August 11, 2010

Chicago Nursing Home Faces Forced Closure

A negligent Chicago nursing home will be closed by the state, reports CBS 2 Chicago. Columbus Manor Residential Care Home faces over $100,000 in fines and closure after Illinois nursing home inspectors uncovered repeated examples of inappropriate care at the facility.

Reports confirm that residents were attacking each other physically, and one elderly female resident was forced to fight off another male resident's attempt to sexual assault her. In another case, the nursing home staff failed to inform the doctor of one resident about his serious illness. The 61 year old resident died as a result.

A basic component of any nursing home care is honest reporting about medical conditions and ensuring a safe living environment for all residents at the facility. However, Columbus Manor was unable to meet even these fundamental requirements of adequate nursing home care.

Our Chicago nursing home attorneys at Levin & Perconti are experts in uncovering the negligent, abusive conduct at our city's nursing homes. We have fought countless legal battles on behalf of victimized seniors and their families who have endured these shameful care practices for years. Our commitment is to vindicating the abused and helping to ensure that future acts of nursing home negligence never occur.

That is why we support all efforts by Illinois regulators to shut down the worst nursing homes in our city. Unfortunately, many administrators of these facilities refuse to make the necessary changes to ensure that their residents are treated to the quality of care that they deserve and that the law demands. The only recourse is to close them down so that no future resident is put in peril.

Please contact our office if you know of any similar nursing home abuses.

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August 2, 2010

Nursing Home Investigated for Negligent Care

Wisconsin’s largest nursing home remains under investigation this week after continued reports of substandard nursing home care. The Milwaukee-Wisconsin Journal Sentinel has been following the developments at Mount Carmel Health & Rehabilitation Center.

The investigation by the state’s public health department is in its second week. The review was prompted by a viral outbreak at the facility which affected at least 21 residents. It was unclear exactly what caused the medical problem which was classified as leading to “generalized respiratory symptoms.”

This is only the latest is a long line of examples of extreme misconduct by the facility. Seven other lawsuits are still pending against the nursing home. On top of that, the state noted 35 specific care violations at the facility this year alone. In one case, staff members were caught lying about the location of a resident. The staff members reported seeing one resident repeatedly over a ten hour period, even though in reality the resident had left the facility and was arrested for prowling in a nearby neighborhood.

The seven remaining lawsuits at the facility involve residents who died as a result of pressure sores, physical falls, failure to provide assistance devices and elopement. It seems that everything that could go wrong at a nursing home has gone wrong at this facility.

Unfortunately the outrageous conduct at Mount Carmel is not an isolated example of chronic nursing home negligence, as our Chicago nursing home attorneys at Levin & Perconti know all to well. For decades we have witness the same nursing homes committing the same acts of negligence leading to deadly consequences to the residents at their facilities. Unfortunately too many facilities fail to learn from their previous mistakes.

Often the only thing that gets the attention of negligent nursing homes and their corporate backers are lawsuits that affect their bottom line. Our attorneys are committed to protecting the rights of injured nursing home residents and their families. If you or someone you know has been similarly victimized, please contact our office.

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July 20, 2010

Nursing Home Closed After Abuse and Neglect

Another nursing home is being closed amid continuous examples of substandard care, dangerous negligence, and unabashed elder abuse reports First Coast News. The Glenwood Nursing Center in Arlington, Florida is being shut down by the state’s Department of Health, in a rare move spurred by repeated examples of inadequate care by the nursing home staff members.

The one hundred residents in the home will be relocated and nursing home administrators may be fined $25,000 on top of the closure after state officials conducted an unannounced visit to the home earlier this year. Investigations during the visit revealed unsupervised and dangerous facility. Residents were falling at an alarming rate; there were several instances of resident on resident abuse and many examples of dangerous resident wandering. One patient was actually able to leave the facility and reach the next county before he was recovered.

State officials explain that the nursing home administrators were well aware of many of the problems at the facility but simply chose not to fix them. It is one thing for an unavoidable accident to occur at a facility, but it is a totally different matter when those in charge of the facility knowingly allow dangerous situations to persist.

Our Chicago nursing home attorneys at Levin & Perconti applaud all decisions which better protect the vulnerable seniors in our nursing homes. Too often, dangerous facilities like Glenwood are allowed to continue operations, harming more and more elderly residents. A strong message needs to be continually sent to nursing home administrators, medical staff, and other assistants, that inadequate care will never be tolerated. Friends and family of nursing home residents are often a key source in providing information that holds negligent nursing homes accountable. If you have any suspicions about inadequate care at a nearby facility, be sure to contact our office or a similar office to learn more about your options.

