Illinois Nursing Home Abuse Blog

A jury has determined that a woman suffered elderly abuse and neglect in 2006 at an elder-care facility and awarded her more than $1.3 million for past medical bills and damages. In October 2006, the woman was placed at the six-bed facility by her husband. The woman suffered from Alzheimer’s disease and was recovering from hip surgery. According to the nursing home negligence suit the victim fell at the facility and suffered a head contusion, broken ribs and a punctured lung. Caregivers at the facility placed her in bed but did not immediately call her doctor or family. The next morning, her husband found her nonresponsive and the victim was taken to the hospital. According to the trial, there was an inability to monitor, care for or even understand the needs of the elderly. Nursing home negligence often occurs when the staff is not prepared to deal with Alzheimer’s disease. To read more about the elderly abuse, please click the link.

A jury has awarded a family $6.5 million in a wrongful-death lawsuit. The man died two days after leaving the nursing home. A previous stroke had left the man rehabilitated, forgetful and always in need of water to drink. Jurors found the nursing home was solely responsible for the man’s death. When the man was found he had his clothes strewn about his room and a bloody rash on his groin from urine-soaked bedding. Doctors say he passed away as a result of the nursing home negligence. The man’s cause of death was dehydration and kidney failure. Jurors awarded the man $500,000 for pain and suffering before death and $6 million to his wife, their two daughters and three grandchildren for compensatory damages and mental anguish. To read more about the nursing home negligence lawsuit, please click here.

A Court decided that a family deserved $7 million for the nursing home neglect and wrongful death of their father. The man died after officials at a local nursing home neglected him to the point where his body was covered with 35 bedsores. The sores which were in advanced stages and infected, made it impossible to embalm his body. The nursing home negligence suit detailed how the man suffered from severe malnutrition, multiple urinary tract infections, pneumonia, severe dehydration leading to kidney failure and more. The injuries caused the man to suffer extreme and unnecessary pain, degradation, anguish, otherwise unnecessary hospitalizations, emotional trauma and death. The family sought compensatory and punitive damages for medical expenses, pain and suffering, mental anguish, loss of life, and funeral expenses. Unfortunately the family may not see any of the money, because the former owner and director of the nursing home had filed for personal bankruptcy. To find a nursing home negligence lawyer, please click the link.

A 27-year-old nurse’s aide charged with abusing elderly couple has entered a plea of no contest. The man pled no contest but mentally ill to first-degree abuse of a vulnerable adult, which is a 15-year-old felony. A second count of the same charge had been dismissed as part of a pretrial settlement. The nurse’s aide had initially been charged with two felony counts stemming from a 2008 incident involving the elderly couple, both of them being 81 years old at the time. According the police, the man was at his usual shift and threw food all over the kitchen. When he came back the next morning to clean up the mess, he allegedly went into the living room and urinated on the head of the man’s wife. Unfortunately the woman is physically unable to care for herself. The man also allegedly poured liquid soap over the man’s head and threw soap around. After the man was charged it was determined that he was mentally incompetent to stand trial. It is unfortunate when mentally incompetent people are employees at nursing homes. To read more about the nursing home abuse, please click the link.

A healthcare group that ran nursing home pled guilty in a case that ended with the wrongful death of a resident. The investigation was launched after a former resident died in 2006. The woman had been transferred to a hospital where doctors found out she had breast cancer and died three months later. The prosecutors alleged that the nursing home was responsible for not finding the cancer. They alleged that the caregiver was obligated to protect the seniors and find the cancer. The doctor must also pay a $300,000 fine to make up for his nursing home negligence. To read more about nursing home negligence, please click the link.

The owner of a nursing home for developmentally disabled adults has agreed to a $600,000 out-of-court settlement with the family of a man who died after he was physically restrained by his caregivers. The 30-year-old man died in late October. An investigation determined that the man died from “excited delirium” which is a condition traditionally associated with police death-in-custody cases, in which struggling suspects suddenly stop breathing after being forcibly restrained. Depositions would show that the employees violated both regulations and the care’s home policies. On the day of the incident, the employees went to the room after the young man became unruly. When an employee went in to check on him, he began calling his caregivers names. After asking the victim to “self-restrain” two employees pinned him down. It was during the struggle that the victim stopped thrashing around and wasn’t breathing. Physical restraint can oftentimes become problematic for nursing homes. To read more about the wrongful death, please click here.

A jury awarded a landmark verdict of $11 million to the widow of a 36-year-old man who died after ingesting foreign objects while in the care of Liberty Manor Residency. The nursing home verdict awarded $2 million for the decedent, $5 million for the wife and $4 million in punitive damages. The decedent had suffered a severe traumatic brain injury as a result of a car accident. He then needed to be placed into an assisted living facility. One day she received a call saying her husband had been vomiting. After the wife rushed him over to the hospital, he continued vomiting and died in her arms. The autopsy showed that he had ingested a number of items, including plastic bags, unopened ketchup packets, candy wrappers and paper towels in the victim’s stomach and small intestines. At trial, it was discovered that the assisted living facility had made numerous false entries in their charts in regards to the man’s care. To read more about the nursing home verdict, please click the link.

A nursing home has been fined $80,000 after investigators determined a patient died because of the staff’s nursing home neglect. The staff failed to follow the resident’s dietary needs. The 54 year-old resident was supposed to be restricted to soft foods and died when he choked on a meatball. The state regulators cited the nursing home for the nursing home neglect.

