Illinois Nursing Home Abuse Blog

A state district court has ruled that a nursing home’s arbitration agreement was unenforceable because it was unconscionable. The nursing home, in response to a lawsuit alleging deprivation of a resident’s rights and wrongful death, sought to compel arbitration pursuant to a provision contained in the facility care contract.

However, the court regarded the nursing home’s actions as an unconscionable way to avoid liability. Without explaining any substantive provisions or discussing the arbitration agreement, the admissions director at the facility deceptively had the deceased patient’s daughter sign a 37 page document in less than five minutes. Further, the facility never informed the patient’s daughter that she did not have to sign the contract for her father to receive care, nor did they provide a copy of the contract once it was signed. It appears the facility’s primary objective was simply to avoid litigation at any cost, regardless of its general failure to provide adequate care to its residents.

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A wrongful death lawsuit was recently filed against a nursing home where a 76 year-old’s pressure ulcers were left untreated until it ultimately caused his death. The family of the nursing home abuse and neglect victim said that the nursing home stopped giving her father physical therapy, which would have prevented the bedsore. Then, the bedsore went untreated for months.

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Due to the neglect of facility staff, boxing legend Joe Louis's sister was found frozen to death just outside of the assisted-living center where she was a resident. The 92-year-old resident suffered from Alzheimer's disease, an illness often causing patients to wander, requiring constant supervision. The woman had been missing for a full day when she was found just outside of the facility dressed only in her pajamas and one shoe. She died of hypothermia and there was no indication of an intentional crime, but this tragedy could have easily been prevented had staff been less neglectful and if they had provided the care that was promised to the woman's loved ones. This kind of nursing home abuse and neglect is not just limited to poorly-run state facilities or similar homes. Even the family members of this country's legends, such as the great Joe Louis, are at risk.

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Atria Senior Living is a chain of nursing homes with 130 facilities across the country. The nursing home chain is owned by Lazard Ltd, a corporation that has just given its CEO Bruce Wasserstein a new contract where he will be paid over $41 million for 2007 and over $100 million overall. The staff at Atria Senior Living homes nationwide is underpaid and overworked, just like many assisted living facilities across the country. Employees have reported that the average salary is about $8-10 an hour and that the company-provided healthcare plans are too costly to afford. Nursing home abuse and neglect is a widespread problem in the US and many of these issues are due to understaffing, inadequately trained staff or overworked employees. Nursing homes owned by private equity firms, like Atria Senior Living homes, have even worse statistics. These firms often claim that it is financially too difficult to afford more staff, proper training, or better hours but the case of Mr. Wasserstein is a perfect example of these firms valuing their profits over the wellbeing of residents and employees. The family members of Atria residents are also left perplexed as their loved ones are being neglected and hoping for better care while money that could be used to improve standards of care is going to make millionaires even richer.

Financial exploitation and abuse is the most common form of elder abuse reported and investigated in Illinois. Recently, the caregiver of an 83-year-old man was found forging checks in the man's name. Workers at the Sugar Grove, Illinois bank noticed the irregularities in the checks and notified police. The caregiver is being charged with forgery and financial exploitation of an elderly/disabled person. The elderly aren't always lucky enough to have outsiders discover the source of exploitation. Here are a few ways to protect yourself or a loved one when hiring a caregiver:

-Check the backgrounds and references of future employees
-Allow another person (friend, family, lawyer) to have access to bank accounts to monitor spending
-Tell the bank that a caregiver will be handling some financial transactions and to monitor them
-If employing a caregiver or other worker in the home, secure personal information
-Never give bank account or credit card information over the phone
-Shred or get rid of papers with personal and bank information

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Nursing home abuse and neglect has been consistently on the rise, and the rapidly aging population in the United States only makes this serious problem more worrisome. A recent study has found that from 2000-2006, there was a 22% rise in the serious reprimands nursing homes received for dangerous conditions such as medication errors, physical and sexual abuse, financial exploitation, and allowing patients to sustain injuries by falling or developing pressure sores; these are only a few examples.

The chance of this problem ceasing any time soon has been greatly decreased by the recent trend of private investment firms acquiring nursing home chains. The nursing home industry has been a sought after one as demands for long term care increase along with the aging population. Homes owned by private investment firms have proven to have conditions worse than other nursing homes. In 12 out of the 14 areas used by regulators to track ailments prevalent in nursing homes, homes owned by private investment firms scored worse than the national rates. According to the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), the residents at nursing homes and facilities owned by private equity are shown to suffer more from depression, loss of mobility, and inability to bathe and dress themselves. These homes also have more citations for things like inappropriately restraining residents and serving unsuitable or moldy food.

Kane County, Illinois employs a prosecutor assigned mainly to cases of elder abuse including one of the most prevalent problems, financial abuse and exploitation. Kane County State's Attorney John Barsanti has said that he hopes to improve community outreach as well and that elder abuse should be viewed like child abuse, where the very vulnerable can be taken advantage of. Illinois and US laws, however, seem to do much more to protect and advocate for children than for elders. Many elder abuse attorneys and advocates across the United States argue that elder abuse and nursing home abuse and neglect laws need to be stronger.

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The police department of Quincy, Illinois has a well-established Senior and Family Resource Center that has recently appointed a new elder services officer, Detective Tom Liesen. Elder abuse and neglect, home repair fraud, and financial exploitation of elders are some of the areas that Detective Liesen investigates. He has been trained in elder services and regularly attends elder rights conferences. Liesen also visits nursing homes to speak with residents and staff and has investigated cases of nursing home abuse and neglect. He said, "When you see the pictures of bedsores, it's shocking. It's sad because you realize that one little bit of care could have prevented that." Detective Liesen provides a much needed service to his community and has set an example for other Illinois communities to follow. Protecting the elderly should be a priority in every town and city.

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In an instance of elder financial abuse and exploitation taken to the extreme, an 86-year-old woman was pepper-sprayed and robbed by her cleaning service workers. A Cook County District court set $150,000 bond for the two cleaning workers from Naperville and Chicago, Illinois. The women allegedly rang the elderly woman's doorbell and sprayed her in the face with pepper spray when she came to the door. The women stole $400 from the resident's purse and fled.

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