Illinois Nursing Home Abuse Blog

Tomorrow marks the beginning of Elder Abuse Month in Illinois. To raise awareness for the all too prevalent elder abuse issues, communities across the state will participate in events aimed at eliminating the abuse of our vulnerable seniors.

Erma Davis-Williams, the Program Director of Elder Services/Elder Abuse for the Centers for New Horizons called on all Illinoisans in The Chicago Tribune to take steps to raise awareness of the neglect faced by tens of thousands in the state each year. She explains how the US Administration on Aging estimates that 700,000 to 3.5 million seniors are abused in the country each year.

However, the widespread nature of elder abuse is never fully appreciated because only one in five instances of abuse is even reported. To help ensure that no older American is abused without someone stepping up to stop the neglect, Ms. Davis-Williams recommends everyone take simple stops to raise awareness of the issue. She recommends ten simple ideas to help this month, from volunteering a few hours in a nursing home and giving a caregiver a break to visiting an elderly loved one and sponsoring elder respect programs in local schools.

There are countless ways to contribute your time, thoughts, and skills to help make the life of a senior a little easier this month. Our elders remain the most vulnerable residents of our community. Our Chicago elder abuse attorneys at Levin & Perconti understand the perilous situation faced by elder residents in Illinois. We encourage all community members to remain extra vigilant to any elder abuse or neglect around them. Be sure to report any suspected abuse immediately, because even a short delay may be too late for a suffering senior citizen.

The family of a man who tragically died of a morphine overdose due to nursing home abuse has recently been awarded nearly $5 million, reports The Toledo Blade. Burr Needham entered the Mercy Memorial Nursing Center in late April of 2002 to receive physical therapy for a nondisplaced hip fracture. However, only a week and a half later, Mr. Needham was found dead at the nursing home from a morphine overdose.

The medical examiner concluded that the death was caused by acute morphine intoxication and ruled it a homicide. Mr. Needham’s family hired nursing home abuse lawyers who investigated further and field suit. The investigation soon made clear that the nursing home staff had failed to properly monitor the amount of morphine given to Mr. Needham in his brief stay at their facility. The nursing home records revealed that morphine was unaccounted for on his medical chart.

The nursing home abuse trial abuse resulting from the death lasted over three weeks. The jury eventually determined that Mercy Memorial Nursing Center was professionally negligent in Mr. Needham’s care and treatment. They awarded his widow nearly $3 million for loss of companionship, $1.5 million for pain and suffering, and $350,000 for damages and lost valuables.

The deadly consequences of the nursing home abuse in this case is a stark reminder of the perilous situation many vulnerable seniors face when forced to live in facilities that fail to provide the care they need. However, Mr. Needham’s family was able to receive some vindication and send a message to the abusers who took their loved one by seeking legal help and ensuring that their rights were protected. In Chicago, our nursing home attorneys at Levin & Perconti represent suffering families like the Needhams each day. If you are someone you know may be victims of medication error in a nursing home or another similar situation, do not wait to see if nursing home negligence has occurred, contact a lawyer today.

The federal government is considering passage of a piece of legislation aimed at helping fix a problem that adds to the suffering of many senior citizens. HR4796, the Medicare Secondary Payer Enhancement Act, would correct a problem with the Medicare Secondary Payer system that currently causes many seniors to die while waiting to receive funds to which they are entitled.

As it now stands, many insurers and other funding sources who owe money to seniors must first confirm that the Center for Medicare Services (CMS) is reimbursed before sending the owed funds to the seniors. However, the CMS system’s inefficiency means that it is often months and even years before CMS responds to these requests for reimbursements, keeping the senior waiting without compensation. This current system also makes many cases not fit for settlement, because the insurer or other payer of a claim are unable to fairly assess the cost and reasonable settlement amount in a timely manner.

The new bill would essentially require CMS to respond to these requests within two months. This would guarantee that the insurers and others receive timely information about CMS reimbursement enabling them to efficiently compensate seniors the money that they are due.

The measure would be funded by a $30 application fee, meaning there is no cost to the taxpayer for the improved efficiency. The bill is currently in the early stages of the legislative process. Earlier this year it was referred to the House Energy and Commerce committee where it awaits further action.

The Chicago nursing home attorneys at Levin & Perconti support this bill as a logical, efficient and necessary improvement to help victimized and suffering seniors. As facilitators of many settlements for victims of elder abuse, our lawyers have witnessed first-hand the important role that settlement and prompt payment serves to the most desperate seniors. The time to correct this inefficiency is the system is long overdue. We encourage everyone to contact their member of Congress and advocate for the bill’s passage.

