Illinois Nursing Home Abuse Blog

A nursing home reform advocate points out that there are many clear cases of nursing home abuse that continue to be seen and that there need to be changes in the law and changes in the way in which nursing home patients are protected from abuse. He also mentions that many of these abuses fail to get reported to the authorities and that even the agency responsible for monitoring for abuse and neglect has claimed that this abuse is not happening in places where it is clear that it is. He suggests several reforms that could be made in the law to help protect against this abuse and neglect such as background checks being performed on all of the employees and requiring nursing homes to obtain liability insurance. The husband of a victim of nursing home abuse is quoted saying that patients in nursing homes have no more rights than inmates in prisons. The issue of nursing home abuse and neglect is also prevalent in Chicago, Illinois. For the full story click here.

A former candidate for attorney general produced this advertisement that discusses nursing home abuse and neglect. This shows that elder abuse issues are gaining in their importance to both voters and politicians as instances of elder abuse and nursing home neglect are on the rise nationwide.

More and more states are turning to legislation that would require sex offenders to notify nursing homes and their residents. The need for such legislation comes as nursing homes are accepting an increasing number of mentally handicapped patients, some of who are sex offenders. Specifically, the problem relates more to younger, mentally handicapped patients at nursing homes, not the elderly. However, as the level of care at nursing homes continues to decline, incidents of violent sexual behavior by residents continue to increase.

For more information, click here:

Congress is now considering HB 6064, called the National Silver Alert Act. The Act would establish a national "Silver Alert" communications network that would assist in search efforts for missing seniors on a national and local level. The Act would also assign a Silver Alert Coordinator in the Department of Justice to coordinate the Silver Alert network with the states and would provide for grant funding to individual states to support these efforts. Hopefully, this Act can improve state resources for finding missing seniors. This problem affects nursing homes frequently; elopement is a growing problem in nursing home abuse and neglect cases where residents' movements are not supervised or controlled. Eloping and wandering nursing home residents often are found injured when they leave the nursing home and cannot provide for themselves.

Read the full text of the Act here.

The Fairness in Nursing Home Arbitration Act, also known as the Nursing Home Arbitration Bill has been passed by the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Commercial Law and Administrative Law. The nursing home legislation, if passed by the Senate will prevent nursing homes in Illinois and all across the nation from requiring the elderly residents in nursing home to sign an arbitration agreement to gain admission. Amendments did not pass that attempted to exclude nursing home employees and nursing home physicians from the bill. To read more about this piece of nursing home legislation that may bring a change to Illinois nursing home residents click here.

A recently passed Medicare Bill in the Senate may help provide relief to those who are insured by Medicare. Elderly Health Insurance is a very important topic in today’s world as the nation is facing an increasingly higher age population of seniors. Without the bill payments to physicians would have been cut placing higher costs on elderly patients to pay for their hospital bills, medical bills and even nursing home facilities. Proper elderly treatment and adequate elderly care can only come if the population is financially secure and can afford proper nursing home care and health care. Without insurance coverage or other sources of financial aid the elderly faces a terrifying decision to enter into a neglectful nursing home environment or an abusive nursing home environment. To read more about this bipartisan bill click here.

A new nursing home movement has some advocates pushing for smaller and more communal nursing homes which are being called Green Nursing Homes. Currently nursing homes nationwide are stricken with reports of nursing home abuse and nursing home neglect but advocates for a change hope these problems can be alleviated with the creation of nursing home care in a smaller and closer knit facility. To read more on the potential nursing home reform that can come from this click here.

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

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

Read more here.

Many nursing homes require residents or their families to sign arbitration clauses, whereby they sign away their right to bring suit in court for any abuse or neglect by the nursing home. A Senate committee is currently investigating the issue and heard from the family of William Kurth on Wednesday. Kurth fractured his hip and leg and received numerous pressure ulcers while living out his final months in a nursing home. His family attempted to sue for negligence, but the case was dismissed on account of his wife having signed an arbitration clause when her husband was admitted. Arbitration clauses benefit nursing homes because of their speed, cost, and, most notably, their confidentiality. The problem, however, is that most families are not thinking about suing a home when they admit their family member or loved one into the nursing home. Kurth’s wife, for example, was distressed about her husband’s recent stroke and overall condition and was, herself, taking medication when she agreed to arbitration. The Kurth family attorney called that day one of the most stressful in her life, and states that she would not have signed those papers if she knew what she was giving up: the right to a trial by jury. Kurth’s children allege that their father got infections because excrement and urine were left on his bed sores without being cleaned for multiple days in a row. While there is mounting support for banning arbitration clauses for nursing homes, the issue is still hotly contested and far from decided.

Read more here.

Many, if not most, nursing homes currently require potential residences to sign arbitration clauses as a prerequisite to moving into the home. This essentially means that residences are prevented from bringing a conventional nursing home abuse and neglect lawsuit, and instead must submit any complaints to a private arbitrator, who is both chosen and paid for by the nursing home itself in non-public proceedings where awards end up being much smaller than equivalent jury verdicts. Furthermore, the clauses, hidden within the mounds of paperwork required by potential residents can easily be missed by the elderly applicants, especially those ailing from Dementia or other diseases. A new bill seeks to ban mandatory nursing home arbitration clauses because of the potential unethical effects when applied to seniors. The bill would benefit anyone potentially bringing suits for nursing home abuse and neglect.

