Illinois Nursing Home Abuse Blog

Allegations of abuse at an Ohio nursing home drew the attention of state investigators. The Attorney General’s Office is now investigating the after reports of abuse and neglect. Eight nurses were fired from the nursing home after falsely reporting that they had cared for a patient’s would, although it became obvious that the neglected to care for the wound. Although the patient has made a full recovery, the Attorney General’s Office continues their investigation. The nursing home, which reported the incident to the state, followed all state regulations in reporting the incidents. This type of neglect is a threat everywhere, including Chicago. To read the full story, click here.

An Alzheimer’s patient at an Oklahoma nursing home was an alleged victim of severe physical abuse, prompting advocates to demand reform. The photos show that the woman had severe bruising to the face, neck and a black eye, all indicative of physical abuse. However, the nursing home had informed the family that the patient had fallen. The family asked the Department of Human Services to investigate and the agency declined an investigation, stating that there was no indication of abuse and neglect. This type of physical abuse is a threat everywhere, including Chicago. To read the full story, click here.

Four teenage nursing assistants were found to have been verbally, sexually and emotionally abusing residents. The girls were supposedly abusing patients that have Alzheimer’s so bad that they wouldn’t be able to say it or remember what had happened. They girls would abuse the residents and then laugh when the residents became upset. The abuse was cited as spitting in mouths, poking breasts and nipples, putting fingers in mouths, touching and tapping genitals, sticking rear ends in faces, rubbing buttocks, rubbing penises, touching perinea, anal insertion, holding residents down, and teasing them. They girls were terminated when officials became aware of their conduct, and employees who were aware of the nursing home abuse and failed to report have also been terminated. This shocking story is an example of nursing home abuse and negligence that can happen anywhere, including Chicago. To read the full story, click here.

Levin & Perconti filed a nursing home negligence lawsuit in the Circuit Court of Iroquois County on behalf of the family of a nursing home resident who sustained personal injuries while under the care of the Watseka Rehabilitation Center. The victim, Jospehine Kusman, sustained injuries that were a result of nursing home abuse and neglect and led to her death. Watseka failed to asses Josephine’s condition, implement a plan to care for her needs, and provide necessary medical services, leading her to develop horrible pressure sores and become malnourished and dehydrated. She was subsequently admitted to the hospital with multiple pressure sores, including a sore on her heel that was so infected and gangrenous it required a below-the-knee amputation. The staff allowed Jospehine to lie in her own urine and feces, her call light was frequently not answered, and her son was not timely informed of his mother’s pressure sores. Her son feels that there was a lack of staff members and the few present were not adequately caring for their patients. Levin & Perconti filed the case because the nursing home violated the trust given both to their residents and family members when they neglected Josephine’s medical and personal care needs.

A former nursing home aide was sentenced to up to 15 years in prison for sexually abusing an elderly woman. The man was an employee of the nursing home. The 31 year old employee pleaded guilty to forcible sex abuse for molesting the 85-year-old woman in her nursing home. The distraught family members of the victim asked to Judge to sentence the nursing home employee to the maximum sentence, which he did. At this time, no other nursing home residents have filed sexual abuse charges. Sexual abuse is an extremely important issue in nursing home regulation. To read the full story, click here.

A nursing home where two patients have recently fallen from their wheelchairs, resulting in one wrongful death and personal injuries to the other, has had their license downgraded. One of the patients that fell out of their wheelchair suffered a fractured neck and ruptured blood vessel in his brain and died as a result of the fall. The other patient suffered multiple personal injuries including head injuries and a possible concussion as a result of his fall. These two incidents happened only two days apart and occurred only one month after the facility was fined when the Health Department found 21 deficiencies in their operations. The nursing home claims that the falls were both results of miscommunications and that the other issues occurred when the home was under different management. There is no word on whether a wrongful death suit or personal injury suit will be filed by the families of the victims. For the full story click here.

The family of a woman who died while being cared for in a nursing home has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the nursing home for abuse and neglect. The family is suing because they feel that the nursing home neglected their daughter by not treating her properly and that her not receiving the proper care resulted in her untimely death. Shortly before her death, the family confronted hospital staff telling them that the patient looked uncomfortable and the staff told them that everything was under control. The next day the patient was in a catatonic state and ended up dying. The family has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against not only the individual nursing home but against the company that owns this nursing home as well as many others for abuse and neglect of their patients. When asked about the lawsuit the company said they hadn’t had time to review the complaint fully and did not comment further. The issue of nursing home abuse and neglect is a common problem and happens in Chicago, Illinois as well. For the full story click here.

Budget cuts and retirements are threatening Cincinnati’s unique inspection of nursing homes and residential facilities. Cincinnati is the only city in Ohio that does its own nursing home inspections. The city believes that this policy allows them to react more quickly and aggressively to problems such as physical or financial abuse. Nursing home inspectors evaluate living conditions and a wide variety of health and safety issues including how drugs are dispensed. The Ohio Department of Health will takeover the inspections if funding is cut, much like the Illinois Department of Health regulates Chicago’s nursing homes. To read the full story, click here.

A $2.5 million lawsuit has been filed in U.S. District court alleging that the nursing home of Life Care Center of New Market, Virginia provided improper care. The administer of a patient’s estate filed the suit stating that the nursing home’s employees deviated from a standard of care that is appropriate for a nursing home. The plaintiff claims that the employees failed to prevent avoidable skin breakdown creating bedsores. Furthermore, the bedsores weren’t treated properly and no physician was advised of the problem. The nursing home has 20 days to answer the complaint. To read the full story, click here.

