Illinois Nursing Home Abuse Blog

The Orchard Court Nursing Home in Jonesboro, Illinois was ordered closed recently by Illinois health department officials. WSIL News reported on the closing which will send 15 residents to new facilities in the area.

The nursing home will have 90 days to surrender its license, pay $12,000 in fines, and move its residents to other accommodations. These actions were required following a new report by the Illinois Department of Public Health which documented numerous failures at the facility in resident protection and safety. Specifically, the facility was found to have allowed certain residents to abuse other residents. One resident at Orchard Court, an 18 year old man, physically abused several others at the facility, including one attack that sent a 62 year old blind resident to the hospital.

The facility was attempting to be ac care facility for severely disabled residents who had been turned away from other nursing home. Management at the facility claim that the business simply did not have the funding to properly ensure that facility complied with all state laws. The facility was unable to properly maintain an individualized care plan to ensure the safety of each resident.

An official with the state health department explains, “License revocation is not very common and for this to happen we definitely felt there were issues with continued care and operation with this facility.”

Our Chicago nursing home lawyers at Levin & Perconti know that many nursing homes are similar to Orchard Court in that certain residents are not provided adequate protection against other abusive residents—physical, sexual, and mental abuses abound. However, we also know that examples of state department intervention are all too rare; instead the nursing home abuse often goes unchallenged. It is for that reason that we work directly with victims and their families to seek redress and force these facilities to improve the care they provide.

The Madison-St. Clair Record reports on troubling new allegations of nursing home abuse and neglect at the The Lincoln Home, a facility in Bellville, IL. A lawsuit was recently filed against the nursing home and the company responsible for overseeing the day-to-day activities of the facility, Weiss Management. The suit alleges that one resident, an East St. Louis woman, broke her leg multiples times but staff members failed to provide her any medical relief.

Earlier this year the victim was being repositioned on her bed by staff members. The employees were attempting to turn the resident onto her right side in bed. In the middle of the move, at least three employees at the facility heard loud popping sounds and saw the resident reach for her leg in pain and cry out. Amazingly, even after the obvious sign of problems, no members of the staff contacted her doctor or anyone else to provide the victim with help. They left her suffering in bed alone.

The popping sound ultimately turned out to be caused by the fracturing of her femur and knee during the repositioning.

Five hours after the accident, the victim’s son went to visit. Her mother remained moaning and groaning in pain, but had not received any treatment at all for her severely broken bones. The resident was in too much pain to go to her kidney dialysis treatment the next day because of the pain. She still continued to complain about her leg to Lincoln Home staff members to no avail. They simply prescribed her pain medication and noted that it had no effect.

She was eventually brought to the hospital the next day where the multiple leg fractures were discovered.

Our Chicago nursing home attorneys at Levin & Perconti spend each day fighting for nursing home victims who seem to be forgotten by the very people on whom they depend the most. All too often treatment at these facilities is robotic, unresponsive, and lacking when needed. We cannot have nursing home employees who simply “go through the motions” and fail to recognize residents suffering for hours in bed with complicated fractures. Steps must be taken to hold those responsible accountable for the mistake and ensure that no other resident falls victim.

The Hill, the news group that follows legislative developments out of Washington D.C., recently explained an effort by a few lawmakers to provide consumers with more information about who is actually running their local nursing home.

A bipartisan mix of legislators, Senators Max Baucus, Chick Grassley, and Rep. Pete Stark explained this week that it remains a challenge for anyone to understand the true leaders of a nursing facility, because the ownership information is hidden in layers of deceiving information. The information is further complicated by private firm investments, making it very difficult for victims of nursing home abuse advocates to determine who is actually responsible for improving care at negligent facilities.

The need for changes is growing as reports have found increased private investment in nursing homes, with private firms buying over 1,800 facilities in the last decade. Only 10 firms are responsible for nearly 90% of the growth—meaning the care of hundreds of thousands of seniors is in the hands of a select few firms. The specific ownership information tracked by Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) in its tracking system known as PECOS. Unfortunately, the PECOS information is difficult to understand and occasionally incomplete. In that way it is difficult to understand the size and scope of many nursing home chains.

To improve the situation, the lawmakers are advocating a new law that would require these nursing facilities to provide more detailed and consistent ownership information. The required reporting would include a description of the nursing chain’s governing body, organizational structure, and information about other connected parties.

As Sen. Baucus explains, “Federal health care officials need full and detailed information so they can properly oversee these nursing homes and hold the correct parties accountable for keeping patients safe and well-cared for.”

Our team of Chicago nursing home lawyers at Levin & Perconti well understands the challenges of holding nursing homes accountable for their care when the ownership information is buried in bureaucracy. We believe that the best nursing home care will only be provided when there is no hidden information or deceptive practices where chains seek to avoid being held responsible for their operations.

ChicoER News reported earlier this month on a nursing home lawsuit alleging repeated problems with the treatment of a vulnerable resident at a local care facility.

The lawsuit claims that the now-deceased victim was abused while at the Evergreen Gridley Healthcare Center. The resident was admitted to the nursing home in 2009 because of a “functional decline” in health. Upon admission, the resident’s doctor ordered that he be treated with Aldactone, a diuretic drug that aids in the control of excess body fluid build-up.

However, the suit claims that staff members at the nursing home did not administer the needed drug to the patient for several days. As a result of the egregious failure to provide the proper treatment, the resident’s weakened body began to swell. The swelling was especially prominent in the victim’s legs. The doctor ordered a different drug for the patient after he was made aware of the error, but the nursing home delayed in administering that new drug as well.

As a result, the 94-year old resident eventually stopped eating his meals, failed to have bowel movements, and did not respond to laxatives. He was then given a suppository against his wishes and without any effect. The victim was particularly upset about the forced suppository, because he wanted to spend his remaining time in peace.

However, knowing that the man was on “comfort care” with no desire to receive unnecessary treatment, a registered nurse wanted to force the man to endure an enema. The nurse ultimately got several other nurses to hold the man down, even while he was screaming for them to stop, and forced the enema. All of this was done knowing that the victim would suffer pain and knowing he did not want the treatment.

Our Chicago nursing home attorneys at Levin & Perconti are appalled at the treatment of elderly Americans that cause unneeded pain and suffering. We believe that the care of our seniors should at all times respect their basic rights of humane, respectful, responsive care. No 94-year old man should be forced to endure painful, unwanted, unnecessary procedures. If you or someone you know may have suffered in this way, please contact a nursing home lawyer today.