To read more about the nursing home neglect.

Last year a jury faulted a nursing home for the wrongful death of a 94-year old woman and awarded the family $400,000 in damages. During the trial, one of the woman’s sons testified that his mother had been so badly neglected that it started to “smell like an animal had died” inside his mother’s room during her stay at the nursing home. While in the nursing home the woman developed gangrene on both heels and had to be hospitalized. Additional she had decubitus ulcers to her heels and her left leg continued to deteriorate and her legs needed to be amputated below her knees. The family argued that under the care of the nursing home she suffered gross abuse, extensive neglect and undue pain. The appellate court affirmed the nursing home abuse verdict and the family was awarded the four hundred thousand dollar verdict. To read the full story, click here.

A jury has determined that a nursing home patient’s death was caused by elderly negligence on the part of his caretakers. The court awarded the man’s daughter $1.25 million, ending a four-year elderly abuse lawsuit. The man was admitted to the nursing home at the age of 67 and had to go to the hospital a mere nine months later. In the hospital he was treated for a bedsore that infected his left buttock to the bone. In the trial nursing home assistants testified that there weren’t enough staffers to provide adequate care. The man should have been turned over every two hours to ensure bedsores do not form, yet the nursing home only turned him over every four hours. This lack of attention caused the elderly man to develop horrible bedsores. The man then suffered from malnutrition as a result of the original infection, which sent his body into a death spiral leading to more bedsores and infections. The last few months of the man’s life were unbearable. To read the full story, click here.

A jury determined that the death of a nursing home resident was elderly neglect and abuse. The jury awarded the family $1.25 million, concluding a four-year nursing home neglect lawsuit over the care her father received at the nursing center. The lawsuit accused the nursing home of providing inadequate attention to the elderly man. He had to go to the hospital for treatment of a bedsore that infected his left buttock to the bone. The nursing assistants testified that there weren’t enough staffers to provide adequate care. The man should have been turned over every two hours to alleviate the pressure that leads to bedsores. While the family continuously asked the nursing home to provide better care, no changes were made. To read the full story, click here.

A nursing home abuse and neglect lawsuit against River Valley Supportive Living Residence in Kankakee, Illinois and its former employee was settled for $500,000, the facility’s insurance policy limit, by Steven M. Levin, of the Chicago law firm Levin & Perconti, and James Spiros of Spiros & Wall. The suit was filed on the behalf of a 93 year-old woman who was a resident at the nursing home. The complaint alleged that she was sexually and physically assaulted by a 22 year-old former employee of River Valley, who now faces criminal charges of aggravated sexual assault. The complaint also alleged that River Valley’s administration ignored numerous complaints of sexual and physical assault by the victim in addition to ignoring reports from other residents that the victim claimed to have been raped. Further allegations included that the nursing home ignored obvious signs such as the inordinate amount of time that the employee spent in the victim’s room and the unusual amount of attention that he provided her, especially during bathing times. Instead of investigating the claim, the staff dismissed the charges as possible early signs of dementia, subjecting the victim to further abuse. During the victim’s final two months at River Valley, she suffered multiple personal injuries, including unexplainable bruises to her face, around her eye, on her elbow, inner arm, back, and wrist.

The settlement was reached back in June, 2007, but its details were not allowed to be made public until the recent unsealing of its terms by a judge. The Circuit Court of the 21st Judicial Circuit, Kankakee County, sealed the settlement, preventing both sides from disclosing the terms prior to the former employee’s criminal trial. The public announcement comes as state attorneys prepare to take the criminal case to trial.

Lake County has agreed to settle a lawsuit with the family of an elderly Illinois woman who died in January 2005 at a nursing home in Libertyville. The settlement is for a $1 million. The seven-figure settlement to be paid to the family of an Alzheimer’s patient who died at the nursing home, is the largest settlement for a nursing home negligence case in Lake County. Attorney Steven Levin filed the suit on behalf of the woman’s husband and three daughters, claiming the nursing home failed to take proper procedures to prevent her continuous falls. The suit claims that the woman had trouble walking because of her dementia and despite her unsteadiness, never had a fall assessment completed by the nursing home’s staff. According to the suit, the woman fell six times in eight months and the nursing home failed to take appropriate measures. After a failed attempt to monitor her falls, the woman fell two more times, causing her to suffer brain injuries and hip and elbow fractures. She eventually died from her injuries. Attorney Steven Levin said the nursing home has agreed to put in place “procedures that will hopefully prevent something like this from happening in the future.” To read the full story, click here.

One of Lake County’s largest nursing home negligence lawsuits ended this week with a $1 million payment to the family of a nursing home negligence victim. Lake County agreed to pay the seven-figure settlement to the family of an Alzheimer’s patient who died at 83 while a resident at Winchester House in Libertyville. A lawsuit filed on behalf of her husband and three daughters claimed that the nursing home failed to take proper measures to prevent her continuous falls. The woman was admitted to the nursing home as her dementia increased. Before she was admitted, her gait had become unsteady and she had trouble walking. Attorney Steven Levin argued that despite her unsteadiness, the woman never had a fall assessment completed by the nursing home’s staff. The woman fell six times in her first eight months there and the nursing home never took appropriate measures. Even after they implemented a wheelchair and bed alarms, they did not use the technology properly. The woman then fell two more times and these falls caused her to suffer brain injuries and hip and elbow fractures. The nursing home’s $1 million said is the largest nursing home negligence settlement in Lake County history. To read the full story, click here.

