Illinois Nursing Home Abuse Blog

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.

When 84-year-old John DeBias’ health began declining a few years ago, he was forced to abandon his condo in Florida and return to Carpentersville, Illinois, to live with his daughter. However, five months ago, John broke his leg and then suffered a heart attack during surgery and, as he continued to get worse, living with his daughter, Karen, a single working mother, became impossible since she simply did not have the time to devote to her ailing father and in-house health care was not enough. It was then that John was forced to move into a nursing home. Since January, John has lived in multiple Illinois nursing homes. He is finally in one that works for the family, but getting there was difficult. Most of the nursing homes put a good show on for the residents’ families, but care ends up being inadequate and seniors are left to fend for themselves more than they are able. A stint in one nursing home left John with weight loss of 13 pounds in two weeks, urinary tract and yeast infections, a shoulder injury from being pushed and pulled around, dehydration and malnutrition, and pressure sores.

Unfortunately, this is not a unique story for nursing home residents. In 2003, nation-wide state Long Term Care Ombudsmen programs collectively investigated 20,673 complaints against nursing homes and board and care residents. The Nursing Home Transparency and Improvement Act of 2008 is aimed at improving consumer knowledge about the quality of nursing homes. Some ways the Act is achieving that goal is by: (1) posting nursing home ownership details, a standard complaint form, and links to inspection reports on www.medicare.gov; (2) increasing the maximum fines from $10,000 to $100,000 for any nursing home deficiency that results in a death; and (3) independently auditing nursing home chains, allowing closer watching of chains that have failed to comply in the past. In addition, separate from the legislation, there will be a website by the end of the year that evaluates nursing homes on a five-star rating system.

Read more here.

An owner and operator of four personal care homes that provided “appalling” care reached a $700,000 settlement agreement whereby she agreed never to operate any such facility. Following the closing of the last of her four personal care facilities, the owner reached a settlement that is merely a drop in the bucket for the multimillionaire, especially considering the severity of the allegations.

The owner and her managers were accused of horrible treatment while siphoning federal assistance funds designed for residents for their own personal use, including social security, disability, and veterans benefits. U.S. attorneys alleged that the owner’s facilities were unsanitary, structurally unsafe, provided insufficient food, nutrition, clothing and bedding. Where residents were ill and needed medical assistance, the facility’s staff failed to respond or even call for medical assistance. Furthermore, the facilities were chronically understaffed, including one home that was cited twice in three months for not having enough staff to provide at least one hour of personal care per day to its mobile residents.

The settlement in this case appears to be well short of many expectations given the atrocious care and the apparent ill-gotten wealth of the owner. She has a portfolio of multimillion-dollar homes in several states, an aircraft, and is currently renovating a gated estate, allegedly using funds that were obtained by virtue of providing substandard care. Unfortunately, this demonstrates the lack of oversight in many states where, for example, 75% of personal care facilities are operating without a license.

For more information, click here and here:

A nursing home lawsuit is to be filed by the family of a woman who was prone to nursing home wandering. The woman, a 46 year old, with a history of seizures and brain injuries was found naked in a motel in Chicago, Illinois after wandering off from an alleged negligent nursing home. The woman found in Cook County was beaten to death and had suffered serious personal injuries caused by an unknown suspect. The woman went missing after leaving Somerset Nursing Home. The family will likely also file a wrongful death suit against the defendant nursing home. To see the full story on this alleged Somerset Nursing home abuse click here.

Those Seeking Trust & Solace in Nursing Homes Often Disappointed
Nursing home complaints are sweeping the nation as Nursing Homes fail to provide adequate care and prompt responses to patient’s medical needs. The struggles faced in such homes and nursing home blunders associated with patient care have been chronicled extensively. Many nursing home failures lead to personal injuries, medication errors and even death. To read stories and see photos on those who have experienced nursing home deaths and paraplegic nursing home care errors click here.