Read more here.

The GAO has released a study on the results of federal monitoring surveys of state inspections in nursing homes. The federal government often contracts with state employees to perform annual compliance surveys which are a prerequisite to Medicare and Medicaid funding. The GAO’s report unfortunately contains some very troubling reports of nursing home abuse and neglect.

The study found that a substantial proportion of state inspectors and surveys miss deficiencies in nursing homes regularly, including malnutrition, severe bedsores, overuse of prescription medications and nursing home abuse and neglect. Some of these deficiencies are at the most dangerous levels and could cause immediate harm to nursing home residents. However, less serious noncompliance was more frequent: approximately 70% of state surveys missed at least one instance of low-level noncompliance.

Click to view the full text of the study or the abstract.

Continue reading "GAO Report Finds Faults with Current Nursing Home Compliance System, Recommends Changes" »

The US House of Representatives Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations held a hearing on nursing home care this week. During the hearing, a government official told lawmakers that 20% of US nursing home care is directly harmful to nursing home residents. This means that aside from nursing home abuse and neglect, some nursing home care techniques are directly harmful. Additionally, the hearing provided valuable information on possible federal plans to centralize information about non-compliant nursing homes and new suggestions for quality of care policies.

Read more here.

The National Citizen’s Coalition for Nursing Home Reform (NCCNHR), in conjunction with the SEIU, has set up a toll free hotline to get people in touch with their Senators about the importance of S. 2641, the Nursing Home Transparency and Improvement Act of 2008. To call, dial 1-866-544-7573. After a brief message about the bill, you will be asked to press "1" to be connected to a Capitol operator. Ask for your senator's office. (Senators are listed in order by State on the Senate website, if you need to find their names.) According to NCCHNR, When the senator's office answers, identify yourself and say:

"Please ask Senator ______ to co-sponsor S. 2641, the Nursing Home Transparency and Improvement Act. The bill is sponsored by Senators Grassley and Kohl. Nursing home residents and their families in Illinois are strongly supporting this bill."

The Act would improve publicly available resources and information about nursing homes, increase transparency of Medicare and Medicaid spending in nursing homes, shed light on nursing home ownership, and improve the consumer complaint process. See NCCHNR’s website for information on the Act and be sure to call.

See NCCNHR’s website here.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has threatened to cut its payments for nursing homes by 0.3%. Though the percentage seems small, the economic consequences in the nursing home industry will be much larger. This cut could usher in a total of $4.2 billion and has nursing home industry financiers attempting to figure out what these cuts could look like to nursing home profits for the next few years. Unfortunately, profit often seems the only priority for operators of large nursing home chains. All too often, profits are placed above patient and resident care and can lead to cases of nursing home abuse and neglect, and even nursing home resident deaths.

Read more here.

Levin & Perconti Founder and Senior Partner John Perconti was interviewed Chicago’s ABC affiliate about the dangers of uninsured nursing homes. The report focused on Rosewood Nursing Homes, specifically the Rosewood Inverness nursing home where a resident died after falling while abandoned in a washroom for an extended period of time. According to Perconti, the nursing home has now taken a defensive position. This case highlights the dangers of uninsured nursing homes: when a nursing home is at fault for a resident’s nursing home abuse and neglect, the victim deserves just and reasonable compensation for their injuries. An uninsured nursing home can attempt to escape responsibility. In fact, some Rosewood Nursing Homes are insured by foreign corporations that do not follow US laws and are not subject to jurisdiction in US courts.

See the video here.

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

Read more about the dangers of uninsured nursing homes here.

The US Senate has begun consideration of a new act that would raise the bar on nursing home care nationwide and attempt to curb nursing home abuse and neglect. The Nursing Home Transparency and Improvement Act, S. 2641, would shed light on the quality and operation of nursing homes and implement new standards for care. Specifically, the Act would provide public information on the owners/operators of nursing homes, the staff turnover, nurse staffing levels, and penalties the home receives for poor care. Together, this information will help elder advocates and nursing home abuse and neglect lawyers to get a better sense of an individual home’s quality of care.

Additionally, the Act would require independent audits of nursing home chains and increase sanctions on chains with chronic problems of nursing home abuse and neglect. Facilities in violation would face increased civil penalties including fines up to $100,000 when a resident dies from nursing home abuse and neglect. Facilities would also have to pay fines into escrow accounts pending appeals.

Other provisions include a requirement that facilities give 60 days notice when they plan to close and allow for continuation of Medicare and Medicaid payments until residents are successfully relocated and a provision to provide for studies of temporary management and training of nurse aides and supervisors.

Visit NCCNHR to learn more here.

The debate over arbitration agreements for nursing home residents now has a new voice: the American Health Care Association and the National Center for Assisted Living, two lobbying groups for the nursing home industry, now argue that arbitration agreements would improve nursing home resident care. However, arbitration agreements often severely limit the amount and type of recovery that a resident can seek if there is nursing home abuse and neglect and only serve to prevent nursing home residents from seeking justice in court. Nursing home residents should not lose their rights to seek justice and ensure that they are protected from nursing home abuse and neglect by filing a nursing home abuse and neglect lawsuit.

Read more about arbitration agreements here.