One of Lake County, Illinois’s largest nursing home negligence lawsuits ended after the county agreed to a $1 million payment to the family of the woman. Lake County agreed to pay the settlement to the family of an Alzheimer’s patient who died at age 83 while she was a resident at the Winchester House in Libertyville. Levin & Perconti filed the lawsuit on behalf of the woman’s husband and daughters claiming that the county-operated nursing home failed to take proper measures to prevent the woman’s continuous falls. The woman was admitted to the Winchester House in January 2004 as her dementia had increased and she became unsteady in her walking. Attorney Steven Levin argued that despite her unsteadiness, the woman never had a fall assessment completed by the staff at the nursing home. He also stated that the nursing home took no significant action to prevent further falls after she tumbled six times in her first eight months at the home. Levin stated that the nursing home had six opportunities to assure future injuries would not occur. By September of 2004, nurses at implemented wheelchair and bed alarms, but the technology was not used properly and the woman fell two more times. These falls caused her to suffer brain injures and hip and elbow fractures. She died in early January 2005. According to Levin, the $1 million settlement is the largest nursing home settlement in Lake County history. To read the full story, click here.

The relatives of a woman who died after repeated falls at the county-run nursing home in Libertyville, Illinois will receive $1 million in the largest nursing home negligence settlement in Lake County history. The family, represented by Susan Novosad, a partner at the Chicago law firm Levin & Perconti, was able to successfully negotiate the settlement out of court after mediation. The 83-year-old woman was admitted to Winchester House in January 2004, suffering from dementia. Following her admission to Winchester, and throughout the remainder of the year, she fell several times, resulting in serious personal injuries including broken bones and a brain injury. She died in January 2005, one month after a final fall requiring surgery. Her death prompted the nursing home to institute new policies, requiring staff to check patients' wheelchair and bed alarms more frequently to ensure that they are in proper working order. For more information, read the stories published in the Daily Herald, by clicking here, and the Lake County News-Sun, by clicking here.

An Oregon jury returned guilty verdicts Monday in a criminal case against two nursing home employees involved in the dropping and subsequent death of a nursing home resident. Linda Ober, a 60-year-old resident at Gateway nursing home in Portland, Oregon, was dropped to the floor while being transferred from a wheelchair to her bed, breaking both of her legs. She was then allowed to lie in her bed and suffer for five days, despite staff reports that she was screaming in pain, before being taken to the hospital. Suzanne Kay Ruddell, the director of nurses, ordered staff members to stop filling out an incident report and to not call Ober’s family after the injury. For five days, Ruddell refused to have Ober x-rayed. Finally, after learning of an abnormal bone protrusion under Ober’s skin, Ruddell ordered an x-ray and left for the beach. Ober died in the hospital the following day.

Ruddell was found guilty of two counts of felony criminal mistreatment. Cammy Elaine Nye, the certified nursing assistant in charge of the transfer, was found guilty of misdemeanor reckless endangerment for precariously placing Ober in a sling, causing her to drop to the floor during the transfer.

A third defendant, Verna Colleen Heide, pleaded guilty to one count of criminal mistreatment in August and testified against Ruddell and Nye at the trial. Heide was sentenced last month to three years probation and 160 hours of community service.

Ober’s daughter has filed a $3.5 million lawsuit against Gateway Care and Rehabilitation Center.

For the full story, click here.

The operator of 18 Southern California skilled nursing homes is paying former residents $2 million to settle a class-action lawsuit alleging substandard care of elderly patients. Approximately 4,000 people are part of the class and attorneys estimate that only about a fifth of those people are still alive. The lawyers stated that the suit was to improve the care the elderly received at these nursing homes. The homes were allegedly plagued by chronic under-staffing and insufficient training while brochures were claiming the homes had wonderful, superlative care. This fraud greatly angered the patients and their relatives. The settlement requires a monitor which will inspect five of the eighteen nursing homes randomly each year. Hopefully, these monitors will help decrease elderly abuse and fraud. To read the full story, click here.

Steven M. Levin was once again recognized as a leading authority on nursing home abuse and neglect. In an interview with Lawyers and Settlements, Levin discussed the state of the nursing home industry and the role litigation plays in defining the limits of acceptable behavior. The article focuses on Levin’s success with Levin & Perconti in procuring record judgments and settlements against nursing homes for violations of the standard of care. Levin also discussed the fact that, instead of addressing the main cause of nursing home issues - namely understaffing, facilities are adjusting their governance structure to avoid liability. This would only further deteriorate the struggling nursing home industry.

For more information, click here:

An owner and operator of four personal care homes that provided “appalling” care reached a $700,000 settlement agreement whereby she agreed never to operate any such facility. Following the closing of the last of her four personal care facilities, the owner reached a settlement that is merely a drop in the bucket for the multimillionaire, especially considering the severity of the allegations.

The owner and her managers were accused of horrible treatment while siphoning federal assistance funds designed for residents for their own personal use, including social security, disability, and veterans benefits. U.S. attorneys alleged that the owner’s facilities were unsanitary, structurally unsafe, provided insufficient food, nutrition, clothing and bedding. Where residents were ill and needed medical assistance, the facility’s staff failed to respond or even call for medical assistance. Furthermore, the facilities were chronically understaffed, including one home that was cited twice in three months for not having enough staff to provide at least one hour of personal care per day to its mobile residents.