Penny Whitlock, a former nurse and director of nursing at the Illinois nursing home, Woodstock Residence, now called Crossroads Care Center of Woodstock, requested that three charges against her related to nursing home abuse and neglect be thrown out. The charges allege that she neglected three nursing home residents by failing to blow the whistle on the mistreatment of another patient. Whitlock filed a motion asking the judge to throw out three charges for neglecting long-term care facility residents, claiming she cannot be charged for neglect of patients other than the one who she allegedly knew was being mistreated. In total, Whitlock is charged with five counts of criminal neglect of a long-term care facility resident and two counts of obstructing justice. Additionally, former Woodstock Residence nurse Marty Himebaugh was charged with, and pleaded not guilty to, four counts of criminal neglect of a long-term care facility resident, one count of obtaining morphine by fraud, and one count of unlawful distribution of a controlled substance. At the heart of the issue is whether Whitlock failed to take action after receiving complaints from other staff members alleging that Himebaugh was overmedicating nursing home patients with morphine and whether Whitlock urged Himebaugh to continue being an “Angel of Death.” The charges touch on nursing home abuse , nursing home neglect, medication errors, and physical or chemical restraints.

In a related suit, Levin and Perconti has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Woodstock Residence, Whitlock, and Himebaugh.

Read more here.

A nursing home in Canton, Ohio has lost its federal funding for having too many violations. According to inspectors, each time they went to the facility there was another problem. Unlike large corporate facilities, many smaller homes survive on Medicare and Medicaid to supplement what individual residents can pay to live in the home. This facility had a troubling list of violations including a patient not getting blood thinning medication until five days after the doctor prescribed it, a resident reported an instance of patient on patient rape and the doctor was not notified until 11 hours afterwards, a patient had severely matted and soiled hair resulting from his hair only being washed two or three times in six months at the facility, and old, used syringes lying around in patient rooms.

Read the full news report here.

A nursing home employee has been arrested and charged with theft of medications from nursing home residents. The employee apparently switched prescription pain relievers with over the counter pain relievers and then gave the wrong medication to the nursing home residents. This case shows another example of how medication mixing, giving the wrong medication, and prescription drug theft are more and more common in nursing homes. Family and patient advocates should be sure to check with their loved ones in nursing homes to make sure the resident feels like their medication is working and should also watch how medication is administered.

See the news story here.

A 20 year old girl with terminal kidney disease has died in a nursing home after crying for help for six hours. According to news reports, the nursing home staff ignored her cries for help for six hours before finding her dead. A nurse quoted in the news article said that the girl begged to see a doctor because something was really wrong. This is a sad case of nursing home neglect that shows how neglect can be deadly. Often, nursing home staff are so overtaxed with tasks and residents that they cannot or do not attend to all resident requests. Unfortunately, this means that many life or death calls can go unanswered. The girl’s family will likely file a wrongful death lawsuit for nursing home abuse and neglect to seek justice for their daughter’s sad and painful death.

Read more here.

A recent article highlights the dangers of residing in and placing family members in uninsured nursing homes. Uninsured nursing homes are extremely dangerous for residents because there is no way that residents can get fair and reasonable compensation for their injuries and families can recoup fair and reasonable compensation for their loved one’s wrongful death in a nursing home abuse and neglect lawsuit. The article highlights three tragic cases where a woman suffered severe pressure sores because nurses did not maintain her cast, another woman suffered when she was left on a bedpan for too long, and one resident died from dehydration in a nursing home. Unfortunately, none of these residents nor their families could fair and reasonable compensation for their injuries. Currently, the Illinois House is considering HB 5213 which would require at least $1 million in insurance coverage for Illinois nursing homes to protect residents who may be victims of nursing home abuse and neglect.

Read more about the dangers of uninsured nursing homes here.

The Centers Medicare and Medicaid Services Nursing Home Compare website has added a new section that allows viewers to see information on nursing homes and identify homes that have drawn increased federal scrutiny for complaints and other forms of nursing home abuse and neglect. The website includes a listing of Special Focus Facilities which are nursing homes that receive increased federal inspection as a result of past poor performance. Notably, five Illinois nursing homes made the list. Embassy Health Care Center in Wilmington, IL and Harrisburg Care Center of Harrisburg, IL are both on the “not improved” list. Facilities that have shown improvement include Alden Park Strathmoor in Rockford, Berkshire Nursing & Rehab in Forest Park, and International Village in Chicago.

See here for the report and view the website here.

A southern police department has arrested five assisted living facility staffers after reports that staff members at the facility were selling drugs. The staff members were arrested while two seniors were in the facility.