The American Association of Justice issued a new report today regarding an unfortunate example of hypocrisy when it comes to major interest groups interfering in the justice system.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has spent millions of dollars and focused immense resources on lobbying campaigns aimed at limiting regular consumers’ access to the courthouse. The group has its own affiliate, the Institute for Legal Reform, which works every day to add barriers and restrictions to the right of individuals harmed by corporations to file lawsuits against those corporations.

Our Chicago nursing home attorneys at Levin & Perconti continually work for the opposite cause: to allow all victims the same balanced access to the nation’s justice system. We do not believe that there is anything wrong with allowing our truth-finding judicial process to play out. There is nothing to fear from allowing potential victims, no matter where they come from or how much money they have, to enjoy their day in court. In that way, the system truly creates a level playing field where single individuals can stand up to anyone and seek justice. It is that same process that allows a vulnerable nursing home senior who is abused by his caregivers to stand tall and seek redress against the abusive nursing home company that caused his suffering.

Groups like the U.S. Chamber have worked to limit the rights of victims in that way—working hard to bar the courtroom door. But a new AAJ report explains that the Chamber only likes to bar the door to regular individuals, because the organizations itself files hundreds of lawsuits each year to advance its own interests. Apparently the justice system is only fair to the Chamber when they are doing the suing.

The National Chamber Litigation Center, the part of the organization charged with filing lawsuits on behalf of the group, annually files over 130 suits. Nearly 2 times a week, the group is at it again using the court system to advance it goals—while at the same time claiming that regular individuals shouldn’t have fair access to that same court system.

To read more about this shameful example of unequal access to American Justice, check out the full AAJ report Here.

My SA News reported last week on the end of a nursing home trial following claims of negligent conduct by the facility staff. After deliberating for a day following the trial, a jury last Wednesday found nursing home employees at fault for severe bedsores that a resident developed which contributed to his death.

The victim was a resident of the Retama Manor for six years. The facility was purposefully understaffed in an effort to maximize profits, often meaning that a single nurse was responsible for up to 60 residents. That negligence allowed patients to sit without care for extended periods of time—the perfect conditions for dangerous bedsores to affect patients.

The victim in this case was eventually brought to a local emergency room with two bedsores that had rotted to the bone.

In total, considering the medical bills, mental anguish, and pain and suffering, the estate of the deceased resident was awarded nearly $600,000 by the jury. However, under the arbitrary damage cap law in the state, that jury decision will likely be randomly reduced to a lower amount.

The family of the victim spoke out following the decision, explaining that they hope the verdict acts as a wake-up call to the negligent nursing home. The daughter of the resident shared, “We just didn’t want him to be a statistic. We needed to bring attention to the problems out there.”

Our Chicago nursing home attorneys at Levin & Perconti share the same goal—raising awareness of the continued mistreatment of our elderly friends and family. The number of deaths at our nation’s nursing facilities due to preventable mistakes and chronic mistreatment is astounding. Every day more innocent victims languish in poor conditions with damaging effects on their health and well-being. If you know of anyone who has suffered in this way, please contact a nursing home lawyer and help put an end to the problem.

Nursing homes often pose unique risks for bacteria outbreaks because of the close proximity in which many sick residents live. For that reason, our Chicago nursing home attorneys at Levin & Perconti know that the professionals who run these facilities must take all precautions possible to ensure that residents remain safe and healthy at all times.

The Chicago Tribune recently profiled a new type of bacteria that is spreading in many local facilities, including nursing homes, that is presenting particularly challenging problems for doctors. The new superbug is resistant to even the most powerful antibiotics. The bacterium, known as KPC, was first reported 11years ago.

However earlier this year, the bug began popping up at facilities areas our area. Of particular concern to experts is the fact that the bacterium has sprung up in a variety of different locations, meaning that the chance for mass outbreak is larger. The bacteria live in the gut of a patients and often enter the body through intravenous catheters or through the urinary tract and blood vessels of sick patients.

Earlier this year an outbreak of KPC in Brazil killed 18 patients.

About 40% of the patients who contract KPC ultimately die from the bacteria. That number may be higher for vulnerable seniors whose bodies often struggle when fighting off medical problems—their immune systems are much more easily compromised. As it now stands over 75% of patients identified with the bacteria were in nursing homes or long-term care facilities. If you or someone you know resides in a nursing facility, please be on extra alert for signs of contraction of KPC. The costs are too high to ignore.

Please Click Here to read more about this growing nursing home problem.

The Wall Street Journal blog recently explained a frequent and little known problem facing many nursing home residents who need emergency medical care: miscommunication between nursing home staff and hospitals.

A new Joint Commission study explains that far too often one medical provider (such as a nursing home) fails to adequately share vital medical information about the patient. For example, when a resident is rushed to the emergency room, it is vital that the ER staff be made aware of drug allergies from which the resident suffers. This basic sharing of information is often the difference between life and death.

However, that information sharing often does not occur. The latest study found that over 37% of these transfers were defective, with certain information not being shared correctly. With thousands of transfers occurring every day, the effect of these errors is astounding. In fact, some experts believe that these deficiencies are the cause over about 80% of all medical mistakes.

Our Chicago nursing home attorneys at Levin & Perconti are committed to holding all professionals accountable for the care provided to vulnerable seniors. Under no circumstances should a resident die or suffer severe complications because their nursing home caregivers fail to share important information when being transferred to other caregivers. The transfer of residents to emergency rooms is a very frequent occurrence; therefore nursing home staff should be well-versed in protocols that share important, life-saving information to hospital personnel.

If you or someone you know may have been at victim of miscommunication between a nursing home and a local hospital, please contact a nursing home lawyer to learn more about the legal options.

Ken Connor, a contributor to TownHall.com recently penned a clear-sighted article in an attempt to raise awareness to the problem of abuse of our senior citizens. Of course our Chicago nursing home attorneys at Levin & Perconti fully endorse the logic of the issue, as we have spent decades working on the goal of ensuring the proper care and safety of the elderly. The article reminds readers that abuse of elders is growing to epidemic proportions as seniors continue grow to become a larger percentage of the national population. This trend will place increasing importance on the need for proper elder care and require a unified effort to ensure that our vulnerable seniors are not forgotten when they require our support.

Examples of extreme degradation of seniors at nursing homes abound. From wounds allowed to become infested with maggots, a resident’s death after being trapped in a freezer, and Illinois residents being given chemical restraints as if on an assembly-line, countless other horrific cases of abuse at these facilities are identified every day.