The settlement in this case appears to be well short of many expectations given the atrocious care and the apparent ill-gotten wealth of the owner. She has a portfolio of multimillion-dollar homes in several states, an aircraft, and is currently renovating a gated estate, allegedly using funds that were obtained by virtue of providing substandard care. Unfortunately, this demonstrates the lack of oversight in many states where, for example, 75% of personal care facilities are operating without a license.

For more information, click here and here:

Following a lawsuit that alleges a state leaves too many residents with brain injuries trapped in nursing homes, as many as 2,000 patients will be moved to homes in the community. The settlement comes after a class action lawsuit showed the state neglected too many of its residents in violation of federal law. Ultimately, the move will dramatically improve the quality of life of these residents, who will be individuals capable of living outside a nursing home with little assistance. Similar lawsuits have failed in other states who tend to protect the nursing home industry with greater fervor. However, this settlement creates an opportunity for many nursing home residents to live better lives through community involvement.

For the full article, click here:

A jury awarded $1 million in punitive damages to the family of a 104 year-old who died after a brief stay in a nursing home operated by Sunrise Senior Living. The jury found that the nursing home’s abuse and neglect led to her developing pressure ulcers. These ulcers could have been treated, but adequate measures, such as skin checks, were not taken by the facility. The woman only stayed in the Sunrise facility, one of 440 homes operated by Sunrise, for about two months. However, the facility’s negligent care of her pressure ulcers resulted in the woman’s death a mere two weeks after she left the facility.

For the full article, click here.

A jury has awarded a $900,000 verdict in a nursing home abuse and neglect lawsuit to an 86-year-old woman with Alzheimer's disease after she suffered a loss of dignity when police forced her to the floor of her nursing home and handcuffed her. The nursing home called for an ambulance to aid the resident, but the police answered the call as well when the nursing home stated that the resident was abusive and dangerous. When the police responded, they handcuffed the woman and placed her on the floor, face down, for six minutes before she was put on a stretcher. During this process, the nursing home resident sustained bruises and sprains. What is most outrageous is that the nursing home staff never told the family members about the incident; it was only from the family members of another resident that the victim’s family members found out why she had been injured. Luckily, closed circuit television captured the incident which proved helpful at trial. Even though the victim was not able to recall her loss of dignity due to her Alzheimer’s, the jury still found that she did suffer and awarded her the verdict.

See the news story here.

A jury has granted a $300,000 verdict in a nursing home abuse and neglect case against the county that runs the nursing home. The victim, an elderly resident of the home, died in the nursing home after a fall. An error in the installation of a toilet seat and inadequate staffing caused the woman’s fall. The surviving family members filed a wrongful death lawsuit for the nursing home fall.

See more here.

A family has won a $6 million verdict for the loss of their family member in a nursing home morphine overdose. The lawsuit was filed against Manor Care, the corporation that owns the nursing home, after the nursing home resident died. The lawsuit revealed that the resident was prescribed 15 milligrams of morphine per day and then received a subsequent prescription for 30 milligrams. However, the Manor Care nursing home continued to administer both prescriptions which lead to the nursing home resident’s death by acute morphine poisoning.

See the story here.

A recent nursing home abuse and neglect lawsuit was settled just days before the trial was set to begin. The lawsuit charged that the nursing home resident suffered fractures, infections, bruises, skin tears, and verbal abuse during his stay at the facility.

For the full article.

A state district court has ruled that a nursing home’s arbitration agreement was unenforceable because it was unconscionable. The nursing home, in response to a lawsuit alleging deprivation of a resident’s rights and wrongful death, sought to compel arbitration pursuant to a provision contained in the facility care contract.

However, the court regarded the nursing home’s actions as an unconscionable way to avoid liability. Without explaining any substantive provisions or discussing the arbitration agreement, the admissions director at the facility deceptively had the deceased patient’s daughter sign a 37 page document in less than five minutes. Further, the facility never informed the patient’s daughter that she did not have to sign the contract for her father to receive care, nor did they provide a copy of the contract once it was signed. It appears the facility’s primary objective was simply to avoid litigation at any cost, regardless of its general failure to provide adequate care to its residents.

Full article:

Steve Levin and Michael Bonamarte of the law firm of Levin & Perconti recently settled a nursing home lawsuit for $532,000.000 on behalf of the family of an 83 year old nursing home resident who died from injuries she sustained during a fall.

The resident, who had lived at the Woodbridge Pavilion Nursing Home for approximately 3 years, had fallen several times at home. The Defendant nursing home knew she was a risk for falls. Despite this knowledge the Defendant nursing home failed to ensure that the resident was appropriately monitored and supervised.

As a result of the negligence of the Defendant nursing home and the failure on the part of the staff the resident wandered through an exit door and fell down a flight of stairs. The fall resulted in a bleed in her brain which caused her death a week later.

The nursing home was cited by the Illinois Department of Public Health for violations of the Illinois Administrative Code and OBRA regulations.

