Nursing Home Neglect Archives

Illinois Nursing Home Lawyer Files Lawsuit Against Lake Zurich Facility

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.

California Nursing Home Employees Charged With Nursing Home Abuse

by Dave Abels

In Lake Isabella, California, three current and former Kern Valley Hospital District’s nursing home employees have been charged with abuse for administering drugs to elderly residents against their will, possibly costing some residents their lives, according to Bakersfieldnow.com. The three defendants include the home’s past director of nursing, past pharmacist, and current staff physician.

The criminal complaint alleges that they forcibly administered psychotropic drugs to over 20 nursing home residents at the Kern Valley Hospital District’s nursing home. A lengthy investigation found that starting in 2006, to make nursing home residents who suffered from Alzheimer’s and other types of dementia more calm and easier to manage, the former director of nursing began demanding nursing home staff to administer large doses of psychotropic drugs to them.

The attorney general’s complaint also alleges that three nursing home residents may have past away as a result of the medical complications from the forced psychotropic drugs. The director allegedly targeted patients that argued or were otherwise disruptive and difficult to care for.

The family of a 91 year old resident who died has retained a nursing home abuse lawyer and has filed a lawsuit against the Kern home. The family did not find out about the abuse until a year later when a member of the family received a tip from a nurse at the home that they should look into abuse of their loved one.

According to a National Center for Elder Abuse 2005 fact sheet, it is estimated that between one and two million people above the age of 65 have been abused by someone who provides care for them. It is also estimated that between two and ten percent of the elderly population have been abused, while at the same time only one in fourteen cases of abuse are reported to authorities.

Attorneys from our firm represent nursing home residents and families who have suffered from nursing home abuse and neglect cases in Illinois. If someone you love has been hurt by abuse or neglect at a nursing home in Illinois, please contact Abels & Annes for a free consultation.

Illinois Nursing Home Gets Bad Review

by Dave Abels

In Central Illinois, the Care Center of Abingdon nursing home has received the lowest possible score by the Center for Medicaid Services in a new five star rating system, according to Galesburg.com. The home only received one star out of five. As an Illinois nursing home lawyer, I believe that a low rating like this is an indication to look out for neglect and abuse.

The rating program evaluates almost 16,000 facilities across the country. The new system rates nursing homes in three areas; health inspections, quality measures, and staffing levels.

In the health inspections category, the Abingdon nursing home was awarded 3 out of 5 stars. However, the home received only one star in the quality measures and staffing levels areas. This resulted in an overall rating of just one star.

The report found several problems with the Illinois nursing home. First, the home allegedly either failed to hire workers with no history of abusing patients or failed to investigate reported nursing home abuse. The report states the nursing home also failed to properly administer medication to residents, failed to adequately hydrate residents with fluids, and failed to properly prevent and/or treat bed sores.

Licensed nurses in Illinois on average spend one hour and twelve minutes with each nursing home resident. The nationwide average is one hour and eighteen minutes. At the Care Center of Abington, the average nurse time with patients was only 47 minutes during a 2 week period just before the state inspection.

The CEO of the nursing home states that they have addressed the issues raised in the report. Abington is run by a non-for-profit corporation and they have 82 certified beds.

While the problems at the home have reportedly been corrected, it would be wise for family members of residents at the home to keep a close watch on their loved ones, visit regularly, and look for signs of nursing home abuse and neglect.

If you believe a family member has been abused or neglected by a nursing home in Illinois, please contact Abels & Annes at (312) 924-7575 for a free consultation.

Illinois Nursing Home Resident Freezes To Death — Chicago Nursing Home Lawyer

by Dave Abels

An 89 year old woman has died at an Itasca nursing home after she walked into the courtyard and froze, according to CBS News in Chicago. The family is outraged and demanding answers from the facility where it happened.

The victim’s daughters say she suffered from dementia and that she had a fear of being alone and in the cold. It is also being reported that the Itasca Police Department is trying to figure out how the victim who was wearing an ankle monitor and who uses a walker was able to walk through 2 doors with alarms and go into a courtyard in the middle of the night unnoticed.

The Illinois Department of Public Health website indicates at least 14 complaints were filed against the nursing home last year. The family of the victim has hired a Chicago Area Nursing Home Abuse Lawyer to pursue a civil claim against the nursing home.

If you have a loved one that you believe has been abused or neglected by a nursing home in Illinois, contact Abels & Annes for a no cost consultation.