The immensely inadequate care proliferates in large part because of the profit-driven culture that has seeped into the nursing home industry. Large conglomerates treat nursing homes as if they were real estate developments with mere space to fill, instead of critical care facilities upon which some of society’s most vulnerable members depend. In that way nursing home administrators focus their efforts less on quality service but instead on ensuring high occupancy levels. The problem is then compounded when labor costs minimized by understaffing facilities. A quick comparison of the staffing figures of profit and non-profit nursing homes emphasizes the point. A recent AAJ report found that those facilities driven by profit have on average 32% fewer nurses and 47% higher staffing deficiencies than their non-profit counterparts.

The article suggests a few steps that should be taken to help fix the growing problem. At the forefront is the need for the problem of eldercare to be viewed as an American priority. The need for proper care should be viewed as an unshakable obligation upon which our citizenry refuses to falter. It is important for Americans to consider it a moral obligation to care for our seniors, whether guided by spiritual beliefs or a reasoned sense of morality, we cannot let out vulnerable citizens to languish any longer.

The Southeast Texas Record published a story this month on a nursing home lawsuit involving the death of a beloved family member. The suit alleges the victim’s doctor wrongfully ordered the discharge of the woman which ultimately led to her death. The nursing home and the transport service involved in the incident were also named in the lawsuit.

The nursing home victim was admitted to the Baywind Village in mid-September 2008 after suffering incapacitation following dementia and Parkinson’s disease. Yet, shockingly, records indicate that the resident was discharged only two weeks later and moved without her permission. The doctor named in the suit had ordered Baywind Village to use Enterprise Ambulance to transfer the woman to the alternative location, even though it was clear that her condition required constant supervision by a qualified specialist.

The victim was ultimately dropped off at the alternative facility in a different town. However, no one was around to help her at the new elder care home when she arrived. Shortly after being left there she began having medical problems, including aspirating vomit. When employees of the new facility finally arrived, they found her struggling to breathe on the floor. She was rushed to a local hospital, fell into a coma, and died a few days later.

Our course, the shortsighted thinking of the medical professionals charged to care for the vulnerable senior cannot be excused or explained. Our Chicago nursing home attorneys at Levin & Perconti are well aware of incidents like this that occur when nursing home residents are not viewed as important members of society but parts of a business enterprise to be shuttled around at the whim of administrators. These actions must never be tolerated. Please contact a nursing home lawyer if you know of similar practice at a nearby nursing home.

We continue looking at the latest report of Illinois nursing homes that have been found to have violated basic laws concerning resident health, care, and safety. The University Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Edwardsville, recently received several Type “A” Violations from the Illinois Department of Public Health and fined $20,000. The violations resulted in part from inadequate supervision of residents known to pose unique risks for falls and injury.

One resident of the facility, a dementia patient, was considered ‘high risk” for falls following an assessment made by nursing home employees. As a result she was placed on a specialized plan that sought to minimize the chance of injury due to his unsteady gait, osteoporosis, and decreased safety awareness.

However, several months ago, the certified nursing aide provided supervision to the resident admitted leaving the vulnerable resident on the side of her bed unattended, sliding one side of the bed rails down. Not long after being left in that position unattended, the resident fell off the bed hitting her head in the process—a large wound was present. But instead of calling emergency personal immediately, the resident was simply put back in bed. Hours later a supervising nurse checked on the resident, noticed that she was suffering problems and called for an ambulance.

At the hospital, doctors discovered that the woman had multiple fractures in the head and spine areas. In addition, she was suffering from a hematoma, or bleeding on the brain.

Our Chicago nursing home lawyers at Levin & Perconti have experience fighting for victims of negligent nursing home care. It is imperative that these facilities protect residents from basic falls like this, because even a single accident can have deadly consequence for many fragile residents. Be sure to contact a similar nursing home attorney if you know of violations like the one here.

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

The Virgil Calvert Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, a care facility in East St. Louis, recently received several a Type “A” Violations from the Illinois Department of Public Health and fined $40,000. The violations resulted in part from failure to provide proper oversight and not protecting several residents from sexual abuse leading to exposure to sexually transmitted diseases.

The facility admitted one resident who suffers from mild dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. He is partially mentally impaired mentally and was a registered sex offender. The first incident involved the aggressive resident being found with a confused female resident to who claimed not to understand what had just happened.

In other cases, the resident was accused of inappropriately touching several female residents who did not possess the mental capacity to consent to that type of physical contact. Following several of the violations the nursing home employees did not create any sort of nursing or incident report or notify the state regulatory department about the conduct.

Earlier this year several another incident was reported involving the resident making unwanted sexual advances on a female resident. A nurse spotted two shoes underneath a curtain and found the sexually aggressive resident acting inappropriately with a female resident with severe mental impairment. The female victim appeared unsure about what was going on—a clear pattern of behavior had emerged where the aggressive resident took advantage of the most impaired female residents.

A different male resident at the facility was also found to have committed several inappropriate actions with unwilling female residents. However, even though employees at the facility admitted the problematic sexual actions of the resident, no unique care plan was created, no minimum data set was completed, and no other nurse’s notes were made to monitor the problem.

Our Chicago nursing home lawyers at Levin & Perconti have experience fighting for victims of negligent nursing home care. It is imperative that these facilities protect residents from one another—especially when there is repeated evidence that certain residents pose particular risks. Be sure to contact them or any similar attorney if you know of violations similar to the one at Virgil Calvert Nursing and Rehabilitation Center.

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

My SA News reported last week on a tragic example of nursing home abuse following the death of a resident.

A new nursing home lawsuit was filed recently by a family following the November 2007 death of a man who died following severe neglect at the Retama Manor Nursing Center. After six years at the facility, the victim was admitted to a local hospital in July 2007 with severe dehydration. After treatment he returned to the nursing home to recuperate. However, the inadequate at the nursing home was nowhere near adequate for his recovery.

He developed some wounds at the hospital, but while recuperating at the nursing home the wounds became significantly deeper, larger, and more severe. The problems stemmed from the fact that the nursing home was understaffed, with immobile residents fortunate to be turned in their beds even once every eight hours—even though they were supposed to be turned every two hours. The lack of movement and proper positioning is a key contributing factor for bedsores.

The senior victim was found to be moaning in pain with strong odors coming from his body, but the nursing home did not correct the poor care. Unfortunately, the facility failed to even properly discuss hospice options following the man’s diagnosis for cancer, a clear violation of protocol. The man ultimately died following bedsores, dehydration, and lack of nourishment.

Our Chicago nursing home lawyers at Levin & Perconti are skilled in handling the legal affairs following deaths of residents from inadequate care leading to bedsores, dehydration, and nutrition deficiencies. We have won many settlements and verdicts for the families who have suffered following these cases of poor nursing home care. Please contact our nursing home attorneys if you or a family member has suffered in this way.