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July 16, 2010

Illinois to Continue Process of Shutting Down Evergreen HealthCare Center

A Southwest Star article this week discussed the latest updated in the license revocation situation of the Evergreen HealthCare Center in Evergreen Park.

Evergreen is a facility that has repeatedly been found to have provided negligent care to its nursing home residents. Our Chicago nursing home attorneys at Levin & Perconti have filed multiple suits against the healthcare center in the past. Elder abuse abounds at the nursing home where residents have died from repeated failures by administrators, staff medical professionals, and aides.

We currently represent Cornelia Lee, who died after Evergreen facility staff failed to provide close monitoring of her medical prescription schedule, ultimately missing doses, failing to keep log charts, and not informing her doctor of abnormal test results. In another case, a resident at Evergreen died because of staff failure to monitor developing pressure sores on a bedridden senior resident. These are just two of many other examples of negligent, abuse, and substandard care provided at the Illinois nursing home.

Due to these clear abuses, the Illinois Department of Public Health decided to revoke the Evergreen’s license and close the facility to ensure that no future Illinois seniors are harmed by the negligent nursing home care.

In a last-ditch effort to stave off closing, the facility is appealing the license revocation decision claiming that it has fixed all compliance issues. An Evergreen spokesperson declared that the should stop the license revocation process because of the these last-ditch corrective measures.

However in response to these Evergreen claims, Illinois public health officials repeated that regardless of whether or not the facility is currently compliant, “they have this history of serious deficiencies.” Illinois health officials repeated that they will not stop plans to revoke Evergreen’s license. Evergreen officials will appeal the decision and have requested a hearing.

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July 14, 2010

Negligent Care Provided at the Champaign County Nursing Home

The Champaign County Nursing Home is under state investigation yet again for an incident involving mistreatment of a nursing home resident at the facility. As the Champaign News-Gazette reports, a resident suffered a laceration requiring 24 stitches when an nursing home aide attempted to move her. All transfers of this particular patient were supposed to have been conducted by at least two aides, so as to avoid injuries like the one sustained. In fact, a sign posted directly on the resident’s door reminded the staff members of this rule.

The incident has prompted an investigation by the Illinois Department of Public Health.

This blatant example of nursing home abuse is just one of several that have plagued the Champaign County Nursing Home recently. Earlier this year the institution was fined nearly $100,000 due to its violation of several Illinois Department of Public Health’s requirements. Those penalties were eventually reduced to around $14,000, but this latest investigation may drive up the penalty even further.

According to Mike Scavotto, a consultant hired to help run the facility two years ago, there has been a recent increase in the number of complaints filed against the nursing home. Mr. Scavotto suggests that each of these complaints appears legitimate. Clearly, an improvement in customer service and elder treatment is needed at the facility to stem this tide of improper andnegligent nursing home care.

Our Chicago nursing home lawyers at Levin & Perconti are leaders in fighting for the rights of Illinois nursing home residents. We have won several multi-million dollar verdicts and settlements for negligent and abusive nursing home treatment. While the Illinois Department of Health works hard to hold nursing homes accountable for their substandard care, it is impossible for a single government agency to stop most of the abuse at these facilities. That is why it is important for private residents to contact nursing home attorneys any time they feel that the rights of a loved one have been violated by nursing home abuse.

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July 4, 2010

Investigation Shows Nursing Homes Giving Inadequate Care

An extensive investigation conducted by California Watch has revealed that hundreds of nursing homes have decreased staffing levels, even though they received hundreds of millions of dollars in increased public funding.

The Ventura County Star reported on the investigation which analyzed the effect of a 2004 law which ultimately funneled more than $880 million in increased state and federal funds to nursing homes. However, over 200 nursing homes in the state actually decreased staffing levels, paid lower wages, or decreased at-home caregiver levels.

The 2004 law was intended to allow the state to capture more federal funds for elder care. It created a reimbursement system instead of a flat-fee payment format for nursing homes. It also allowed the facilities to pay a fee that would trigger increased federal matching funds. As a result the overall public funding of nursing homes ballooned in the state to nearly $4 billion.