The Toledo Blade reports on the creation of a citizen run group known as the Coalition of Organizations Protecting Elders (COPE), a welcome development in the quest to provide proper care for the elderly.

The group was founded by Sandra Hamilton after she witnessed repeated examples of elder abuse and recognized the need for increased vigilance to stem the problem and hold the abusers accountable. The organization works with its citizen-members to provide training and information so that members are able to recognize elder abuse and neglect and take appropriate action to stop the mistreatment.

COPE reports that only between 15-20% of elder abuse cases are ever reported. That means that for every one elderly resident saved from abuse, five more continue to suffer. Often the abuse goes unreported because the average individual does not fully understand the various forms that the neglect occurs.

One of the most common forms involve financial exploitation, where an elderly victim’s personal finances are used in unfair, misleading, or fraudulent ways by caregivers or nursing home employees. Ms. Hamilton recalls one instance where a woman literally kidnapped an elderly patient in her care from the hospital so that she could begin receiving the patient’s pension checks, even though the caregiver’s failure to provide proper medical care led to the hospitalization in the first place.

In Illinois, a similar group known as Bankers and Seniors Against Financial Exploitation (B*SAFE) was created specifically to address the growing problem of financial exploitation of senior citizens. One of B*SAFE’s initiatives involves proper training of bank personnel to recognize unusual transactions in the accounts of their elderly customers.

Illinois officials also responded to elder abuse by created TRIAD, one of the first organizations in the nation addressing the issue of crimes against the elderly. TRIAD has local branches throughout the state composed of local law enforcement officials, senior community activists, and other community members to educate the community on the problem. TRIAD seeks to train more Illinois citizens to report abuse so that the neglect stops, the abusers are punished, and the victims are properly compensated.

Our Chicago nursing home lawyers at Levin & Perconti are also focused on stemming the abuse of senior citizens throughout the state. The team has decades of experience fighting for the rights of the victims and their families. If you suspect that similar abuse or neglect has occurred to someone you know, please contact our nursing home attorneys. Too many abused seniors suffer every day, and they deserve advocates fighting on their side.

A recent study from the University of California, Irvine, examined the treatment of the elderly who have been diagnosed with Alzheimers or similar disorders. Shockingly, the study found that nearly half of the elderly individuals had suffered from mistreatment by their caregivers. The research is only the latest example of the prevalence of elder abuse throughout the country.

The study involved observation of 129 elderly residents and their caregivers. Throughout the study, a panel met each month to sift through the observations and data to make determinations about the degree of psychological abuse, physical abuse, and neglect. Overall, 47% of caregivers were found to have abused their patients in one form or more, with psychological abuse being the most prevalent.

The researchers discovered that the best indicator of mistreatment was examination of the behavior of the dementia sufferer toward the caregiver. Mistreatment was most likely to have occurred when the elderly resident exhibited psychological and physical aggression toward the caregiver (i.e. pushing, shoving, and swearing at the caregiver). The physical, emotional, and psychological damage caused by the mistreatment is difficult to ever reverse.

Elder abuse centers across the country like the one at the University of California, Irvine continually discover the shocking breadth and scope of mistreatment of vulnerable elderly residents. The abuse occurs both in at-home caregiver situations as well as nursing home and assisted living facilities. In Chicago, our nursing home abuse lawyers at Levin & Perconti have worked for the victims of this abuse for decades. Just as important as identifying elder abuse is the need to hold the abusers responsible for their contact. If you suspect elder mistreatment in any form, be sure to contact an elder abuse attorney to ensure that the abuse stops, the abuser is punished, and future victims are spared neglect.

Arden Courts of Geneva, a care facility near Chicago, recently received a Type “A” Violation from the Illinois Department of Public Health and fined $10,000. The violation resulted from an emergency situation at the facility which investigators deemed to involve nursing home abuse and neglect.

Late one evening a nurse was called into a resident's room to find him unresponsive on the floor. Inspectors of the facility explained that the nurse failed to perform CPR on the resident, even though signs indicated that the procedure was necessary. Further investigation indicated that the nurse was not certified in CPR as required by law and as listed in the staff job description.