Click here for the press release

A Louisiana jury recently awarded the family of a 84 year-old man $1 million in damages stemming from a nursing home abuse and neglect lawsuit . Shortly after entering his nursing home, the 84 year-old had to be taken to a hospital because of infected pressure sores, weight loss, malnutrition, and dehydration. The 84 year-old died six days later from the infected pressure sore, one of which was so advanced that it went to the bone.

For the full article.

A $1 million verdict was reached recently on behalf of the family of an 84-year-old man who died of infected pressure sores as a result of nursing home abuse and neglect. The man, who had lived at his daughter's home without complications up until his stay at the nursing home, developed stage IV pressure ulcers, weight loss, dehydration and malnutrition after only 26 days at the facility. The man was admitted to the hospital and died 6 days later as a result of those symptoms including a pressure sore so infected that it went to the bone and was infected with his own feces. The plaintiff was awarded $250,000 in survival damages, $500,000 in wrongful death damages, and an additional $250,000 for the nursing home's medical malpractice and neglect.

The families of all 23 nursing home residents who died during their evacuation from Hurricane Rita in a bus explosion have settled their lawsuits against the nursing home. Terms of the settlement were confidential.

Two years ago, a Texas nursing home bussed residents north as Hurricane Rita approached. A rear wheel of the bus caught on fire on a freeway near Dallas and within minutes, the vehicle was engulfed in flames and smoke. Those who died in the fire were too frail to escape the bus on their own.

Victims and relatives of victims last year reached an $11 million settlement with the bus company.

For the full article.

In a recent wrongful death case, an Arkansas jury has returned a nursing home neglect verdict against national nursing home chain, Beverly Health Care. The case was filed by the family of an elderly man who was moved into the Beverly Healthcare of Camden nursing home after a shoulder injury. The man, who was independent and otherwise healthy before his injury, died of pressure ulcers, malnutrition, and other symptoms of nursing home abuse and neglect.

Continue reading "Arkansas jury returns $2.2 million verdict against Nursing Home chain" »

The family of a 46-year old disabled woman will received a $600,000 settlement from the nursing home that caused her death. Chicago law firm Levin & Perconti represented the mother of the 46-year-old disabled woman who died as a result of the neglectful treatment she received while in the care of Alden Wentworth Rehabilitation and Health Care Center.

The woman was admitted to the facility in Fall 2000. In only five weeks in the facility, the woman developed severely infected bedsores and became malnourished and dehydrated. She was hospitalized for sepsis before her death. The family’s attorneys alleged that the nursing home abused and neglected the woman, failing to provide the care and treatment necessary to prevent the development of bedsores and failing to treat the bedsores once they developed.

Specifically, Alden failed to keep the woman from developing pressure ulcers by not performing daily skin checks or turning and repositioning her. Her nutritional status
was also allowed to decline which caused her wounds to worsen.

Click here for the Press Release

An $800,000 settlement was reached on behalf of a cerebral palsy patient against Riverside Foundation, an intermediate care facility, for neglect of residents by Levin & Perconti. In addition to the developmental disability, the patient was also diagnosed with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder which manifested in a behavior involving stealing food items and stuffing them whole into her mouth. The Riverside staff was aware of the resident's habit and was alerted of the need to provide one-on-one supervision of the patient at each meal in the dining room. The extension of the dining room procedures to outings outside the facility was not made. On a group trip to a pizza restaurant, the patient grabbed a piece of pizza and stuffed it whole into her mouth which caused her to choke and ultimately led to her death. Even though the staff was aware of the patient's tendency, they failed to extend supervision beside the explicit dining room procedures instructed, resulting in this tragic incident.

A Connecticut nursing home is being fined $75 a day because it is unable to pay a $228,000 nursing home abuse lawsuit settlement to the family of a 74 year-old Hartford man who died there in 2003. The 130-bed facility did not carry medical malpractice insurance at the time that the death occurred.

For the full article.

A $228,000 nursing home abuse settlement has gone unpaid to the family of a 74-year old man who died at the home in 2003. Haven Healthcare Center of West Hartford reported that the facility was unable to pay the settlement agreed upon during mediation last February. The Judge has imposed a $75/day penalty upon the home for each day the settlement is not paid.

The settlement was based on the wrongful death of the man at the nursing home that occured when the home failed to follow a physician’s order to lower the man’s elevated potassium levels.

Click here for the article

The family of a man who died after choking on food that was given to him at an area nursing home has reached a $250,000 settlement of a nursing home abuse and neglect lawsuit filed against the facility and several other defendants. The victim was admitted to a nursing home and immediately placed on an all liquid diet. Despite that directive, a nursing home employee gave the victim a small amount of food that caused him to choke.

For the full article.

An $825,000 settlement achieved by John Perconti and Patricia Gifford of Levin & Perconti was reported in the July 2007 issue of the Illinois Jury Verdict Reporter. A resident of Manorcare at Oak Lawn was admitted for dementia with a history of wandering. Due to nursing home neglect and lack of supervision, the resident left the facility in the winter without shoes or a jacket and was not found until over two hours later. The resident suffered from hypothermia before dying the next morning. The Illinois Department of Public Health cited and fined ManorCare for this incident.