However, official complaints alleging nursing home negligence and abuse have actually increased significantly since the bill. Amazingly, state officials actually pay for nursing homes to defend against abuse and neglect charges. That means that taxpayers are funding nursing homes which then cut services, and the taxpayers are then charged again to defend the consequences of the negligent acts of those deficient nursing homes. It is a subsidy for mistreating elderly residents.

The California Watch investigation revealed that the facilities which cut service while taking more taxpayer money were likely motivated more by increased profits than providing proper care. The facilities that decreased staffing levels predictably increased their median profits by 35%. However, those increased profits came at a high cost to many neglected nursing home residents.

Covenant Care, for example, received $15 million in increased funding while cutting the amount of caregivers assigned to patients. One of those patients was Charles McGrew. After being admitted to a Covenant Care nursing home, Mr. McGrew eventually developed pressure sores on his tailbone and ankles. One leg ultimately had to be amputated, leading to his death shortly after.

Since McGrew’s death, nursing home levels at Covenant have actually decreased even further, falling below the state mandated levels. Profits at the facility have increased, however, as administrators received bonuses based in part on profit increases each year.

Abuse like the one leading to Mr. McGrew’s death is often attributed to improper care by the lowest paid workers who provide the majority of patient care in nursing homes. It was this lowest-paid group that received by far the fewest wage raises after the 2004 bill. In fact, adjusted for inflation, over a third of those critically important direct patient care workers received wage decreases.

Our Chicago nursing home attorneys at Levin & Perconti are disheartened but familiar with the story of nursing home negligence and mismanagement uncovered in this investigation. We have waged many battles against negligent care provided by untrained, unsupervised, unskilled, low-paid care workers. Taxpayers deserve to have their money spent appropriately on the care of vulnerable elderly resident. Public funds should not end up in the pocket of high-paid nursing business professionals.

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July 1, 2010

Repeated Nursing Home Negligence in Evergreen Park

Recently, our Chicago nursing home abuse attorneys at Levin & Perconti filed suit against the Evergreen Health Care Center in Evergreen Park, Illinois. The Chicago Tribune recently reported on the case.

Cordelia Lee was an intelligent, active, former postal worker and homemaker who lived alone for over a decade after her husband’s death. However, after being diagnosed with blood clots, Ms. Lee checked into Evergreen to receive closer care to help in the healing process.

To deal with the blood clots she was diagnosed a powerful anti-coagulant medication, Coumadin, which requires close monitoring. From the beginning Evergreen staff was negligent it is treatment. They failed to provide proper oversight of Ms. Lee’s prescription, missing doses, failing to keep a log charts, and failing to inform her doctor of abnormal test results. It didn’t take long before Ms. Lee began suffering stomach pains from the inadequate care. Ultimately, only a week after arriving at Evergreen, Cornelia died from bleeding in her lower abdominal cavity.

Cornelia is not the only victim of Evergreen’s negligent care to Illinois seniors.

We had previously initiated a lawsuit against the nursing home to fight for a 77 year old victim of abuse at the facility who died because of Evergreen’s failure to monitor and treat pressure sores. Pressure sores are almost always preventable with proper bathing and repositioning of the body, and their development is typically an indication that a resident is receiving inadequate care.

Our Levin & Perconti attorneys are not the only ones who are fighting to protect residents at Evergreen, as Illinois health officials recently moved to revoke the license of the negligent nursing home. State authorities noted even more repeated examples of serious neglect at the facility from the failure of staff to report the worsening of a resident’s pneumonia to their allowing maggots to infect the scalp of a wounded patient. There is clearly a history of severe abuse at Evergreen, and serious steps need to be taken to vindicate past victims and prevent future harm to its elderly residents.

The clear, repeated examples of abuse make it all the more shocking that an Illinois politician actually had an ownership interest in the Evergreen Health Care Center. According to the Tribune, State Senator Heather Steans and her family maintained an interest in the facility, though Sen. Steans divested her interest once the abuses at Evergreen became public. In any event, it surprising that anyone involved in protecting the rights of vulnerable seniors in Illinois would have any connection to the repeated and extreme examples of nursing home neglect at Evergreen.

As our nursing home attorney Steve Levin noted in the Chicago Tribune, “Frankly, it’s shocking that somebody who has been an advocate for nursing home reform has an ownership in a home that has a repeated background of citations.”

