Illinois Nursing Home Abuse Blog

A new law passed recently makes nursing home and hospital patients with a risk of falling safer. The law acknowledges problems with the handling and care of patients. Many lawsuits each year are brought on behalf of patients who are injured because the higher level of care they required when being transported or lifted was not met. Patients that are at risk are those at facilities that, either because of neglectful practices, staffing issues or lack of appropriate equipment, are unable to provide the care needed. The new law requires health care facilities to purchase equipment designed to aid in the lifting and handling of patients, such as mechanical lifts, as well as solving many issues relating to nursing home and hospital staff. The New Jersey law makes it mandatory for health care workers to be properly trained and also require that there are enough staff members on hand to be able to meet the needs of patients requiring lifting or transportation. Also important is the protection workers are given from being penalized by employers for refusing to handle a patient because of a concern for the patient's or their own safety and wellbeing. Many times, patients require multiple staff members in a patient handling procedure and when there are not enough workers available to help, the resulting safety risks are unacceptable. Hopefully other states, including Illinois, will follow suit.

A state inspection of a North Carolina nursing home where a woman suffocated found conditions constituted “immediate jeopardy to resident health and safety” and recommended fines of $85,000. The inspection began after a 93 year-old resident died after slipping between a mattress and a bed rail. The report from the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services says that the center was not following certain safety mandates against nursing home abuse and neglect. One in six residents at the center was found to have bed rails that were not ordered as part of their medical care.

For the full article.

A state inspection of a North Carolina nursing home where a woman suffocated found that conditions in the home constituted “immediate jeopardy to resident health and safety.” Officials spent two days investigating the home after a 93 year-old resident died after slipping between a mattress and bedrail. The report recommends fines of $85,000 for the nursing home abuse and neglect at the facility. The report also revealed that the woman had accidents similar to the one that led to her death, but the nursing home did not implement changes.

For the full article.

In March, the FDA issued guidelines to try and aid nursing homes in preventing deaths from bedrails. Nursing homes claim the benefits of bedrails are to help patients pull themselves up and prevent themselves from rolling out of bed. However, often the homes use side bedrails to restrain a wandering patient and trap them in the bed. The danger exists because frail and elderly patients get trapped in between the rail and mattress, resulting in death or serious injury.

Some of the problems that cause these injuries are bedrails that are put together incorrectly or from mismatched parts. Lack of awareness is also to blame. Nursing homes aren’t the only ones plagued by faulty bedrails. As awareness increases and nursing homes eliminate bedrails from their patient rooms, the older and unsafe rails are being used on home-care and hospice patients.

Levin & Perconti is currently representing the family of an 82 year old Kentucky woman who asphyxiated when her body became trapped between the mattress and the bedrail. Due to insufficient training and staffing, nurses were improperly using side rails as a restraint for the woman. In fact, the nurses even went as far as elevating the head and foot of the bed, creating an inverted cave-like area and making the risk of entrapment even higher.

For the full article.

Evergreen Nursing & Rehab Center was fined $25,000 for failure to provide adequate supervision and assistance for a resident who suffocated after getting caught in a bed rail.

The Illinois Department of Health produces quarterly reports on nursing home violators.

The FDA today released technical guidance to help hospital bed manufacturers, hospitals, nursing homes, and private caregivers assess the safety of bedrails.

The guide can be downloaded here:
Download file

Alden Village Health Facility for Children and Young Adults in Bloomingdale was fined $10,000 by the state and given a six-month conditional license after a 23-year old patient was raped and impregnated by a nurses aid.
This is not the first violation for the often troubled chain that operates 31 other facilities in Illinois. Since 1996, this particular facility has been cited by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services 154 times and at least once every year.

Previous fines, citations and lawsuits at the facility include:
•November 2003 - suit alleging sexual abuse of an 11-year-old mentally retarded girl.
•2004 - $50,000 fine when a 12-year-old boy died after he was trapped between his mattress and crib.
•November 2005 – 19 deficiencies cited by the Department of Public Health