A nursing assistant at a Washington nursing home was sentenced to nine months in jail due to the abuse and neglect of a 73-year-old woman, resulting in her death. Two other nurses remain charged with manslaughter and criminal mistreatment. The emergency room doctor said that the causes of the woman's death were dehydration, starvation, and lack of medication resulting in a coma, kidney failure, and ultimately death. The nurse who was sentenced to jail time pled guilty and admitted that she was "reckless" and withheld the basic necessities of life. The owner of the home was aware that the resident had behavioral problems but assured the family that the nursing home was equipped to provide adequate care. The family of the victim reached a $400,000 settlement in a wrongful death civil lawsuit.

Click here for the full article

An 82-year-old woman recently died at a Lemont nursing home due to abuse and neglect. Steven Levin of Levin & Perconti is bringing a lawsuit against the Lemont facility. The suit alleges that the facility failed to properly administer care and supervision to the 82-year-old high risk fall victim. The Chicago Sun-Times recently published the story, please Click here to view the full article.

The family of a victim of extreme nursing home neglect and wrongful death was awarded $54 million in a recent verdict against ManorCare Inc., one of the largest nursing home corporations in the country. The daughter of the 78-year-old victim alleged that when she arrived at the nursing home within three hours of being informed of her mother's death, staff members had already crammed the victim's belonging into boxes and that money was missing. Lawyers discovered that a nursing aide found the woman lying in soiled, bloody sheets which staff members quickly removed, leading to the allegation that ManorCare had destroyed evidence. Although charting errors are frequently discovered in nursing homes, the victim's charting was so inadequate that it showed that she had been given insulin over two hours after her death.

ManorCare has been cited for many instances of neglect, such as patients repeatedly being discovered in fecal- and urine-soiled bedding, improper restraints and improperly trained staff. For instance, Levin & Perconti has handled numerous cases against ManorCare in Illinois in which the nursing homes were found to have very serious examples of abuse and neglect.

The vast majority of the $54,000,000 award against ManorCare in a wrongful death case was for punitive damages. Lawyers for the family stated that they hoped that the nursing home neglect lawsuit would ensure that the types of neglect that the New Mexico nursing home resident suffered would not happen again. Lawyers for the woman's family indicate that staffers knew about her intestinal bleeding for several days. And yet, they did nothing about it. Then, when a staffer found the woman dead in her blood soaked bedsheets, the nursing home cleared and cleaned up the area, even though the doctor who performed the autopsy testified that these materials should have been sent to the Office of the Medical Investigator along with the body. The epitome of ManorCare's negligent care for its residents is the fact that charting procedures were so inadequate that the woman was given an insulin injection two and a half hours after her death.The attempted cover-up and the resident neglect were nothing new for New Mexico ManorCare facilities. At trial, lawyers presented evidence that ManorCare had previously been reported as having improperly trained staff, using improper restraints, and neglecting its residents.

Click here for the full article.

A New Mexico jury has recently awarded $54,000,000 to the family of a woman who died at a ManorCare nursing home. Lawyers for the deceased nursing home resident stated that the ManorCare nursing home failed to follow its own procedures in sending residents to the hospital. As a result, the woman bled to her death. The jury awarded $4,000,000 for the wrongful death and $50,000,000 in punitive damages.

Click here for the full article.

A 56-year-old Chicago area assisted living facility resident was recently awarded a $1,000,000 settlement in a law suit against Alden North Shore Rehabilitation and Health Care Center in Skokie, Illinois. The man, a quadriplegic, was a victim of abuse and neglect at the facility which resulted in the development of multiple pressure ulcers on his tailbone, hips and heels. The nursing home maintained that the victim’s severe bed sores were unavoidable for quadriplegics. However, when the victim’s wife removed him from the home, he spent a year receiving treatment at another Chicago area facility and the pressure sores healed. They have yet to return. The man’s attorneys, Steven M. Levin and Michael F. Bonamarte IV of Chicago law firm Levin & Perconti, said that the injuries resulted from the fact that the nursing home was understaffed, and the staff it did employ was inadequately trained. Levin & Perconti has extensive experience representing victims of abuse and neglect who have suffered from pressure ulcers and the attorneys were able to prove that the bed sores were, in fact, entirely preventable.

Click here to read the Chicago Daily Law Bulletin article

Today is World Elder Abuse Awareness Day, sponsored by the International Network for the Prevention of Elder abuse. Elder abuse and neglect is a global problem, in the home and in assisted living facilities. The elderly are being abused and neglected in every country, and in every imaginable way. This is an epidemic, and examples can be found everywhere.

Last night, an 85-year-old woman went missing from her nursing home in Surrey, England and the police continue to search for her today. This is a classic example of nursing home staff failing to supervise residents. Frequently, the staff is unable to care for patients because of understaffing issues, which nursing home administrators often neglect to improve. Families can not always be present to make sure that their elderly loved ones are sufficiently cared for, and it is the responsibility of nursing home staff to fulfill the promise they make to families to look after their relatives. The Surrey nursing home resident wandered off and is at serious risk not only because she is alone and lost without money or identification, but because she is diabetic and requires regular medication. This unfortunate mistake is another illustration of the importance of being constantly aware of signs of abuse and neglect in the elderly in order to prevent the occurrence of mistreatment.

An $825,000 settlement was recently reached for a 75-year-old Illinois nursing home resident who died as a result of similar neglect. Even though the resident had dementia and a history of wandering, the nursing home provided a tracking bracelet but failed to verify that it was functioning, failed to properly supervise him, and failed to promptly notify the police. As a consequence of this neglect, the man wandered out of the facility and into bitter cold temperatures, resulting in hypothermia and ultimately death. The resident was represented by John J. Perconti and Patricia Gifford of Chicago law firm Levin & Perconti.