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June 25, 2010

Negligent Illinois Nursing Homes Fail to Check for Dangerous Residents

Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan’s “Operation Compliance” netted another wanted criminal hiding in an Illinois nursing home this week. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that Police officers raided the Virgil Calvert Nursing and Rehabilitation Center on Thursday where they found wanted drug fugitive Rothford Davis in hiding.

Twelve Illinois nursing homes have been searched by authorities since the beginning of the operation. Fugitives have been found hiding in all twelve of those raids. Overall, Illinois authorities have found 61 people with arrest warrants hiding in Illinois nursing homes. Besides catching wanted fugitives in these homes, the raids have also allowed authorities the opportunity to review safety plans and compliance issues at these facilities. These repeated examples of nursing home negligence is a startling but sober reminder of the irresponsibility of many providing care to elderly residents in Illinois.

Operation Compliance was formed in February in response to negligence by the Emerald Park Nursing Home in the Chicago area. Emerald Park had failed to follow through with required background checks on potential residents. Facilities are required to perform these checks in Illinois to ensure that residents do not possess criminal records that might present a threat to other residents. The Attorney General ultimately shut Emerald Park down because of its inadequate care.

Shutting facilities down is often the only way to protect many vulnerable elderly residents in the state, because many facilities have been found to repeatedly violate the law. Virgil Calvert, for example, had been inspected earlier this same year with authorities finding two sex offenders living in the residence. Illinois state law requires that nursing homes have special arrangements in place for any residents with backgrounds that indicate they may pose a threat to other residents, like previous sexual offenses. That is just one of many requirements under the Illinois Nursing Home Care Act with which these facilities often fail to comply.

Our nursing home attorneys at Levin & Perconti are experts in helping uncover similar examples of nursing home abuse in Illinois. They have fought for years to protect the vulnerable residents of these facilities from the negligent care and lax safety procedures that they are all too often provided. Contact our attorneys or other nursing home lawyers if you suspect similar abuse at a local nursing home.

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April 24, 2010

GAO Releases Nursing Home Study and Identifies SFF

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) is reporting that they are now notifying those nursing homes who are candidates to become Special Focus Facilities (SFF). SFFs are chosen from among the 15 worst-scoring nursing home in each individual state. Those who chose SFFs analyze the Five-Star Quality Nursing Home Rating System in order to choose which homes make the list. Once a home is chosen as an SFF it is subject to extra inspections and increased enforcement.

The NCCNHR is reporting that of the 355 nursing homes in the SFF program since January of 2005, 51 percent graduated. This means that they had two consecutive standard surveys and no complaint investigations. However, this also shows that almost half of the nursing homes failed to improve. They will continue to remain in the program designed to curb nursing home neglect and abuse. The GAO discovered that SFFs were more likely to be for-profit nursing homes who were affiliated with chain owners.

The SFFs are sorted into different categories by the CMS. One such category is facilities that have not improved. Currently, Illinois has one nursing home in this list, Embassy Health Care Center in Wilmington, Illinois. There is also a category for facilities that are beginning to show improvement. Two Chicago nursing homes are in this SFF category. Both Alden Wentworth Rehab & Healthcare Center and International Nursing And Rehab Center are located on the city’s south side. Additionally, Pekin Manor in Pekin, Illinois is identified as an SFF. To locate more nursing homes that have been designated as SFFs, please click the link.

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Posted In: Illinois Nursing Homes, Government Reports, Alden Nursing Home Abuse and Neglect, Bad nursing homes, Chicago Nursing Homes

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April 22, 2010

Somerset Place Gives Up License

The Chicago Defender is reporting that the Chicago nursing home of Somerset Place has had to give up their nursing home license. They also have to pay fines that will total $20,000. Until their closure, Somerset Place had more than 300 mentally ill residents housed in the facility. Investigators found that the nursing home had many fights and verbal abuse amongst the elderly residents and the mentally ill patients. The nursing home was also cited for lack of supervision to the point that the federal government terminated their funding. Countless nursing home studies have found that proper staffing is one of the quintessential factors to a well-functioning nursing home. If you or a loved one experienced nursing home abuse at Somerset Place, please consult a Chicago nursing home lawyer.

While a license-revocation hearing was scheduled for this week, it was canceled due to the recent settlement. Somerset Place had been owned by a group of investors and was a for-profit nursing home. To read more about Somerset Place’s closure, please click the link.