The American Association for Justice released a comprehensive new report entitled, “Standing Up For Seniors: How the Civil Justice System Protects Elderly Americans.” We continue our look at the forms of senior abuse discussed in the report by considering the ways in which insurance predators scam vulnerable seniors.

Many elderly community members are faced with a complicated array of offers, demands, and questions that involve their financial affairs. In too many cases, insurance companies are behind the attacks, attempting to use the senior’s unfamiliarity to swindle them out of their savings.

For example, over the 1980s and 1990s agents from the Inter-state Service Insurance agency signed up many seniors for insurance policies at rates that they thought would stay the same price. However, using deceptive maneuvers, the company continually increased the rates. Some victims ultimately found that their rates had increased by a staggering 800% in a few years. Regulators could not help the victims, because the policies were technically legal. As a result, many seniors were forced to simply drop from the insurance roles—essentially allowing the company to keep thousands and thousands of dollars from the victims without ever having to pay even a dime for their policy.

Unfortunately this is simply one of many examples of vulnerable seniors being taken advantage of by insurance companies. National Heritage Life Insurance Company, Prudential, and United American Insurance have all been implicated in company-wide practices that take money from the elderly.

Our Chicago elder care attorneys at Levin & Perconti are proud to be a part of a profession that has continually worked to assist seniors taken advantage of in their scams. We work every day to ensure that all those who would use our elder citizens as a way to enrich themselves are held accountable. If you or someone you know may have fallen victim please contact a senior abuse lawyer today.

Please Click Here to view the full copy of the AAJ report.

We have previously reported on a complaint that was recently filed against pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson alleging that they paid millions of dollars so that more nursing home residents would receive prescriptions for their own drugs.

The Associated Press explains that the complaint filed by the US government and two whistleblowers at the company allege that Rispersal, the schizophrenic drug prescribed to those with early signs of Alzheimer’s, was illegally given to an increasing number of nursing home payments. The prescriptions were written by pharmacists for Omnicare Inc., which in turn received the payment from Johnson & Johnson.

The drug was eventually found to have increased the risk of death in dementia patients.

According to government lawyers, the anti-kickback law forbids contracts that create an agreement with strings attached, like this one between Johnson & Johnson and Omnicare. It is alleged that Omnicare faxed thousands of doctors asking them to switch patients onto Risperdal; they also visited nursing homes to promote the use of the drug. Between 1994 and 2004 the drug use increased by $90 million through Omnicare prescriptions alone.

This is the second leg of this case, as Omnicare already agreed to a $90 million settlement with the federal government and several states because of its liability in the matter. In the case against Johnson & Johnson, the company could ultimately be on the hook for hundreds of millions of dollars for false claims charged to Medicaid.

Our Chicago nursing home attorneys at Levin & Perconti continue to be shocked by the actions taken by so many that sacrifices senior nursing care for the sake of profit. There is a clear problem with elder care when the thousands of vulnerable residents are treated as pawns in games played by big business to boost their bottom line. When our nursing home lawyers hear repeated stories like this one, we become even more dedicated to the cause of spending each day to ensure that elder abuse is stamped out in all its forms.

The American Association of Justice recently discussed a new ruling that may bring certainty to a previously unsettled area of nursing home law. The Eleventh Circuit, a federal appellate court, ruled that proceeds of wrongful death lawsuits following nursing home deaths belong to the surviving children, not Medicare. This holding reverses a lower court decision that found otherwise.

Specifically, with this decision the court rejected claims by Medicare (managed by the US Department of Health and Human Services), that it was entitled to first and full reimbursements for payment it had made following settlements after negligent nursing home deaths. Of course, that meant that the surviving family members of the nursing home victim would be treated as second-in-line, to receive only whatever remained following the initial payment of the settlement funds to Medicare.

Put more succinctly, the court of appeals judge in this case explained that the real issue was simple: “whose property is the settlement?”

Judge James Hill’s answer: the victim’s family.

He then elaborated by declaring that there was an important distinction between claims of the estate (belonging to the deceased family member) and claims of the survivor (belonging to the family members themselves). In other words, in many instances the actual rights vindicated in these nursing home lawsuits center around “loss of consortium and companionship.” These are losses claimed directly by survivors for their own suffering, not for losses on behalf of their deceased relative.

The judge summed up the ruling by noting, “A child’s loss of parental companionship claim is a property right belonging to the child. Not the secretary of HHS.”

Our Chicago nursing home attorneys at Levin & Perconti support all common sense legal rulings that protect the rights of family members who lose loved ones due to nursing home abuse and neglect. It is important to appropriately consider the personal trauma, suffering, and heartache that surviving victims endure following these tragedies. Our nursing home lawyers work every day to honor those sacrifices and bring justice to the suffering.

A new report by the Journal Watch has recently released information that is important for all nursing home residents and those interested in their care and safety. The report explains that both perceived and physiological risks are factors that affect the actual risk the certain seniors will suffer harmful falls.

The findings suggest that even seniors that pose no obvious signs of fall risks may actually fear that they are at risk. As a result of that risk, they actually do fall. As many as 11% of residents in the study were found to have little actual physical risk of fall but high perceived risk. Women, more depressed residents, and those with higher neuroticism rates area all more likely to experience the disconnect. That group was ultimately found to suffer more harmful falls than those who did not belief that the risk of a fall was high.

The organizers of the study explain that the take away from the research is a call to action for clinicians to help take the fear of falling away from vulnerable seniors and for care workers to help assist the problem.

Our Chicago nursing home attorneys at Levin & Perconti have long worked on behalf of victims of tragic nursing home falls. The consequences of these types of accident range from broken bones to death. As this new information suggests, nursing home employees need to be even more vigilant regarding the steps taken to ensure that residents are protected from these dangerous accidents as much as possible. Even slight deviations from the basic standard of care may allow a deadly fall to occur which otherwise would have been prevented. If you or someone you know has fallen at a senior living community, contact a nursing home lawyer to learn what can be done.

News continues to roll in about the far-reaching consequences of the problematic implants used in thousands of hip replacements in recent years. The NBALaw Blog discussed another DePuy hip replacement lawsuit that was recently filed following complications that an elderly woman suffered after her hip replacement.

Of course many nursing home residents and other seniors received hip replacements recently in hopes of increasing their mobility. However, when the devices for the procedure are defective than not only does mobility eventually deteriorate, but the victim suffers damaging medical complications. Because of the possibility of long-term problems with these defective implants, it is important to for all seniors who may have received one of these implants during hip replacement to contact a DePuy recall lawyer as soon as possible.