Click here to read the article regarding the Surrey woman's disappearance.
Click here to read about more instances of nursing home abuse and neglect

John J. Perconti and Patricia L. Gifford, of Levin & Perconti recently settled a nursing home abuse and neglect case for $825,000. The case involved a 75-year old nursing home resident who was allowed to wander from Manorcare at Oak Lawn during sub-zero temperatures. On January 14, 2004 a Chicago nursing home resident was found by police lying face down on the street wearing only slipper socks, pants, and a sweater. The resident was rushed to Christ Hospital Medical Center where he was diagnosed with hypothermia and died the next morning.

The resident suffered from severe dementia. When he was admitted to Manorcare the nursing home staff was made aware of his wandering and exit-seeking behaviors. Despite this, the nursing staff failed to closely supervise the resident.

Attorney John Perconti, who represented the family of the deceased commented,

“This untimely death and family loss was preventable and we strongly encourage all nursing homes to closely supervise and monitor their residents to protect them from dangers they cannot comprehend.”

Click here for the press release

Steven M. Levin and Michael F. Bonamarte, IV of Levin & Perconti recently settled a Chicago nursing home abuse and neglect lawsuit for $925,000 against Manorcare at South Holland Nursing Home. An 86-year-old woman was so badly neglected that she developed severely infected pressure sores, and suffered malnutrition and dehydration during her three month stay at Manorcare. Despite regular complaints by family members, this visible neglect ultimately contributed to her death.

Her son stated, "Manorcare promised to provide the best care possible for my mother. My mom wanted nothing more than to regain her strength and independence so that she could return to her own home. She suffered needlessly because Manorcare did not keep their promise."

Manorcare’s staff failed to follow the orders of the woman’s doctor regarding her diet, causing her to become severly malnourished. Additionally, the staff neglected to reposition her and check her skin for any breakdown, triggering the development of severe pressure ulcers. The pressure sores caused a bone infection, as well as an infection in her blood (sepsis). After three months, the woman died from complications directly related to these injuries.

As noted by Michael Bonamarte, “These are exactly the type of injuries that the Nursing Home Care Act was intended to prevent.” Manorcare at South Holland Nursing Home is one of the many Chicago-area homes listed on the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid’s Illinois Nursing Home Watch List.

Click here to read the press release
Click here to read the Chicago Tribune article

A nursing home company recently settled a nursing home abuse and neglect lawsuit. The nursing home abuse lawsuit accuses the nursing home of neglecting its patients and allowing the woman to lie in her own waste of hours at a time after back surgery. The nursing home abuse lawsuit stated that the victim developed an infection which spread because the doctors weren’t told for several days.

For the full article.

A Washington nursing home employee pleaded guilty last week to criminal mistreatment of a 73 year-old resident who was denied medication, suffered bed sores and later died in an extreme case of nursing home abuse and neglect. The former employee was originally charged with manslaughter and faces between six months and one year in jail. The emergency room doctor who treated the 73 year-old said that a lack of medication, liquid and food had put the resident in a coma and caused her kidneys to fail.

For the full article.

A former owner of several Texas nursing homes has been sentenced to 42 months of imprisonment after being convicted of Medicare and Medicaid fraud and money laundering. In addition to the prison sentence, a U.S. District Judge ordered the former owner to serve three years of supervised release and pay more than $4 million in restitution to Medicare and Medicaid.

For the full article.

A Tucson nursing home has been fined more than $20,000 for failing to give medications to 21 patients over four days last winter and other patient-care violations. One of the patients missed seven daily doses of a drug used to control a potentially life-threatening heart arrhythmia. Other issues of nursing home abuse and neglect that the health department cited include: failure to properly care for patients’ bedsores.

For the full article.

A former nursing home executive whose company was accused of providing extremely negligent care to its residents was sentenced to spend four months in federal custody. The executive owned or managed 11 Missouri facilities. The executive was also fined $15,000 and has paid out $50,000 in nursing home abuse lawsuit settlements thus far.

For the full article.

A Michigan nursing home was recently filed $100,000 for violating standard guidelines. A state monitor appointed last year to oversee operations at the facilities said the penalty was levied for nursing home negligence and carelessness. Staff at the nursing home failed to properly measure and install bedrails that could prevent injury or death.

For the full article.

The largest Wisconsin state-run nursing home for veterans recently paid $87,500 to settle a nursing home abuse and neglect lawsuit. The nursing home neglect lawsuit alleged that the Wisconsin Veterans Home had untrained and inadequate nursing staff, which led to the death of a patient in 2004. The lawsuit revolved around the death of a resident who had a history of serious falls prior to his admission at the nursing home. The nursing staff failed to transfer the alarm to his bed the evening of the resident’s injury. That night, he fell out of bed and fractured his hip. After his return to the nursing home, he was diagnosed with pneumonia and the nursing staff developed a plan to monitor and treat the condition. However, the nurses failed to follow the plan. He died less than a month later from the pneumonia with his fracture contributing.

For the full article.