The Illinois Department of Health is responsible for the regulation of nursing homes along with to the US Department of Health and Human Services’ and Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Illinois licensure surveys are conducted on the nursing home site and cover a three to four day period. These inspectors evaluate all aspects of resident care by making sure residents are being properly medicated, fed and looked after. As in the above case, they also look into any suspected or alleged crimes and consult with the local police department. The IDPH plays a vital role in the assurance of nursing home safety and seek to diminish nursing home abuse.

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Posted In: Illinois Nursing Homes, Bad nursing homes, Chicago Nursing Homes, Incidents, Somerset Place

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March 29, 2010

Clinton, Illinois Nursing Home Cited by the Department of Public Health

Manor Court of Clinton, a Clinton, Illinois nursing home, has not only been cited for deficiencies but its administrator has been replaced. This comes after many complaints and an inspection by the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH). Pantagraph.com is reporting that the IDPH discovered that the nursing home was not in compliance with several federal regulations. Manor Court will now receive a daily fine of $400 from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services until it is back in compliance. The IDPH is instrumental in investigating cases of nursing home negligence throughout the state of Illinois.

The home was cited for failure to maintain hot water and failing to relieve residents’ pressure sores. The negligent nursing home was also unable to prevent a resident from falling and was found to have insufficient nursing staffing. These issues may have led to an inability to administer and monitor resident medications. A regional long-term care ombudsmen with the East Central Illinois Area Agency on Aging , Tami Wacker, said her office has investigated many complaints with the Manor Court administrator. They found that when their complaints were voiced, there was an obvious lack of cooperation from the nursing home administration.

The Nursing Home Compare website does not give favorable ratings to Manor Court. The overall rating is one out of five stars and they only give the home one star for nursing home staffing. The compare website is a helpful tool in choosing a nursing home. If you or a loved one has experienced nursing home negligence at Manor Court of Clinton, please consult an Illinois nursing home attorney. To read more about the Illinois nursing home inspections, please click the link.

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Posted In: Illinois Nursing Homes, Bad nursing homes, How to choose a home, Incidents, Ombudsmen Program

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March 19, 2010

Reports of Nursing Home Abuse and Neglect in Facility Near Chicago

Recently the Northlake Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in northwest Indiana has found itself in some trouble. Residents and their facility members have filed complaints depicting horrors that sound unbelievable in today’s modern age. These include patients who have visible bedsores that have progressed to the need for amputation. The staff covered up the bedsores with bandages whenever the family visited so that they were unaware of the horrific nature. The Post Tribune reported that the Indiana Department of Health has gone so far as to suspend the nursing home’s license. The issue came to a height when the state issued an emergency closure for the home. The nursing home is owned by Eric Rothner and his Evanston, Illinois company, Extended Care Clinical. The company owns three other nursing homes in Indiana in addition to a number of Illinois nursing homes.

Many of the complaints and nursing home lawsuits point to a breakdown in patient care. They cite high employee turnover at all levels including the administrator a director of nursing. Countless studies have showed that nursing homes with high employee turnover oftentimes are culprits of nursing home negligence. Well-trained and sufficient nursing home staff should be the top priority for all owners. The article in the Post Tribune notes that one former employee believes that Rothner buys the failing nursing homes at low prices and then struggles to fill the homes with residents. This situation leads to the administrators being unselective in who comes into the homes and merely looking to fill the beds for profits. To read more about the nursing home closure or the reportednursing home abuse, please follow the links.

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Posted In: National Nursing Homes, Bad nursing homes, Extended Care Clinical, Pressure Ulcers

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February 23, 2010

Illinois Nursing Home Neglect: Department of Health Issues Nursing Home Citations

According to an article on MyWebTimes.com, the Illinois Department of Public Health has secured documents that indicate the owner of Camelot Terrace in Streator, Illinois might have tried to convince inspectors to change their reports to reflect positively on the condition of the nursing home. This came after inspectors found unsafe living conditions in the Illinois nursing home. The department of health has issued an “immediate jeopardy” citation for Camelot Terrace because of the presence of mold and termites throughout the nursing home’s living quarters. The IDPH classifies an immediate jeopardy citation as one that poses an immediate threat of serious injury or death. The mold inspection company representative stated that the nursing home is a wreck. Nursing homes must have a clean atmosphere to protect the safety and welfare of their residents. Camelot Terrace’s owner has filed an “information dispute resolution” to contest the department’s citations. The owner is also being accused of attempting to mislead the Department. He supposedly instructed staff to provide less than truthful information to Department representatives. To learn more about the Camelot Terrace inspection, please check out the MyWebTimes.com article.