The nurse called 911, but left the resident alone between then and the arrival of the emergency personnel. The staff was also unable to determine if the resident was on the "Do Not Resuscitate" list. It took between 10-15 minutes for the ambulance to arrive, and the resident ultimately died at a nearby hospital.

Illinois nursing home investigators declared that Alden Courts of Geneva had failed to have the proper staff on duty, failed to maintain proper records regarding "Do Not Resuscitate" lists, and failed to provide the emergency care demanded by the Nursing Home Care Act.

Many residents live in nursing homes specifically because the homes are suppose to provide the quick, expert medical care necessary in life and death emergency situations. But all too often, nursing homes fail to provide the care that residents count on. This nursing home neglect has deadly consequences, as in this case from Arden Courts of Geneva. Failure to provide proper emergency care is just one of many forms of nursing home negligence.

Our Chicago nursing home lawyers at Levin & Perconti have experience fighting for victims of this abuse. Be sure to contact them or any similar attorney if you know of violations similar to the one at Alden Courts of Geneva.

The Illinois Department of Health produces quarterly reports on nursing home violators. To access the IDPH report on this violation, please click the link.

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 experienced 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.

Charges have officially been filed this week against several employees of the Casa de Vallejo facility stemming from a 2008 fire that killed several residents of the nursing home according to KTVU News.

The fire started when an unsupervised resident began smoking near an oxygen tank, and somehow lost consciousness, possibly due to an unrelated medical event. The fire then spread from the restroom to the entire facility, which housed nearly 120 elderly residents. Ultimately three residents were killed with the remaining others permanently displaced.

Officials investigating the fire eventually discovered that the fire alarms at the facility were disabled due to the negligence of those involved in the building upkeep. The error meant that the residents of the facility had no warning that a deadly fire was spreading all around them. The negligence was compounded by the fact that most of the residents were medicated and had physical mobility issues. In a valiant effort to save the resident victims of this nursing home neglect, firefighters were literally carrying patients over their shoulders to escape the inferno.

The five employees face charges of elder abuse leading to death and manslaughter. The seriousness of the charges and the deadly consequences of their wrongdoing is a vivid example of the fragile circumstances in which many elderly residents live. Even simple mistakes or brief moments of unsupervised activity can have deadly consequences for patients at these facilities.

The Chicago nursing home attorneys at Levin & Perconti have seen the consequences of nursing home negligence first-hand and continue to fight for victims and their families. Be sure to contact an elder abuse lawyer if you feel that your loved one has fallen victim to negligent care in an Illinois nursing home.

Adloff Place, a care facility in Springfield, Illinois catering primarily to the physically and mentally handicapped, recently received a Type “A” Violation from the Illinois Department of Public Health and fined $15,000.

Inspectors of the facility noted that two of the twelve residents were engaged in sexual activity, and that nursing home staff had no policy in place to ensure that both individuals consented to the activity. One of the residents involved suffers from bipolar disorder and has a severe mental handicap with the functioning level of an 11 year old. The inspectors noted that the facility needed to have a clear policy in place to ensure that no sexual abuse occurs.

These policies are especially important in facilities where mentally challenged and elderly individuals reside because they are particularly vulnerable to unwanted sexual advances. Failure to monitor such abuse is an all too common form of nursing home negligence.

In addition the report explains that the facility had also been negligent in failing to prevent residents from physically abusing one another. At least four separate residents were found to have been injured by others in the facility.

The Illinois Department of Health produces quarterly reports on nursing home violators. To access the IDPH report on the Adloff Place violation, please click the link

The Globe Gazette recently reported on a new lawsuit alleging nursing home negligence by the Good Samaritan Society of Albert Lea. The suit charges nursing home staff with failure to properly supervise four teenage certified nursing assistants alleged to have committed a wide-range of abuses on their elderly residents.

The abuse was carried out unabated over the course of four to six months. It included sexual groping of the residents and repeated physical beatings. The teenage assistants also went so far as to explain to one particular resident that the facility was actually a prison in an attempt to confuse and torment the mentally impaired elderly victim.

This is the fourth lawsuit stemming from the elder abuse at this facility. Police reports indicate that 15 residents with Alzheimer’s disease were abused by the four nursing home staff members. In each case the victims have charged the nursing home with failure to screen employees and failure to supervise their actions to prevent abuse and neglect.