As previously mentioned on this blog, the worldwide recall affects the company’s ASR XL Acetabular System and ASR Hip Resurfacing System. Both ASR Systems pose the risk of loosening or dislocating following implantation leading to pain, bone fracture, and swelling. In addition, the metal-on-metal movement of the ball and socket system can send metal debris into the patient’s body resulting in a bevy of other problems.

Both of these products were discovered to fail at very high rates, with one out of every eight patients who received one of these devices forced to undergo risky revision surgery within five years. The repeated surgeries is especially dangerous for vulnerable seniors whose bodies are often less able to recover quickly and seamlessly.

Our Chicago nursing home attorneys at Levin & Perconti are committed to helping seniors in all circumstances who have suffered because of the negligence, abuse, mismanagement, and poor design of others. With over 90,000 people suffering from potential defective devices we encourage all those who have received these hip replacements or know of others who have received a DePuy replacement, to contact an attorney to understand the legal issues involved and to ensure that proper steps are taken to limit the future harm.

The American Association for Justice’s new comprehensive new report entitled, “Standing Up For Seniors: How the Civil Justice System Protects Elderly Americans” includes discussion of a little known problem that occurs with startling frequency: bed rail deaths.

Hundreds of our vulnerable seniors have been killed in connection with the bed rails placed on the sides of their sleeping spot. Residents can become trapped between the rails, under them, or in the gaps between the rail and mattress. Part of the problem has to do with poor design. Many manufacturers of these products have ignored evidence that proves the risks they pose. Few design changes have been made to prevent these deaths.

Besides the design problems, however, nursing homes often overuse bed rails. Many experts admit that the rails are commonly unnecessary and only worsen problematic falls. Residents offer suffer increased injuries when attempting to get in and out of bed over the top of the rails

While few governmental regulations exist to stem the problem, many nursing home lawyers are working to hold negligent manufacturers and nursing homes accountable for the deaths.

Our Chicago nursing home attorneys at Levin & Perconti are well aware of the potentially deadly problems associated with bed rails. Our attorneys have worked on several cases leading to redress of the problem and policy changes at facilities to limit the use of these rails. In one case, our nursing home lawyers successfully won a settlement against a distribution company following the tragic death of a 99 year old resident. The victim’s neck became entrapped between the bedrail and the mattress leading to compressional asphyxia. The power of the compression cannot be understated—it both cut off the resident’s oxygen supply and broke a bone in her neck.

Attorney Michael Bonamarte explained at the time, “what makes this case particularly disturbing is that the bedrails were not providing any medical benefit to the resident.”

The case ultimately led the Illinois Department of Public Health to cite the negligent facility for improper nursing home care.

Our next examination of the AAJ study will look at the scam artists who target vulnerable seniors and what attorneys are doing to stop them.

Please Click Here to view the full copy of this report.

Today we continue our examination of the American Association for Justice’s comprehensive new report entitled, “Standing Up For Seniors: How the Civil Justice System Protects Elderly Americans.” We will consider the general neglect that many seniors endure at nursing home and similar locations.

Very frequently on this blog, we discuss the tragic cases of elder neglect that claim the lives of our vulnerable seniors. Unfortunately, we never go a day without hearing news of another resident who has died or been severely harm because they were denied even the most basic level of care and comfort while stuck at one of these facilities.

A hidden truth is that when seniors dies of neglect at problematic nursing homes a different label is always used---malnutrition, dehydration, bed sores, infections, and others. Far too often these health problems are simply the natural outcome of a lack of basic medical care that all seniors deserve. If cleanliness, nutrition, exercise, and other staples of proper nursing home treatment are observed on a daily basis than these types of deaths rarely, if ever, occur.

But when that care is ignored, neglectful deaths are prevalent. For example, 78-year old Margaret Hutcheson eventually died from severe pressure sores, malnourishment, and dehydration. Other heinous examples abound: a leg that had to be amputated when health care workers allowed maggots to infest a wound or Alzheimer’s patients trapped in a kitchen freezer.

Nursing homes continue to try to hide the problem. Over 14,000 residents die each year due to malnutrition and dehydration alone. Yet, many nursing home conglomerates claim that it is nothing to be alarmed about because it is a natural part of the dying process. Medical experts, however, will explain the truth that, “people should not be dying of malnutrition or dehydration. It’s really neglect, and we should call it what it is.”

Our Chicago nursing home attorneys at Levin & Perconti are experienced in handling unacceptable treatment of residents at these facilities. Our lawyers have been involved with these cases for decades and understand that many new “for-profit” nursing home continue to reduce the quality of the care they provide to boost their bottom line. Discouragingly, government regulations of this problematic care are only a minor inconvenience for these large nursing home chains. They can afford to pay minor fines and move on without changing their practices.

That is exactly why our nursing home lawyers are committed to seeking real justice when these businesses destroy the lives of seniors or add to their suffering. In that way, real problems are addressed and future victims are spared similar loss.

Our look at the new AAJ Report will continue next time with consideration of the very common problems associated with bed rails.

Please Click Here to view the full copy of this report.

A new lawsuit has recently been filed in Illinois courts alleging that several patients, several of whom were Illinois senior citizens, have suffered problems following defective metal-on-metal DePuy Orthopaedics hip replacement systems .

Aboutlawsuits.com is reporting that thirteen former hip replacement patients have alleged that implants made by the company were defectively designed, ultimately causing them harm and requiring replacement. T he challenged devices include the ASR Acetabular System implants and DePuy ASR Hip Resurfacing System implants.

While this latest lawsuit involves over a dozen patients, many more Chicago-area seniors could have suffered because of the defective product. Over 93,000 of these implants were recalled by the company after it was discovered that one out of eight recipients of the medical devices experience problems within five years of the surgical implant. Many of those victims eventually require a risky hip revision procedure to completely replace the defective DePuy product.

Advocates for patients’ rights have explained that the company failed to appropriately test the metal-on-metal implants. They further suggest that even after realizing the problem the company delayed in calling for the full recall. Early on in the product’s development there were concerns about the part of the device known as the acetabular cup. The cup on the DePuy device was much shallower than on cups made by other orthopedic companies, increasing the risks for those receiving the implant.

In fact, the metal-on-metal his replacement system has been questioned repeatedly over the last five years. Advocates explain that the product can shed metal materials into the body which poses severe risk to soft tissues. The metal particles also pose risk of instigating inflammatory reactions and causing bone loss.

Our Chicago DePuy hip implant recall attorneys at Levin & Perconti believe that no senior should suffer at the hands of dangerous medical care in any form—whether at the hospital or the nursing home. We represent victimized seniors who have suffered because of defective products and problems with these types of medical procedures. Hip replacements have always been a common procedure for nursing home residents as their joints begin suffering complications with age. Because of that, it is important for all Chicago area seniors who may have been affected by these defects to contact an DePuy hip implant lawyer as soon as possible.