This article highlights the important role the IDPH plays in overseeing nursing homes. The IDPH is responsible for ensuring that all nursing homes comply fully with mandatory state regulations. By comporting with mandatory regulations nursing homes help avoid elderly abuse and neglect. The IDPH works closely with Medicare and Medicaid to ensure that all payments are rendered to the appropriate people. Each year, the IDPH conducts approximately 1,300 full on-site inspections of the nursing homes in response to the complaints. To learn more about how the IDPH regulates nursing homes, visit their nursing home website.

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Posted In: Illinois Nursing Homes, Bad nursing homes, Incidents

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February 6, 2010

Feds Terminate Funding for Somerset Place Nursing Home in Chicago, Illinois After Accounts of Nursing Home Abuse

As the Illinois Nursing Home Abuse Lawyer Blog reported, Somerset Place nursing home on the north side of Chicago has received a number of IDPH violations for repeated acts of violence and nursing home abuse and neglect that have compromised the safety of its residents. The nursing home was also the subject of several articles in the Chicago Tribune that highlighted the nursing home's problems and the Uptown community's concern. On Friday, federal health care officials announced that they would cut funding for the troubled nursing home. This is the first time in four years that the federal government has cut funding for a nursing home in Chicago.

All of the nursing home's 300 residents have a primary diagnosis of mental illness, and according to the Tribune 66 of these residents had criminal backgrounds. Staff members told the Tribune that insufficient staffing and training for direct care workers has created a chaotic environment where staff cannot properly supervise residents, many of whom need constant supervision. Without staffing and training, nursing home staff cannot properly supervise residents, and this leads to physical and sexual violence among residents.

According to the report, the Chicago nursing home will continue to receive Medicaid funding for 30 days, and the home has filed an emergency lawsuit to stop the CMS from pulling funding. The state health department will now look to move these residents to other Chicago nursing homes. Read full coverage of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Service's decision to cut funding for Somerset Place in Chicago.

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Posted In: Bad nursing homes, Chicago Nursing Homes, Sex offenders and parolees in nursing homes, Somerset Place, Staffing Issues

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September 7, 2009

Nursing Home is under Criminal Investigation

A criminal investigation is under way after state health officials released a report about elder abuse at a nursing home. According to the nursing home abuse report, three nursing aides pinched, slapped and threw rubber balls at a resident with Alzheimer’s disease and told another resident to “shut up” while calling him names. The employees no longer work at the nursing home after the elderly abuse. Physical abuse has become all too commonplace at nursing homes throughout the country. To read more about the nursing home abuse, please click the link.

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Posted In: National Nursing Homes, Abuse, Bad nursing homes

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August 31, 2009

Three People Arrested for Operating Unlicensed Assisted Living Facilities

Three people have been arrested following an investigation by the Medicare Fraud Control Unit. The attorney general announced that three nursing home administrators were arrested on charges that they were operating two different assisted living facilities without licenses. The office started getting complaints about the nursing home and launched an investigation. Two of the administrators face felony charges and the potential for up to five years in prison if convicted. Investigators say that one of the operators had a licensed facility, but it exceeded its capacity. She then placed the extra clients in an unlicensed facility and asked for Medicaid reimbursement. The woman also received a cease and desist order and faces three charges: operating and/or maintaining an assisted living facility without a license, Medicaid fraud and grand theft. Unlicensed facilities can pose a serious threat to the residents’ safety and well-being. If your loved one has been a resident in an unlicensed nursing home, find an Illinois lawyer. To read more about the Medicaid fraud, please click the link.

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Posted In: Bad nursing homes, Medicaid and Medicare Fraud

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August 21, 2009

Death at Burnham Terrace Home may be the Result of Nursing Home Abuse

In April of 2009, Levin & Perconti discussed the death of a nursing home resident in the village of Burnham, located in the southern suburb of Chicago. This death may have been the resident of nursing home abuse. The victim died on April 1 from injuries he sustained during an altercation, which may have been at the home. A further autopsy revealed that the man died from multiple person injuries he sustained during the attack. To read about this nursing home abuse, please click the link.

The Chicago nursing home neglect lawyers at Levin & Perconti have represented victims of poor care at Burnham Terrace in the past. If you believe a loved one has suffered injury or death as a result of nursing home negligence at Burnham Terrance, contact our offices at 312-332-2872 for a free consultation with an experienced Chicago nursing home lawyer.