Increasing reports of staff misconduct and nursing home abuse and neglect at nursing homes and assisted living facilities have raised consumer awareness about the safety and security of their family members. It is very important to check out a facility for previous reports of nursing home abuse and neglect.

For the story, click here.

Assisted living facility residents are increasingly in danger as incidents of assisted living facility abuse and misconduct by their fellow residents are more common. Recently, an assisted living facility saw two residents arrested in the same day. One resident was arrested for sexual abuse of an assisted living facility resident and the other was arrested for conspiring to sell drugs at the assisted living facility. Both residents have been removed from the facility, but neighbors and the town manager knew of multiple prior problems including failure to supervise residents and wandering.

For the full story, click here.

Knowing which nursing homes are bad can be valuable information for a family seeking long-term care for an elderly loved one but concerned about issues like nursing home abuse and neglect. Recently, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services announced the names of 54 nursing homes that had ranked as one of the worst in their state. Proper administration of medication to patients, appropriate assistance with activities of daily life and concern for the prevention of malnutrition and dehydration are examples of what inspectors look for in nursing homes. Inspectors also look for signs of nursing home abuse and neglect such as failure to maintain resident safety and prevent accidents, such as falls, infections, bed sores and other problems elderly people are susceptible to.

The list published by CMS containing the names of 54 nursing homes is actually a sample of 128 "special focus facilities", or homes that were identified as in need of more oversight. CMS says that the rest of the facilities were not identified because during the six months after being titled a "focus facility" they showed improvement. Democratic legislators, however, are demanding that all of the names be released in order to protect nursing home residents. Most nursing homes have around 6-7 deficiencies identified during inspection, but the ones on the list had twice as many or more. Unfortunately, no national standard has been set for the investigations so each state has its own parameters. An Illinois nursing home can be considered in terrible condition, but would not qualify in another state. A bill was recently introduced in the legislature to make it mandatory for CMS to publish all of the names, but the issue of discrepancies between states' standards is an issue that should be addressed by congress.

Click here for the full article

Twenty years ago, Congress passed the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (OBRA) and it is now time to review its successes and failures in order to improve the quality of nursing home care. OBRA regulates inadequate nursing homes by either shutting them down or allowing well-performing nursing home care providers to take over substandard facilities. However, the system in place requires that those who take over failing homes must be responsible for the liabilities that the previous management had incurred, including fines, penalties and deadlines to correct certain problems, including issues regarding nursing home abuse and neglect. Because the new management must take on these liabilities there are less resources to dedicate to improvement of the quality of care. The American Association of Homes and Services for the Aging (AAHSA) has strongly urged congress to pass legislation regarding "the counterproductive nurse aide training lock-out, the need for joint training of nursing home and surveyor staff, allowing states to demonstrate alternative quality assurance systems, facilitating new ownership for chronic problem homes, and using civil money funds to improve nursing home quality."

Click here for the full article

The Service Employees Union International (SEIU) will be holding rallies at Chicago-area ManorCare locations on Thursday to draw attention to the company's purchase by private equity company Carlyle Group in August. Further details of the rally will be disclosed tomorrow. Please check back tomorrow for an update.

Click here for more information on Carlyle Group's purchase of ManorCare and it's implications for care at Illinois Nursing Homes.

A statement was issued by the President of the Alliance for Quality Nursing Home Care (AQNHC) in response to the New York Times Article released on Sunday in which the AQNHC surprisingly refuses to condemn the practice of providing less than quality care while simultaneously using corporate shells to operate long-term care facilities and avoid accountability. The AQNHC, a group committed to improving the quality of long-term care nationwide, takes the unsupported position that care in America’s nursing homes is improving overall, noting that the New York Times focused their analysis on only 10% of our nation’s nursing homes.

The AQNHC does not deny that care is being sacrificed at these private equity owned homes, nor do they condemn this practice. Further, AQNHC is non-responsive to the issue of accountability where the owners of long-term care facilities - those who reap the profits - are not held accountable for bad care.

Is the AQNHC applauding this practice or not responding at all? One would expect an organization that is engaged in improving care in our nation’s nursing homes to condemn a practice by profit seekers who cut resident services and staff, decreasing the overall quality of care provided to residents.

Instead, the AQNHC lauds the profession’s “demonstrated commitment to public data disclosure,” and transparency, asserting that nursing homes make data available for pote