The American Association for Justice released a comprehensive new report entitled, “Standing Up For Seniors: How the Civil Justice System Protects Elderly Americans.” In this post we will consider the devastating effect of many unfair insurance denials.

The report shares the tragic story of a victim of this form of abuse named Rudy. After decades on a farm, raising his children and sharing his life with his wife, Rudy was eventually persuaded to move into a nursing home. His wife had passed away and he risked too much by living alone on his farm.

Luckily, Rudy was prepared for this possibility. Years before he had bought long-term care insurance. He had paid his premiums dutifully and the insurance company at first honored his far-sighted planning and paid the costs of his care. However, after three years the company decided they no longer wanted to pay for Rudy’s care. They sent him a letter explaining that his benefits were being cut off; they used the excuse that his stay in the nursing home was suddenly “no longer necessary.”

Unfortunately, Rudy’s story is shared by thousands of other seniors who have fallen victim to insurance companies who place profits over fulfilling their obligation to their clients. Our Chicago nursing home attorneys at Levin & Perconti have decades of experiences dealing with the intricacies of insurance companies and their policies. Our lawyers are trained specifically to deal with all facets of the insurance process, from collecting on wrongfully terminated nursing home care benefits to ensuring that claims are properly negotiated.

Unfortunately, many insurance companies have finely tuned tactics to delay paying out on claims—often leaving vulnerable seniors in the lurch. One former insurance company executive explained, “The bottom line is that insurance companies make money when they don’t pay claims. They’ll do anything to avoid paying, because if they wait long enough, they know the policyholders will die.”

Many companies have also been found to knowingly mail the wrong forms and then terminate payment because of paperwork errors.

Our nursing home attorneys work every day to fight that shameful approach to insurance protection. There is simply no excuse for the scheming means by which many of these companies place profits over proper care. Be sure to contact nursing home lawyers to help fight these practices.

Tomorrow we will continue our look at the new AAJ Report and consider the very common forms of neglect inflicted upon seniors at nursing homes.

Please Click Here to view the full copy of this report.

The American Association for Justice released a comprehensive new report entitled, “Standing Up For Seniors: How the Civil Justice System Protects Elderly Americans.” Today we will consider one of the ways in which nursing home conglomerates attempt to legally handcuff the residents in their care—forced arbitration clauses.

Most nursing home residents and their families are unaware of what it means to sign a forced arbitration clause. As part of the process to move into a facility, seniors sign many different documents. Typically, one of those documents includes a few lines that are buried in the fine print that bind the resident to “forced arbitration.” While it may not seem too important at the time, this clause often has a big impact on the rights of those injured while at a nursing home.

Nursing home administrators attempt to get residents to sign these clauses so that the nursing home will be in a superior legal position if there is ever a problem with resident care.

Arbitration is essentially an alternative process to resolve conflicts between the facility and the resident that is outside of the regular legal system of courtroom, jury, and judge. Instead, at an arbitration hearing a third party known as the “arbitrator” decides the legal consequences of any dispute. A big problem, however, is that the arbitrator is usually hand-picked by the nursing home company itself.

In this way, nursing home victims are never able to share their story with a judge or jury and receive justice based on their decision. Instead, victims must meet with one arbitrator—picked by the very company that abused them—and abide by whatever decision that arbitrator makes. All of this often occurs simply because the unknowing senior had no choice but to sign the stack of documents at admission.

Unfortunately, state and federal law does not yet prohibit these forced arbitration agreements from being signed. A bill was introduced in the US Congress last year—the bipartisan Arbitration Fairness Act of 2009—that would invalidate all of these troubling provisions, but it is yet to pass.

However, advocates for senior rights like our Chicago nursing home lawyers at Levin & Perconti continue to rally against this unfair practice that takes advantage of of seniors. There are more and more examples of nursing home lawyers who have been able to circumvent the unfair clause and seek real justice for injured victims.

Our attorneys strongly recommend that all nursing home residents refuse to sign these forced arbitration agreements and contact a nursing home lawyer for help dealing with these matters..

Tomorrow we will continue our look at the new AAJ Report and examine the problem of insurance denials that severely harm many vulnerable seniors.

Please Click Here to view the full copy of this report.

The American Association for Justice released a comprehensive new report entitled, “Standing Up For Seniors: How the Civil Justice System Protects Elderly Americans.” Today we being our in-depth consideration of the issues raised in the report by discussing one of the most common (and heartbreaking) aspects of negligent nursing home care.

Chemical restraints refer to a regime of medication administered to nursing home residents in an effort to mentally and physically control seniors at these facilities. In much the same way that any physical means of limiting the actions of a person, chemical restraints act as a severe limitation on the freedom of vulnerable seniors. Use of chemical restraints has increased in nursing homes recently. New research has shown that 71% of nursing home residents are prescribed psychoactive medication within three months of being admitted to a facility. The vast majority of these residents were not diagnosed with a psychiatric problem, meaning that the drugs are administered solely as a means of controlling the residents.

One Alzheimer’s specialist explains, “Way too many patients in nursing homes are treated with antipsychotics purely to sedate them or to control their behaviors that are difficult for the staff.”

One Illinois physician has a medication practice for nursing homes that has been described as an “assembly line,” with the same slate of controlling drugs prescribed to everyone regardless of their actual need.

The negative effects of this abuse are clear. Experts have identified clear side-effects for those seniors given these drugs, especially when combined with other prescriptions that a resident may have. For many patients the drugs lead to delirium, confusion, falls, and ultimately more hospitalizations and injuries. Also, the Food and Drug administration warns that there could be an increased risk of death associated with these drugs if given to dementia patients.

Our Chicago nursing home lawyers at Levin & Perconti are committed to working with the victims of this type of abuse and their families to eliminate the scourge of unneeded chemical restraint. Our lawyers can help get patients off unnecessary drugs and seek vindication for harm caused by the nursing home abuse. Please be sure to speak with a nursing home attorney to learn what can be done if you know someone who has been victimized by unneeded drugs.

We will continue our examination of the AAJ Report tomorrow and take a closer looks at forced arbitration clauses in many nursing home contracts.

Please Click Here to view the full copy of this report.

It seems that all too often we hear of tragic incidents occurring at Nursing Homes. Today, the Chicago Tribune published an article regarding Alden Village North noting that over the past ten years, Alden has been cited thirteen times for violations in connection to the deaths of its patients.

