Glades Road office is close to the facilities we investigate and the courthouse where these cases are tried.

Boca Raton courts, deadlines & Florida rules

Nursing home negligence cases in Boca Raton proceed in the 15th Judicial Circuit, Palm Beach County. The governing statute is Florida Statutes Section 400.022, which enumerates the rights of nursing home residents, including the right to adequate and appropriate medical care, protection from abuse and neglect, and the right to be free from physical restraints used for staff convenience. Under Florida's post-HB 837 framework, the negligence statute of limitations is two years. Claims brought under the Nursing Home Residents' Rights statute can run alongside, and sometimes extend, the common-law negligence claim.

Common nursing home negligence cases we see in Boca Raton

  • Stage III and Stage IV pressure ulcers (bedsores) at Boca Raton skilled nursing facilities after documented repositioning failures
  • Falls from unlocked bed rails or failure to follow documented fall-risk protocols at memory care units
  • Medication errors, wrong dosage or wrong drug, traced to understaffed overnight shifts
  • Elopements from memory care wings at Boca facilities with inadequate door alarm systems
  • Dehydration and malnutrition discovered only after a resident was hospitalized from a Boca Raton ALF
FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I get my parent's nursing home records in Florida?
Under Florida Statutes Section 400.145, a resident or their authorized representative has the right to inspect and copy all records within 30 days of a written request. We routinely send those requests on the first day of representation and also pull the facility's publicly available AHCA inspection history, which often reveals patterns of prior deficiencies.
The nursing home has an arbitration clause in the admission contract. Does that block our case?
Not automatically. Florida courts and federal CMS regulations have placed significant restrictions on mandatory arbitration clauses in nursing home admission agreements. Whether the clause is enforceable depends on how it was presented, whether it was signed by the resident or a proxy, and what rights were waived. We review every admission agreement before advising a client.
My mother's nursing home is in Boca but owned by a large national chain. Who do we sue?
Potentially both the local operating entity and the parent company. Corporate ownership structures in long-term care are deliberately complex. We conduct a full corporate ownership analysis and name all entities that exercised control over staffing, budgets, or policies at the Boca facility.