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Posted In: Illinois Nursing Homes, Bad nursing homes, Burnham Terrace, Nursing Home Abuse, Selecting a home, Wrongful Death

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June 15, 2009

State Wants to Close Oak Lawn, Illinois Nursing Home

Illinois public health officials plan to try to close an Oak Lawn, Illinois nursing home despite the fact that the Regal Health and Rehab Center is now complying with state regulators. Inspectors from the Illinois Department of Public Health conducted their annual inspections of the nursing home in February and found it in violation of several regulations, including deficiencies in medical equipment, personnel and supervision of residents. While the health department gave the Regal permission to remain open, the state remains concerned about the quality of care for the 83 current residents. Recently a resident hooked up to an oxygen machine was able to sneak a cigarette into his room, causing a small fire. The man died a week later. Earlier this month, Oak Lawn inspectors found elderly negligence including dirty water fountains and appliances, water-damaged ceilings and rodent droppings on the floors at Regal. Additionally, the inspection revealed that employees were smoking inside the building and were washing their hands in the same sinks that contained food. Regal is owned by Michael Lerner, who also owns Forest Hill Health & Rehab Center. Currently Levin & Perconti has filed several nursing home negligence cases against Michael Lerner. To read more about the Oak Lawn nursing home negligence, please click the link.

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Posted In: Illinois Nursing Homes, Bad nursing homes, Nursing Home Abuse

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May 30, 2009

Disparaties in Care Found in Alden Nursing Homes in Chicago

The wrongful death of an 85-year-old Chicago nursing home resident launched an investigation by The Chicago Reporter to determine the qualities of nursing homes throughout Illinois. The investigation found that the specific South Side nursing home has the worst rating that any home can receive and that residents get less than half the time each day with staff than residents at a predominately white facility in Evanston which is operated by the same owner. If this nursing home negligence lawsuit is filed, it will be the 14th in Cook County court against the Alden nursing homes between 2004 and 2009. That’s more than three times the elderly neglect lawsuits than half of the city’s 91 nursing homes, with the median number being four. Schlossberg has ownership in 30 homes in Illinois. An analysis of those homes revealed that there were racial disparities in the care that that residents received. Each of the three predominately black facilities received the lowest possible nursing home rating. The two facilities with the highest ratings had 84 percent white residents. Residents at the predominately black homes received much less staff time than residents of the white facilities. For example residents at the Evanston location received 5.53 hours of care per day, while the Harvey facility received 1.73 hours per day. The investigation also found that the disparities between black and white homes were even greater where at least 75 percent of care was paid by Medicaid. The idea that race plays a role a facility’s quality of care is greatly disturbing fact recovered by this investigation.

To read more about the disparities in nursing homes, please click the link.

For a map of the Schlossberg nursing homes in the Chicago land area, please click the link.

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Posted In: Illinois Nursing Homes, Alden Nursing Home Abuse and Neglect, Bad nursing homes, Chicago Nursing Homes, Incidents, Selecting a home, Useful publications, Wrongful Death

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December 17, 2008

Choosing a Nursing Home in Illinois Made Easy-Part II

The new Medicare Nursing Home Compare Website can be used by Illinois residents to pick a nursing home that they feel comfortable and secure placing their loved one in. Several Illinois nursing homes have received poor ratings on the new Medicare sponsored website. Levin & Perconti attorneys specializing in nursing home abuse and elder neglect cases have brought several nursing home lawsuits against the homes which received poor rankings. Levin & Perconti have filed lawsuits for elder neglect, elder abuse, resident injuries some resulting in surgery and even death against the following nursing homes:

Brentwood Sub-Acute Healthcare Center
Alden Alma Nelson Manor
The Renaissance at South Shore

To research more nursing homes on the Medicare website please click here.
If you or someone you love may have been harmed in a nursing home please contact the attorneys at Levin & Perconti.

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Posted In: Bad nursing homes, Brentwood Abuse and Neglect, Renaissance Nursing Homes Abuse and Neglect

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The purpose of this blog is to deliver news and information that is relevant to our areas of practice. The news and information reported on this blog represent the legal actions of attorneys throughout the United States. Our firm does not claim to represent plaintiffs in all of the lawsuits, settlements, and jury verdicts reported, only those noted as Levin & Perconti cases.

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