The physical dependence of residents at these facilities makes them especially vulnerable to both physical and sexual assault. The patients in these cases had severe cognitive impairments, making it difficult for them to explain the extent of the abuse. It is for that reason that administrators at these facilities must be especially diligent in screening all potential employees. Once hired, administrators must ensure that employees are properly trained to provide adequate care for elderly residents and closely monitored to ensure that no abuse or neglect occurs. Their failure to do so can have devastating effects, as seen in these cases in Albert Lea.

Our Chicago nursing home attorneys at Levin & Perconti know the price of nursing home abuse and neglect all too well. We have filed suit and won numerous multi-million dollar verdicts and settlements for Illinois elder abuse victims and their families at the hands of unsupervised, untrained, and unmonitored nursing home staff. Be sure to contact a nursing home lawyer if you suspect a loved one is a victim of this type of negligence.

The Orlando Sentinel reports of a tragic incident at the Homewood Residence that underscores the danger of inadequate care provided to elderly residents at many medical facilities. In this case, a 93-year old resident suffering from dementia died at the assisted living facility from severe esophagus burns after ingesting poisonous sodium hydroxide solution from a nearby dishwasher. Staff at the facility failed to secure the kitchen area or provide proper oversight of the resident leading to the deadly outcome.

This is an unfortunate example of the cost of wandering, a common problem with nursing home negligence. Wandering occurs when a resident is permitted to move throughout a facility without supervision, resulting in safety risks whose danger the resident is unable to appreciate.

Even more distressing is that the Homewood Residence had been fined by the state only a year and a half earlier for having inadequate staffing that lead to ten resident becoming sick with norovirus. The Center for Disease Control notes that norovirus is one of the leading causes of gastrointestinal illness and results in diarrhea, abdominal pain, and vomiting. It is highly contagious and especially dangerous in crowded environments, like nursing homes.

The Homewood Residence’s failure to learn from its past elder abuse is an all too common trend among facilities that care for the elderly. Our Chicago nursing home attorneys at Levin & Perconti have experienced these repeated abuses first-hand. Time and again we have fought legal battles against Illinois facilities that continually provide negligent care to their residents.

It is for that reason that it is especially important for nursing home staff members to keep a close eye on all residents of these facilities to ensure that any injuries they suffer are not the result of inadequate staffing, inexperienced care, and other dangerous abuses. In Illinois, the Illinois Nursing Home Care Act requires these facilities to provide a very high level of care to those vulnerable residents who depend on them. Be sure to contact a nursing home lawyer if you have any suspicion that your loved one has not received the service to which he or she is entitled.

A caregiver at a North Carolina nursing home was charged with murdering Rachel Holliday, an 84-year-old Alzheimer’s nursing home resident, with morphine. The nursing home caregiver, Angela Almore, also faces charges of felony abuse, which are related to the hospitalization of six other Alzheimer’s patients whom authorities suspect she also gave morphine. This investigation began when authorities suspected abuse after the Alzheimer’s patients tested positive for morphine. The State believes that the patients were likely given morphine to make them more manageable.

Overmedication is a problem that arises too often in nursing homes. An October report in the Chicago Tribune investigated this issue, finding that nursing home staff will resort to overmedicating their residents in order to make it easier to manage them. This usually stems from nursing homes being understaffed or insufficiently trained to handle the complex needs of residents with dementia. Of course, this decision to overmedicate, or to medicate without a physician’s order, is against the standard of care. Further, overmedicating residents in nursing homes can have potentially detrimental effects on their health, and can deteriorate their fragile and vulnerable nature. As evidenced by the article mentioned above, and many similar cases throughout the country, overmedication can and does cause death in nursing home residents.

Our attorneys at Levin & Perconti are very familiar with the effects of overmedicating nursing home residents. Most recently, one of our attorneys, Partner, Steve Levin, filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the licensee of Woodstock Residence, in Woodstock, IL, a former nurse, and former nursing director, for administering a heavy dose of morphine that caused the premature death of a resident.

A major class-action lawsuit alleging nursing home abuse and neglect is drawing to a close this week in California. The suit challenges the care provided by one of the nation’s largest nursing home chains, Skilled HealthCare Group, Inc., a group that owns and operates 22 nursing homes in several states. As many as 32,000 patients may have suffered as a resulf of the nursing home group's patterns of negligence.

