Category: Illinois Nursing Homes

A Chicago Nursing Home Attorney has filed a lawsuit against a Lake Zurich nursing home in Cook County Circuit Court for allegedly neglecting one of its residents, according to the Lake County News-Sun. On December 29, 2006, the resident was admitted to Lexington Health Care Center of Lake Zurich nursing home under the precaution that she was at-risk for falls. The lawsuit alleges that over the course of a seven month span in 2007, the patient fell a total of five times, despite the nursing home’s knowledge of the patient’s risk of falling.

As a result of one accident in August 2007, the patient complained to nursing home staff for several days about hip pain. The nursing home eventually took her to the hospital for x-rays. Hospital physicians diagnosed her with multiple left hip fractures and pneumonia. The plaintiff had to have surgery to repair the fractures. It is alleged that the resident will experience a significant loss of mobility in the future.

The National Citizens’ Coalition for Nursing Home Reform defines elder neglect, in part, as failing to care for a resident in a way that avoids injury. Neglect does not have to be intentional, and a nursing home employee who is not properly trained is likely not to give adequate care. Included in their definition of neglect is failing to provide help with walking when needed and not paying attention to complaints for help (both of these allegations are being made in the Cook County lawsuit).

If you believe a loved one in your family has been neglected by an Illinois nursing home, contact Abels and Annes to discuss legal options.

A resident of a Canton, Ill. nursing home was recently found living in a grain storage bin, more than a month after she went missing. The 44-year-old woman, who has been diagnosed with schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and cancer, was last seen at her nursing home Sept. 16. She was found in early December after she came to a home near the grain bin, seeking shelter from the cold. Authorities told the Peoria Journal Star that the woman was sleeping on plastic and carpeting and eating crabapples to survive. After she was discovered, she was treated for dehydration.

From the facts presented in the article, it seems to me that this woman and her family may have an Illinois nursing home neglect lawsuit, depending on the extent of her injuries. The article mentions that the woman had run off once before and been found three weeks later, living in the woods, so she has at least some history of escape attempts. As a Chicago nursing home abuse attorney, I know this is not uncommon for patients with a mental illness. We do not know the circumstances, of course, but in general, allowing patients with these tendencies to wander into dangerous situations is a form of nursing home neglect.

Many people put their loved ones in a home in the first place to avoid just this kind of incident. Even the most dedicated relative can’t provide 24-hour supervision for an irrational, unpredictable patient. The additional resources provided by a nursing home or assisted care facility are supposed to reduce these sorts of serious risks. When they fail, patients and their families don’t have to just put up with it. Our Chicago nursing home abuse and neglect lawyers handle cases where a patient is injured due to a nursing home’s negligence. To learn more, you can contact us online.

A woman has sued her nursing home in East St. Louis, the Madison County Record reported in December. The lawsuit alleges that the woman, who entered the home in 2000, developed pressure sores on her body because of neglect at the home. She also alleges that staff failed to treat the sores or give her medication. She is suing the parent company for the home for negligence as well as violations of the Illinois Nursing Home Care Act, which gives many legal rights to residents of nursing homes.

Pressure sores (also called bedsores or by their medical name, decubitus ulcers) may not sound too terrible, but they can actually be life-threatening. They often develop in patients who are bed-bound or wheelchair-bound, due to a combination of pressure, friction, humidity and sometimes medication. Malnutrition and underlying conditions like anemia can then make an existing bedsore worse. Pressure sores may look simply like a discoloration of the skin in the early stages (pinkness in light-skinned people; blue or purple patches in dark-skinned people), but as time goes on, they eventually come to resemble cuts or puncture wounds. Eventually, the body tissues under pressure are damaged and die, just like tissues with gangrene, and are likely to become infected.

Healthy people don’t generally develop pressure sores because they have the power to simply change position when they start feeling uncomfortable. That’s not the case for physically or mentally disabled people who need help to move. To prevent the sores, experts recommend that aides turn patients every two hours and help them maintain good hygiene and general health. This is especially important in nursing homes. According to an eMedicine article, 17% to 28% of patients in nursing homes have pressure sores, and two-thirds of the sores occur in patients over 70. Worse, even a patient who has healed from bedsores has a 90% chance of developing more.

Given the severe risk and relatively simple prevention of pressure sores, preventing them should be the top priority of any nursing home. Unfortunately, these basic tasks are often the first to go in cases of nursing home neglect. And many of the other features of nursing home neglect, such as malnutrition and poor hygiene, can make pressure sores even worse and invite infections, sometimes life-threatening infections. In a patient already weakened by illness or age, this can be a health care disaster leading to serious illness, a health decline or even death. If you believe someone you love has developed serious bedsores because of neglect at a nursing home, you can and should hold it legally responsible with an Illinois nursing home neglect lawsuit. To speak with one of our Chicago nursing home lawyers today, please contact us through our Web site or call (312) 475-9596.