June 24, 2025 – OAKLAND – California Attorney General Rob Bonta filed a lawsuit against Sweetwater Care (Sweetwater), a San
Diego-based operator of skilled nursing facilities (SNFs). The lawsuit, which pertains to Sweetwater’s 19 California skilled nursing facilities, alleges that Sweetwater violated California law, specifically the Unfair Competition Law, due to their failure to meet statutory minimum staffing levels and to protect California residents under its care. This failure led to delayed care and critical oversights, resulting in severe harm to patients who depended on timely medical attention. The lawsuit also highlights that while Sweetwater received significant payments from Medi-Cal, the chain engaged in a pattern of violations of California law and regulations related to minimum skilled nursing facility staffing.
“Sweetwater and its skilled nursing facilities violated the law and betrayed the trust of communities by failing to safeguard the health and safety of its residents. This is simply unacceptable,” said Attorney General Bonta. “The California Department of Justice will step in whenever the well-being of patients is at stake. With today’s lawsuit, we are holding Sweetwater accountable for breaking the law by understaffing its facilities and leaving residents vulnerable to serious neglect and injuries. No one is above the law, and our vulnerable patients deserve nothing less than dignity, safety, and high-quality care.”
The California Department of Justice (DOJ)’s Division of Medi-Cal Fraud and Elder Abuse (DMFEA)’s investigation found that Sweetwater was engaging in a pattern of unlawful conduct leading to associated patient harm, preventable neglect, abuse, and injuries. From 2020 through 2024, Sweetwater SNFs were staffed below California minimum staffing levels in over 14,126 instances. This unlawful level of understaffing led to patients at Sweetwater’s SNFs being exposed to preventable neglect, abuse, and injuries including fractured bones that went days without assessment or medical care, patients with head trauma leaving the facility unbeknownst to staff, unwitnessed falls, pressure injuries so severe that a patient’s hip bone was visible, medical emergencies that were not timely assessed or responded to, and patients being left for hours and overnight in soiled diapers because staff were too few or unwilling to provide care. The investigation also revealed that Sweetwater extracted over $31 million as “profit” or “management fees” instead of using those dollars to provide the legally required staffing to meet minimum nursing staff levels…