Skilled HealthCare is alleged to have provided inadequate staffing levels at several of their facilities over a six year period. Evidence has indicated that Skilled HealthCare fell short of the 3.2 hours of direct resident care per day mandated by state law. That care is supposed to include the vital services of registered nurses, licensed vocational nurses, and certified nursing assistants. The result of those years of neglect meant that residents were forced to sit in soiled bed sheets for days, walk around with catheters dragging on the ground, and have pressure wounds left untreated. The total amount of suffering by the residents at those facilities will likely never be fully known.

The case is a striking reminder of how widespread nursing home abuse remains across the country and the need to keep a vigilant eye on the care of all residents of these facilities. Elder neglect and abuse abounds when these facilities focus more on squeezing the budget instead of providing the legally mandated care that residents and taxpayers are entitled. All too often these abuses go unreported and the neglect continues. A District Attorney involved in the Skilled HealthCare class-action suit acknowledged that this nursing home abuse was a “long-term problem” and that there was “overwhelming evidence that the law has been broken.”

The Chicago nursing home lawyers at Levin & Perconti have fought similar elder abuse battles, protecting residents from all forms of nursing home neglect. They will remain even more vigilant in the coming months, as Illinois Governor Pat Quinn moves to sign a bill that will increase the required care per resident at Illinois facilities to 3.8 hours a day. It is vital that you contact an elder abuse attorney if you suspect any violation to ensure these laws are followed.

To learn more about this nursing home abuse lawsuit, please click the link.

According to the Chicago Tribune, Illinois health authorities have initiated the process to revoke the nursing home license of Evergreen Health Care Center in Evergreen Park, Illinois. This move comes after Evergreen received numerous citations for serious resident neglect. These citations include, failure to notify a doctor when a 90 year old patient suffering from pneumonia’s health worsened and again failure by the Evergreen staff to notify a doctor of a patient’s abnormal laboratory reports resulting in that patient’s death. The nursing home was also cited in August 2009 for failure to prevent maggots from infecting the scalp wound of a patient.

Additionally, in response to various safety breaches that were cited following inspections of the nursing home, Evergreen was added to the Federal Special Focus Facility List. The list is comprised of the nation’s most troubled nursing homes that have a history of serious quality issues. The list is part of a special program that aims to stimulate improvements in the nursing home’s quality of care.

According to State law, Evergreen can either voluntarily surrender their license or contest the revocation and request a hearing before an administrative law judge. Other Chicago facilities facing license revocation include Columbus Manor Residential Care Home, Rainbow Beach Care Center, Regal Health and Rehabilitation Center and Fox River Pavilion.

Our attorneys at Levin & Perconti are well aware of the problems at Evergreen. Most recently, two of our nursing home attorneys filed a nursing home negligence lawsuit against Evergreen for failure to prevent, monitor and treat several pressure sores that contributed to the death of a 77 year old patient. However, as our attorneys are well aware, problems such as these are not limited to Evergeen, but are prevalent in various nursing homes across the nation. We have filed a myriad of lawsuits against nursing homes for negligent care, including failure to prevent falls, unexplained bruises, excessive use of sedatives, rapid weight loss, etc.

On June 15, 2010, we honored the 5th Annual World Elder Abuse Awareness Day. In 2006, The International Network for the Prevention of Elder Abuse allied with groups around the world to advance the public’s knowledge of the perils that face our older population.

According to the White House Blog, elder abuse, neglect, or self-neglect is a problem that affects between 700,000 to 3.5 million Americans every year. Those mistreated elders are 300% more likely to experience premature death than those who are not harmed. In addition to abuse by relatives and friends, nursing home abuse and neglect accounts for a large portion of these injuries. A disproportionate amount of victims are females. Many forms of elder abuse are recognized as types of domestic violence. In 2006, the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) apportioned funds to help these victims. However, only 1% of the VAWA funds are dedicated to older women.

Research has shown that elder abuse, neglect or exploitation is significantly under-reported and under-identified. As little as 1 in 6 cases are reported to authorities. Due to the high number of victims, it is crucial that this problem is highlighted for people to understand the extent of the problem. There were global observations of World Elder Abuse Awareness Day, including here in Chicago, Illinois.

The National Center for State Courts has created a new website, Centers for Elders and the Courts, to focus attention on this topic. The website educates and provides resources for anyone wanting to know more about state laws, guardianship, aging issues and elder abuse.

Although World Elder Abuse Day has passed, we believe it is important to raise awareness surrounding elder abuse year round and encourage every person to acknowledge this issue. If you suspect that someone you know has been a victim of elder abuse at the hands of a nursing home, assisted living facility or home health provider, contact a Chicago elder abuse lawyer to discuss the possible case.