The operator of 18 Southern California skilled nursing homes is paying former residents $2 million to settle a class-action lawsuit alleging substandard care of elderly patients. Approximately 4,000 people are part of the class and attorneys estimate that only about a fifth of those people are still alive. The lawyers stated that the suit was to improve the care the elderly received at these nursing homes. The homes were allegedly plagued by chronic under-staffing and insufficient training while brochures were claiming the homes had wonderful, superlative care. This fraud greatly angered the patients and their relatives. The settlement requires a monitor which will inspect five of the eighteen nursing homes randomly each year. Hopefully, these monitors will help decrease elderly abuse and fraud. To read the full story, click here.

The National Consumer Voice for Quality Long-Term Care is holding its annual meeting in October. The meeting is to be held close to Chicago, in a neighboring state. The organization prides itself on make advances in the care received by nursing home residents and works to prevent nursing home abuse, nursing home neglect and nursing home failures to supervise for patients. Organizations like NCCNHR are crucial to help obtain changes in nursing home reforms and to improve the quality of care that elder residents receive. To register for the conference or learn more information how this organization is working to improve nursing home care and long term care facilities click here.

A class action lawsuit was filed in King County, Washington against a company that owns 15 nursing homes. The company, Extendicare Homes, Inc., is a subsidiary of Milwaukee-based Extendicare Health Services which owns nursing homes in Milwaukee. The suit claims that customers are lured in with false advertising and charged for services that are not provided. The main focus of the suit is nursing home fraud. The nursing home suit has been filed by The Garcia Law Firm of Long Beach, California and Stritmatter, Kessler, Whelan, Coluccio of Seattle, Washington. A representative from the Garcia Law firm stated that he believes it is corporate strategy and policy to maximize profits at the expense of the elderly. To read the full story, click here.

In a Delaware nursing home, one employee is accused of putting a patient’s life in danger and abusing the elderly. The employee was allegedly caring for an 85 year old man when the older gentlemen started to scream. The employee abused the man by placing a pillow over the patient’s head to quiet him. A co-worker reported the abuse to the nursing home director. The employee is facing several charges which include reckless endangerment and offense touching. At this point no lawsuits have been filed due to the elderly abuse or nursing home negligence. To read the full story, click here.

Death of Elderly Victim Draws Attention to Home Health Care

In late 2006, a bedridden elderly woman was killed in her California home by her home health care aide. Her killer was convicted of involuntary manslaughter and sentenced to three years in prison. This event has drawn attention to the growing number of home-care providers being charged with abuse. Prosecutors state that there are a growing number of cases of abuse, negligence and fraud when the aides abuse the elderly. Most abuse cases involve nonmedical aides hired to help around the house. Also, older people are sometimes afraid to report home-care abuse. Due to these great number of elderly abuse cases, many are calling for better oversight of an expanding industry. Currently 1.6 million people are employed to care for the elderly. It is cheaper for Medicaid to pay for home care which costs $6,000 than a nursing home which costs $20,000.
The great number of abuse and neglect cases has prompted Illinois to enact legislation that requires all home-care agencies to be licensed and screen their employees. To read the full story, click here.

The death of a 90 year old woman that passed away in early June has been ruled a homicide due to neglect. She was checked into a hospital for malnutrition and infected bed sores but died shortly after being admitted because her condition was so bad. The details as to who was taking care of her when this neglect occurred and whether a wrongful death suit will be filed are still not known. Authorities are beginning a full investigation into her death. Elderly abuse and neglect is a very prevalent issue all over the country, including in Chicago, Illinois. For full story click here.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced that they will be launching a new rating system for nursing homes. The goal of this system is to give the public a tool to compare nursing homes by differentiating between high and low performing nursing homes. The hope is that by introducing this rating system that nursing homes will be encouraged to maintain high levels of care to achieve a five star rating. The CMC notes that it is still very important to visit nursing homes and find out more details about the individual homes before choosing the best one for a loved one and that this is to be used as a tool when initially searching for a good nursing home. The CMS hopes that this system will help to cut down on nursing home abuse and neglect and draw attention to the homes in which these issues are occurring. For the full story click here. For further information on the rating system itself click here.

In a recent study on elderly abuse done by the University of Chicago, it was found that approximately 13% of elderly people are currently subject to abuse. The forms of elder abuse addressed in this study included verbal, financial and physical abuse. This study is one of the first of its kind to be done in that it is much more comprehensive and inclusive than previous studies that regarding elder abuse and draws from a more representative sample. The large sample allowed for it to be seen that the types of abuse differ in different situations (verbal abuse was found to be the most common) as well as the reporting of abuse differing based on factors such as gender, age and race. For the full story click here.

The family of a nursing home resident that died after a cerebral hemorrhage due to a fall while in her nursing home has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the nursing home. The patient had suffered four falls during her brief stay at the nursing home prior to her death, causing it to seem that the nursing home was neglecting to provide the appropriate care to their patients. While many nursing homes including ones in Chicago, Illinois have issues with staffing shortages which can lead to inadequate patient care and could lead to patient accidents, this nursing home seems to have neglect issues. This case is just one of many lawsuits that the company that owns this particular nursing home has received that claim similar neglect or wrongful death. An employee of the nursing home was previously sued for felony elder abuse after a patient showed signs of head injuries consistent with being beaten. The issue of nursing home abuse and neglect is a prevalent issue and is seen all over the country, including in Chicago, Illinois. To read the full story click here.