It is unreasonable to believe that any facility can be perfect in their care, but the types of nursing home neglect that Alden has shown is, in our opinion, inexcusable. The law firm of Levin & Perconti has handled a significant number of cases against Alden for their negligent treatment and care of patients. When negligence occurs, it is important for a facility to investigate the source and correct any problems to mitigate these types of incidents. Alden has been neglecting this part of their duty.

A one-year-old Alden Village North resident who suffered from severe Down syndrome was found in his room “unresponsive and blue” about forty-five minutes after having been fed. There was no one in the room when the child died, and as such Alden was responsible to investigate the cause of the child’s death. In a state investigation, it was found that there was no evidence that the facility reviewed whether proper supervision was provided. The facility was also cited for being understaffed and for not reporting his death to the state health department.

This occurrence was by no means an isolated event. As the Tribune reported, Alden has had several other similar situations occur with similar results. Litigation is often a strong way to persuade a facility to change its ways. The medical malpractice attorneys at Levin & Perconti have been attempting to persuade Alden for years and will continue to do so until they are forced to abandon negligently caring for their patients. Hopefully, by making Alden pay for the negligent treatment of their patients, they will be forced to reform their ways and limit the abuse and neglect seemingly rampant at their facilities.

The nursing home lawyers at Levin & Perconti have handled all types of abuse and neglect lawsuits against Alden nursing homes throughout Illinois for many years. Today's Chicago Tribune tells the story of at least thirteen children in the Chicago area who fell victim to abuse and neglect at Alden Village North, a nursing home located at 7464 N. Sheridan Road in Chicago.

The Tribune's article exposes the sad truth that abuse and neglect not only happens to the elderly living in Illinois nursing homes, but also to younger residents who require ongoing medical treatment that they cannot receive at home. Parents and family members place their trust with nursing home staff to care for their loved ones, but unfortunately neglect and abuse occur, often due to negligent hiring and short-staffing. One of the victims in the Tribune article was just two years old when he died of asphyxiation because staff at the facility failed to properly monitor his tracheotomy tube for over 3.5 hours. The child had a habit of playing with the tube but staff did nothing to prevent this behavior and did not notify his physician of his actions.

In another sad case, a nine-year-old boy who suffered from severe cognitive deficits died due to nursing home neglect. Staff failed to properly care for his g-tube, failed to notice a change in his condition and failed to communicate these changes to his doctor. As a result, he died from bowel obstruction and an infection at a local hospital.

Continue reading "Neglect Running Rampant in Alden Village North, a Chicago Nursing Home" »

The American Association for Justice released a comprehensive new report today entitled, “Standing Up For Seniors: How the Civil Justice System Protects Elderly Americans.” This valuable new document offers a great overview of the specific instances in which many seniors are victimized and the ways that attorneys, like our Chicago nursing home lawyers at Levin & Perconti, can help vindicate their rights.

As the report indicates, many people are unaware that a majority of nursing homes are run as for-profit businesses, often part of large chain facilities owned by single corporations. Unfortunately, the drive for profit typically means that senior care is sacrificed. In many ways the need to cut expenses automatically sets up many of these facilities for negligent care. For example, for-profit facilities have 32 percent fewer nurses than their non-profit counterparts which has led to 47 percent more deficiencies in elder care at the business driven homes.

There have always been some problems with the quality of care at many nursing homes. However, as this report documents, the problem is actually on the rise. In the last eight years, between 2000 and 2008, there has been a 22% increase in breaches of elder care that are deemed likely to cause death or serious bodily harm to residents. The problem is not limited to only a few bas facilities, however, as over 90% of nursing homes have been found guilty of at least one violation.

The best way to help stem the tide of abuse, neglect, and mistake is to remain vigilant about enforcing nursing home laws. Rules and regulations are in place that demand high quality care be provided at all of these facilities. It is vital that we properly enforce those standards. Enforcement requires a combination of strong legal advocacy and vigilant community members, willing to seek legal help when they suspect violations have occurred at facilities nearby.

Over the next several days, we will take a closer look at this helpful new report and publish a series of posts that examine the specific concerns raised in this legal analysis of senior care.

Please Click Here to view the full copy of this report.

The New York Times highlighted the sad truth that many struggling nursing home residents are suffering because of new regulations intended to limit abuse of prescription drugs. The disagreement centers around the circumstances under which needed drugs can be ordered for residents by nurses, instead of doctors.

Most nursing homes do not have a medical doctor on staff. That means that on many occasions, patients in severe pain would not be able to see a doctor for a day or two or more without being rushed off to the hospital which is both costly and poses health dangers itself. In those instances, nurses would call the pharmacy and get the necessary medication to help ease the suffering resident’s pain while waiting for the next available doctor examination.

However, the United States Drug Enforcement Administration has begun cracking down on that practice—pharmacies can now only dispense medication with a written or faxed prescription from a doctor. The goal of the strict regulations is to crack down on illegal use of drugs. But, that means that in the interim, those nursing home residents simply must endure without the necessary medication. Doctors and nursing home administrators keep urging the Department to take steps to correct the problematic administrative rules. Following a recent Senate Special Committee on Aging hearing, several Senators have urged the US Attorney General to find a solution.

D.E.A. officials insist that the law is a matter of safety for all involved, including residents. They explain, “What we see are nurses unilaterally calling in prescriptions, or pharmacists dispensing controlled substances without a prescription, then trying to get a doctor to sign a prescription for a patient he never saw.”

The problem is most pronounced when patients are first moved to nursing homes from hospitals. For example, one doctor explains how one of his recent patients made the move following a hip fracture. The woman woke in the middle of the night in extreme pain, but after several calls, fax attempts, and delays at the pharmacy, the medication was still not coming. In the end, the doctor had to inform the staff to take the resident back to the hospital.

However, one problem may be that nursing homes are simply not providing enough direct doctor/patient contact. One advocate explained, “If people are so sick that they desperately need pain medication, they should be seen by a doctor. The absence of doctors in nursing homes has been a problem for decades.”

Our Chicago nursing home lawyers at Levin & Perconti understand the extreme fragility of situations such as these. It is both vital to ensure that proper oversight is provided of controlled substances so that negligent nursing home staff members do not inadvertently harm patients. However, it seems unconscionable that suffering seniors are forced to wait in their pain simply because of paperwork timing. The appropriate balance is likely two-fold: increase residents access to doctors and flexibility in the nursing home laws that allow for necessary medication to reach the residents who need them as soon as they need them. In that way nursing homes can best provide for the needs of their vulnerable residents.