An article on the Chicago Tribune website reported that a former nursing assistant at The Moorings, a nursing home in Arlington Heights, was sentenced to five years in prison for theft after she stole $6,070 from an elderly resident’s bank account. The former employee obtained the victim’s banking information while she worked at the nursing home in 2008. For the full article on nursing home financial abuse, click on the link.

There are many forms of elder abuse, and financial exploitation is one form that has become a growing problem. Financial exploitation occurs when a person in a position of power or trust takes advantage of an elderly person in order to gain access to their money, property, or other assets. Nursing home residents are particularly susceptible to financial exploitation because as elderly or dependent people, they rely on others to care for them. Signs of financial exploitation include any activity that is inconsistent with the elder’s ability, such as making withdrawals from an ATM when physically incapable of doing so, increased withdrawals or activity on credit cards, and changes in account beneficiaries.

With an estimation of more than 1 in 10 seniors experiencing elder abuse or mistreatment just this past year in the United States, this report of financial elder abuse comes as we recognize World Elder Abuse Awareness Day. It is important to spread information and awareness in order to combat the epidemic of elder abuse.

For more information about elder abuse, visit the National Center on Elder Abuse website.

If you know or suspect that a loved one has been financially exploited at a nursing home, please contact a Chicago nursing home attorney.

A report published in the June 9 edition of the Journal of the American Medical Association found that survival rates among Medicare beneficiaries who have been transferred to long-term acute-care hospitals is quite poor. The report used long-term-care trends, which did include all Medicare hospitalizations involving admission to an intensive-care unit of an acute-care, non federal hospital in the US. The study released statistics which show that the long-term care hospitals more than doubled in the past two years, while the number of admissions more than tripled. Costs in these hospitals rose from $1.32 billion from a figure of $484 million in the past ten years.

Mortality rates are also increasing. The nursing home study showed that transferred patients had a higher number of co-morbidities. The numbers went from 5 in 1997 to 5.8 in 2006. Mortality rates remained high throughout the entire study period. They increased from 50.7% in 1997 to 52.2% in 2006. The Acute Long Term Hospital Association is stating that it will welcome the chance to engage in debate about the role of long-term hospitals in the healthcare system. It is imperative that they address these problems now, before they get worse. With the rising numbers of patients residing within these types of nursing homes, there is bound to be nursing home negligence. Hopefully, the health reform law will help secure patient safety within the nursing homes. If you believe that a loved one wrongfully died within a long-term hospital, please consult a Chicago nursing home attorney.

People frequently hear or read the term elder abuse, but few understand what constitutes abuse of older citizens. The term describes any type of wrong committed against an older person including emotional, physical or sexual violence or abuse. According to the National Center on Elder Abuse, it is difficult to determine the number of elderly people who fall victim to abuse because incidents often go unreported because they frequently occur in a domestic setting. There is also no national database to track the incidence of abuse among elders. However, a study by the National Research Council Panel to Review Risk and Prevalence of Elder Abuse and Neglect estimates that 1-2 million older adults have been victims of abuse.

Elder abuse occurs in many ways and caregivers are often the culprits. The different types of elder abuse include:

-Physical abuse: When someone uses brute force to inflict pain or injury to an older person.

- Neglect: When a caretaker fails to perform their duties to deliver life’s necessities or protect the well-being of an older person who relies on them.

-Financial abuse and exploitation: When someone misuses an older person’s money or assets.

-Emotional abuse: When a person uses verbal assaults, threats or harassment to inflict pain or anguish on an older person.

-Sexual abuse: When a person participates in sexual acts with an older person without their consent.

-Nursing home abuse: When a resident falls victim to any type of abuse in a long-term care facility.

Elder abuse is a growing problem and it is important to raise awareness in order to protect this vulnerable population. If you suspect that a loved one has been the victim of ANY type of elder abuse, contact an elder abuse lawyer who can help you take legal action to ensure that wrongdoers are held accountable for the harms caused. If you believe that an acquaintance, neighbor, or any older person is being abuse, you can also call the Illinois Elder Abuse hotline to report it: 1-866-800-1409.