Missing Illinois Nursing Home Resident Found Living in Grain Storage Bin — Chicago Nursing Home Abuse Law Firm

by Dave Abels

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.

St. Clair County Nursing Home Sued for Neglect — Illinois Nursing Home Abuse Attorneys

by Dave Abels

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.

Tips for Spotting Problems in Nursing Homes from a Chicago Nursing Home Abuse Attorney

by Dave Abels

During the new year, many families will be visiting their loved ones in a nursing home or another assisted care facility. That makes it a good time of year to revisit the signs of abuse and neglect that families can watch for during their visits. This can be difficult, especially when the patient has trouble communicating or has a diagnosis of a mental illness. Unfortunately, some of these symptoms are very similar to symptoms of dementia; indeed, signs of abuse may be passed off by staffers as the onset of dementia. You may need to take further steps to know whether your loved one is truly being abused. The following tips are compiled from sources including the Mayo Clinic and the Rotary Club:

Signs from the patient:
• Unexplained weight loss and dehydration • Unexplained injuries, especially injuries that aren’t related to any existing medical condition • Bed sores • Denying obvious injuries or giving unlikely explanations for them • Dementia-like or childlike behaviors, like rocking back and forth • Confusion from a mentally competent person • Torn or bloody clothes • Dirty clothes and bedding • An increase in symptoms once controlled by medication • More medication left in the prescription than there should be, or new medications you don’t remember a doctor ordering • Seeming fear at the idea of ending the visit • Depression and withdrawn behavior • Missing jewelry or other objects of value • Sudden changes in financial situation
Signs from the nursing home’s staff:
• Reluctance to allow visitors • Reluctance to leave visitors alone with the patient • Speaking for a competent patient • Explanations that don’t fit with what you know about the patient • Seeming tension between staff and patients • Overworked or under-trained staff • Controlling or overly affectionate behavior by the staff • Unexplained changes in bills
• Duplicate bills • Too much concern about the patient’s finances • Displaying more wealth than they seem likely to have
If you suspect abuse, exploitation or neglect at a nursing home, the best thing you can do is report it. The Illinois Department of Public Health is responsible for investigating complaints at nursing homes; it maintains a 24-hour Nursing Home Hotline at 1-800-252-4343. If you’re sure of neglect or abuse, you should also consider pulling your loved one out of the home as soon as you can arrange it. And if your loved one was financially exploited, seriously hurt or killed by abusive behavior, you also have the right to file an Illinois nursing home abuse lawsuit. To learn more about your family’s legal rights, please contact us at (312) 475-9596 or through our Web site.

Doctor Blows Whistle on Neglect at Nursing Home — Chicago Nursing Home Abuse Law Firm

by Dave Abels

A Washington, D.C. emergency room doctor told a television news station there that he regularly treats residents of a particular nursing home for life-threatening effects of neglect. The doctor, who remained anonymous, told the capital’s ABC affiliate that he routinely sees patients from the Grant Park Care Center who are in danger of dying from preventable causes, including dehydration, malnutrition, kidney problems and pneumonia. The long-term care ombudsman for D.C., Jerry Kasunic, added unattended wounds to that list. The article reports that Kasunic’s staff has filed more than 100 complaints about the facility, but the city Department of Health has not been able to stop the problems.

This anonymous emergency room doctor told the news station that he frequently sees patients from Grant Park in critical condition. Unfortunately, for many older people, “critical condition” isn’t easily overcome. When patients already have serious health problems, malnutrition, dehydration or infection can exacerbate those problems, causing a decline in health that sometimes leads to death. By the time families discover the problem, they may not be able to do much to make a substantial difference in the victim’s health.

The article also mentions that the D.C. Department of Health has performed at least two inspections of the nursing home in 2008, both of which turned up substantial evidence of neglect. The department declined to comment for this story, so we do not know why it hasn’t taken action. However, regulatory agencies exist to spot and stop situations like this. If local or federal authorities cannot stop abuse or neglect at a nursing home, victims and families in Illinois can still seek justice through an Illinois nursing home abuse or neglect lawsuit.

A lawsuit can’t bring back a victim’s health, but it can help victims and their families secure the money they need for alternative care, medical bills and other costs of the mistreatment, as well as compensation for the victim’s pain and suffering. In cases where regulators refuse to take action, it can also perform the important duty of financially penalizing the wrongdoers and warning other families about their behavior. If you or someone you care about is a victim of nursing home abuse or neglect in Illinois and you’d like to know more about your options, please contact us through our Web site to learn more about your legal options.