Yesterday we discussed the importance of proper nutrition at nursing homes. It is vital to remember the basic needs of all of those in nursing homes, and that is highlighted over the next several days during the Consumer Voice sponsored Residents Rights Week.

When thinking about food service at nursing homes, it is also important to remember another dangerous threat for many: choking. This basic concern poses an especially harmful risk for those in many nursing homes who have physical deficiencies which make it difficult to fully swallow certain foods.

There are severe consequences for failing to prevent choking. When a resident is unable to swallow, oxygen is deprived from the brain. That deprivation can cause severe brain damage and even death.

For that reason, it is important for nursing home staff members to provide close supervision to those residents who pose a risk for choking. There are times when choking accidents are purely that—accidental. However, in many instances the choking could have been prevented with proper oversight by nursing home staff members. For many vulnerable seniors and their families, that oversight is exactly what brought them to choose to live in these facilities in the first place.

Our Chicago nursing home attorneys at Levin & Perconti understand the vulnerability of many seniors who live at these long-term care facilities. We have been involved in cases of nursing home choking where neglect was the real cause. That inadequate service often comes from improper oversight during mealtimes or from feeding certain residents the wrong food. In each of those cases, it is imperative that the negligent facility be held responsible for its errors and take steps to correct future problems.

Click Here to learn more about Residents Rights Week 2010.

The first full week of October is set aside annually to remember all of those living in nursing homes and other long-term care facilities across the country. The designated comes from the Consumer Voice—the nation’s premier advocacy group for nursing home residents. The goal of the week is to honor all those seniors and other residents, raising awareness of the need to ensure that their dignity is respected. Our Chicago nursing home attorneys at Levin & Perconti honor this time of the year, as our work every day is geared toward preserving the rights of those vulnerable seniors who have fallen victim to nursing home abuse and neglect.

It is important for everyone to take a moment to consider the quality of life of those friends and family members who currently reside in these facilities. For example, one often overlooked aspect of elder care involves dining and nutrition. Those of us who do not live in one of these facilities often take for granted the freedom we have in crafting our own meal plan according to health and taste. Many residents in nursing homes do not have the luxury.

In many cases, neglected residents have no choice about what they eat, when they eat, how much they eat, or where they eat. This inflexibility can actually have devastating effects on the residents’ health and well-being. Many seniors are forced to eat when they are not hungry, or forced to skip meals; this often leads to malnutrition in nursing homes. Of course ill-prepared food also incentivizes skipped meals which can have serious consequences for elder residents who need proper nutrition to improve health and strengthen their bodies.

Mealtimes should be natural socializing moments. Residents should also be free to eat together in common dining rooms and in a friendly atmosphere. There is no reason why living in a nursing home should necessitate sacrifices in the quality of nutrition and community building.

Please take time this week to consider the quality of the environment at nursing homes nearby.

Click Here to learn more about Residents Rights Week 2010.

We have often reported on the problems that arise when nursing home residents are not properly protected from their fellow residents. Our Chicago nursing home attorneys at Levin & Perconti have consistently learned about the harm caused by the actions of violent residents. It is for the same reason that the Illinois Attorney General has been conducting surprise investigations into Chicago-area nursing homes to examine the criminal history of those who reside at these facilities.

It is imperative that nursing home employees ensure that the residents in their care are protected. That protection comes in a variety of components, one of which includes violent physical, emotional, and sexual abuse from other residents. When these employees fail in that duty, the victims and their families should ensure that they hold the problematic nursing home accountable.

In that way, these negligent nursing homes are put on notice that their irresponsible behavior cannot be tolerated, because lives literally hang in the balance.

That fact was bore out in a recent case reported in the Los Angeles Times. Tragedy struck this morning at a Laguna Hills nursing home. Employees at the facility found a 94 year old man dead in his bed. He had been beaten over the head severely. Investigators have concluded that the victim’s roommate was responsible for the death. Apparently the roommate had grabbed the bar used to hang close in the room closet and used it to kill the victim. Police are still investigating more to learn more about what led to the tragic nursing home attack.

The Daily Herald recently reported on a class action settlement that may affect the lives of thousands of patients in nursing homes and other facilities for the mentally ill.

A civil rights lawsuit had previously been filed by the American Civil Liberties Union challenging Illinois’ segregation of mentally ill patients. As it stood before the settlement, the state had two types of long-term care facilities: regular nursing homes and specialized homes known as institutions for mental disease. There are 25 of those facilities in Illinois, which are run for profit using federal government aid to care for the mentally ill patients.

A settlement was recently reached that will give the mentally ill patients additional living options. Specifically, those patients will now have the right to move to apartments or small homes. A court-appointed monitor will facilitate the five year transition.

Some disagreement existed over the settlement and its possible ramifications. No resident will be forced to leave the facility in which they currently live. However, the change may ultimately force many of these specialized nursing homes to close because they would not have enough patients to sustain the for-profit costs. This fact caused concern to many family members who feared that their loved ones would not be able to live healthily outside of the institutions. However, ACLU experts claimed that many residents would be able to live successfully with state support services like cooking, shopping, and medication management. Ultimately the judge approved the settlement notwithstanding the objections.

Our Chicago nursing home attorneys at Levin & Perconti support all changes that ensure that these vulnerable Illinois residents are given the care that they deserve. Also, we strongly believe that all applicable nursing home laws and constitutional guarantees should be honored at all times.

The Consumer Voice—one of the nation’s foremost organizations devoted to quality long term care at elder facilities—has recently launched a new project to improve the treatment and services provided at nursing homes.

The project, Consumers for Quality Care, No Matter Where, is committed to expanding the organization’s current effort to advocate for health care issues faced by elder nursing home residents as well as seniors in other living situations. The program will build upon previous grassroots efforts to ensure that these vulnerable consumers are given access to the quality, well-coordinated care that they need.
More specifically, the new project will allow development of models to engage consumers in state pilot projects, collaborating with national health reform organizations, ultimately hoping to report policy recommendations to assist policy-makers in providing for the needs of long-term care residents. In addition Consumers for Quality Care, No Matter Where will provide work training and grant opportunities to other advocates of these consumer rights.

As the Executive Director of the organization explained, the program, “presents a new opportunity to advance the goals we developed through our strategic business plan, reflecting our commitment to meeting the changing needs of long-term care consumers.”

Our Chicago nursing home attorneys at Levin & Perconti applaud all steps taken to improve the treatment of vulnerable nursing home residents. Our work has made it strikingly clear that more needs to be done to ensure that these facilities meet their burden of providing the appropriate level of care at all times. If you know of anyone who is languishing in a negligent nursing home or who died as a result of mistreatment, please contact a nursing home lawyer today.