Carlton at the Lake, Inc. v. Barber, Nos. 1-09-0039 (5-20-10) found that long-term care facility filed suit for balance due for services to husband during his two-year residence at facility, and claim against wife under Illinois Rights of Married Persons Act, and quantum meruit claim against both. Breach of contract claim properly dismissed, as contract for residency was not signed by husband or by his daughter who admitted him to facility, or by facility representative, thus contract unenforceable. Claim under Married Persons Act properly dismissed as claims against wife are dependent and reliant on husband's underlying liability, which is unenforceable as contract not signed. Facility can state claim for quatum meruit, and its burden upon remand is to demonstrate services it provided and reasonable amount of fees sought. This Illinois Appellate Case will impact nursing home law.

The Madison/St. Clair Record is reporting that nursing home lawyers have filed a lawsuit on behalf of the family member of a man who died while under the home’s care. According to the article, the man suffered malnutrition, dehydration, a urinary tract infection and pressure sores in the month that he resided there. The suit alleges that the nursing home failed to provide the proper care and failed to implement a proper plan to treat his pressure ulcers. The home also failed to tell his physician when his condition changed and failed to make sure he maintained a proper body weight. As a result of these failures on behalf of the nursing home owners and staff, the victim incurred medical costs and was subject to severe pain and suffering.

Residents are susceptible to pressure sores because many people in nursing homes are immobile or completely bed-ridden. Pressure ulcers can contribute to a worsening of one’s condition and can lead to infection and even death. In the 80’s, nursing home laws such as OBRA 87 were established to create a standard of care by which all nursing home must comply. Facilities are obligated to carry out the necessary care and treatment to prevent pressure sores from forming or existing pressure sores from worsening. Despite the established standards of care, data from the National Center for Health Statistics’ National Nursing Home Survey revealed that in 2004, 11% of all nursing home residents had pressure ulcers. To combat this problem, it is important for nursing homes to employ every possible tactic to prevent pressure sores from forming in the first place. To learn more about this Illinois nursing home lawsuit, follow the link.

Chicago nursing home lawyer Susan Novosad of Levin & Perconti helped the family of a victim of nursing home abuse in their settlement against the Mercy Health Care Rehabilitation Center, securing a $690,000 settlement for the 87-year-old victim's family recently.

The victim was initially admitted to the nursing home after suffering a stroke that caused her some left-sided weakness. When she entered the nursing home she required supervision and needed assistance with activities. She was known to be a fall risk. However, despite the nursing home’s knowledge of her fall risk, they allowed her to fall. She suffered a right femur fracture which was treated with a brace. While still in the nursing home’s care, she suffered a skin breakdown from the brace rubbing against her leg. This breakdown still went untreated by the nursing home staff and the victim developed Osteomyelitis. The combination of the fracture and the infection contributed to the victim’s death seven months later, according to the settlement report.

The nursing home negligence complaint alleged that the defendant nursing home failed to appropriately develop, implement or revise a care plan to address the decedent’s fall risk and failed to ensure that the decedent received proper supervision to prevent falls. It also stated that after her fall, the nursing home failed to provide preventative measures to avoid the development of skin breakdown, and failed to provide the necessary treatment and services to promote the healing of the decedent’s skin breakdown. If you believe that a nursing home is not addressing your loved one’s risk for falls, we recommend that you consult with staff to address the preventions they are using to prevent falls. If your loved one endures a serious injury in a nursing home fall, consult a nursing home lawyer.

The Madison/St. Clair Record is reporting that the administrator of a victim’s estate has filed a nursing home negligence lawsuit against an Illinois facility in Belleville called the Lincoln Home. The nursing home lawsuit alleges that the woman suffered a broken thigh bone while a resident at the nursing home. The complaint states that the nursing home employees were continuously violated her rights until her death. The victim had sustained a comminuted left femur fracture while she stayed at the nursing home which caused her repeated pain, mental anguish and emotional distress. The Chicago injury attorneys at Levin & Perconti have previously filed a lawsuit against the Lincoln Home after the home neglected to prevent a victim from falling.

The nursing home lawsuit claims that the home failed to evaluate Lockett to ensure she received adequate supervision, failed to provide her with adequate care, failed to provide her with immediate treatment by trained personnel, failed to notify her physician of significant changes in her physical condition, failed to ensure that they established a nursing care plan based on her needs, failed to provide necessary services to maintain Lockett's highest state of well-being and failed to appropriately update her plan following her fracture.

Weiss Management, which owned The Lincoln Home, also allegedly performed a number of negligent acts, including its failure to operate the home in such a way that provided Lockett with adequate supervision, its failure to operate the home in such a way as to protect Lockett from neglect, its failure to properly monitor its employees and staff, its failure to screen and evaluate the references of nursing staff, its failure to terminate employees at the home who were known to be careless and incompetent, its failure to provide nursing personnel duties consistent with their education, its failure to prevent and correct problems at the nursing home and its failure to discharge its legal obligations. To read more about this nursing home abuse case, please click the link.

The Chicago Law Bulletin is reporting that Illinois Governor Quinn may soon sign legislation that will greatly reform nursing homes. The bill has already passed both chambers of the legislature was the result of many task forces that were created in response to violence and sexual abuse in the understaffed nursing homes. The bill would increase the required staffing in Illinois’ 1,200 nursing homes to 3.8 hours of nursing care for each resident. Additionally, the licenses fees for nursing homes would increase as well as fines for any nursing homes guilty of nursing home abuse.

The new nursing home legislation would also change the number of inspectors employed at the Illinois Department of Public Health. By 2013 Illinois would be required to employ one inspector for every 300 licensed nursing home beds. Hospitals are also affected. They would be required to initiate criminal background checks before transferring patients who are ambulatory and between 18 and 70 years old to nursing homes for the first time. This provision was implemented because many nursing home residents were physically and sexually abusing other residents in the homes. The problems of mixing those elderly residents with the mentally ill have created many problems. The bill tries to address this by including a pilot program to require expanded fingerprint background checks for those younger residents in mixed homes. This will hopefully put an end to the sexual assaults and batteries that occur at the home.

The Chicago nursing home lawyers at Levin & Perconti applaud the efforts of the Illinois legislature to hold nursing homes more accountable for their actions. The safety of our most vulnerable residents should be a top priority. Hopefully, these measures will be able to prevent nursing home abuse from occurring, and will send a strong message to those nursing homes who continue to commit elderly abuse.

Pressure-related injuries are a common problem in elderly residents living in nursing homes, due to the fact that many nursing home residents are immobile or have limited mobility. Oftentimes, these residents cannot turn themselves on a regular basis or reposition themselves easily. When a person stays in one position for a signficant period of time, the constant pressure cuts off circulation and this causes tissue to die. The most common areas that pressure sores form are on a person's elbows, sacrum, hips, ankles and heels. According to a Center for Disease Control study that surveyed over 1500 nursing homes in 2004, with the findings released in 2009, over eleven percent of all nursing home residents suffered from a pressure sore of some stage.

It is easier to prevent a pressure sore than to treat one that has already formed. Therefore, it is crucial for nursing home staff to employ measures to prevent residents from forming sores in the first place. When a nursing home resident is admitted to a facility, they are assessed to determine their risk for bed sores. If a resident is deemed to be at high-risk for developing pressure sores, nursing home staff members must develop a plan to address this risk and implement the plan accordingly in order to prevent sores.

If a resident is at-risk, a nursing home should perform daily skin-checks to monitor the resident's skin integrity to determine whether the resident's skin is intact. A nursing home may also use devices, such as pressure-relieving pads and mattresses, to reduce pressure to bony prominences. In addition to devices, nursing home staff must turn and reposition at-risk residents every few hours and ensure that their skin is clean and dry. Moisture and unsanitary conditions increase the chances of developing sores, so it is important for staff to clean residents thoroughly after bladder or bowel movements and make sure the area is completely dry. Residents must also stay well-nourished and hydrated. Malnutrition heightens the risk for pressure ulcers and slows the healing process.

Although nursing home staff members should be well-trained to address a resident's risk, residents often fall victim to pressure sores. If not identified and treated in a timely manner, pressure sores can worsen and become infected. In many instances, residents die of complications when their blood becomes infected as a result of a pressure sore. If a nursing home takes all the proper steps to prevent and treat pressure sores and one still forms, it may have been unavoidable. However, sometimes nursing home staff members and physicians fail to follow the standard of care for treating at-risk residents. When a resident suffers injury or death as a result of a nursing home negligence, the facility may be held liable for its actions.

Illinois nursing home residents who have suffered serious pressure sores and related injury or death in facilities throughout the state may be entitled to seek compensation for their suffering. If you have a loved one living in an Illinois nursing home who has developed pressure ulcers, it is important to first seek medical treatment of the wounds. If you believe that the injuries are a result of neglect, contact a nursing home lawyer to discuss your potential claim. Our experienced team is happy to evaluate your claim and advise you on your legal options.