A former New Jersey nursing home director was ordered by a judge to reimburse $4,320 she received in exchange for swaying residents to use a particular pharmacy. In October, the former nursing home director pleaded guilty to 4th degree theft for her nursing home abuse. Between January 2000 and February 2002, the former director accepted cash kickbacks from the pharmacy owner for directing residents to exclusively fill prescriptions at his location. The pharmacy owner was sentenced to 7 years in prison and ordered to pay $1.1 million in restitution.

For the full article.

One of the nation’s largest suppliers of pharmaceutical services to the elderly will pay $49.5 million to settle Medicaid fraud claims. Chicago lawsuits charging the company with fraudulent acts were filed by the federal government and two whistleblowers. The lawsuits alleged that the company gave Medicaid patients more expensive drugs than it needed to, which allowed them to increase the amounts it charged Medicaid by millions of dollars. This Chicago lawsuit was based on a wide-ranging investigation involving state officials in many states throughout the U.S. As indicated in this case, the role of corporate insiders, who blow the whistle on companies that cheat the government, is essential to justice.

A quadriplegic who suffered severe nursing home abuse and neglect at a Denver nursing home was awarded more than $3.2 million by a jury of his peers yesterday. The 41 year-old resident developed severe bed sores while at the nursing home. Additionally, the 41 year-old man was dropped on his neck and burned on his chest.

For the full article.

$100,000 was awarded by a jury to the family of a Tennessee victim of nursing home abuse and neglect. The victim suffered from mild dementia and diabetes when he was admitted to the nursing home. Because of the nursing home abuse and neglect, the victim developed severe kidney and urinary tract infections which ultimately led to his death.

For the full article.

An Indiana state court jury recently awarded a man $20 million dollars, determining that Allstate Insurance acted in bad faith. The man was involved in a 1995 car crash. Since the other driver’s insurance was insolvent, Allstate should have covered the Indiana man’s damages under his uninsured motorist coverage. Instead of paying the claim, Allstate forced him into a 10 year legal battle to collect benefits.

A North Carolina jury awarded a $480,000 judgment when it found a Lexington nursing home responsible for the abuse and neglect of an 83 year-old Alzheimer’s disease patient. After 3 hours of deliberations, the jury unanimously decided that the Lexington nursing home owners had to pay the money to the victim and her family. The nursing home abuse and neglect resulted in numerous pressure sores on the 83 year-old’s body that eventually led her to be permanently crippled.

The woman entered the nursing home for care and rehabilitation following knee replacement surgery. Within two months, due to the nursing home’s abuse and neglect, she had lost nearly 20 pounds, was dehydrated, and suffered from multiple pressure sores.

For the full article.

A NY nursing home has agreed to pay $250,000 to settle a sexual harassment claim filed by a former speech pathologist at the facility. Court records indicate that at least a dozen other women may have been involved. The employees alleged that they were subjected to propositioning and degrading comments. When the plaintiff complained to the administration, they responded by promoting her primary harasser to be her supervisor. The facility is also under investigation for nursing home abuse and neglect based on a recent Medicare and Medicaid survey that showed the facility was in “immediate jeopardy.”

For the full article.

A former Pennsylvania nursing home administrator was sentenced to 5 years in federal prison for defrauding Medicare and Medicaid. Her nursing home neglected residents while she ran up $88,000 in charges on nursing home credit cards. From 1998 to 2003, the administrator and nursing home defrauded Medicare and Medicaid out of $8 billion.

For the full article.

As addressed in a previous article, fraud against Medicare and Medicaid is rampant in the nursing home industry. Here is another example of a nursing home embellishing the quality care provided in order to receive federal funds. A San Jose nursing home and its subsidiary have agreed to pay $14.7 million in a settlement regarding allegations of Medicare fraud. Investigators reported that the two companies that own nursing homes throughout California and Utah inflated the number of nursing hours spent on Medicare patients in their reports. In a related criminal case, the nursing home has entered a guilty plea and must pay a $500,000 fine.

For the full article.

For almost a year, seniors and their advocates in West Virginia have been uncertain about how they would afford their elder care. In November 2005, the West Virginia governor’s administration began applying a stringent evaluation tool to screen out people from the state’s Aged and Disabled Waiver program. The program pays for professionals to provide in-home care, rather than sending program participants to more expensive nursing homes. After the strict evaluation tool was implemented, at least 647 people were denied.

This settlement is in response to the appeals of those denied. The people who were kicked off the program will immediately be put back on. The West Virginia seniors and their advocates can finally rest easy.

For the full article.

A former Rhode Island nursing home owner was sentenced yesterday to 2 ½ years in prison and sentenced to pay $100,000.00 in fines and $780,539.00 in restitution for diverting money from his three nursing homes to his daughter’s business. The 2 ½ year sentence is six months more than the prosecutor recommended. While sentencing the former owner, the federal judge stated that his motivation was pure greed.

The Rhode Island nursing home was infamous and thankfully closed in 2004 when Providence Journal reported a case of horrendous nursing home abuse. A resident developed a life-threatening bed sore after being left for hours lying in her feces. Audits for the current case discovered that the three nursing homes had several million dollars in questionable payments to companies associated with the owner’s daughter, despite being in default on federally backed loans and struggling to pay its staff.

For the full article.

Yesterday’s report of the $2.9 million Cook County jury verdict the law firm of Levin & Perconti obtained for the family of a victim of gross nursing home neglect has sparked interest locally and regionally. Today, two papers, The Daily Southtown and the Chicago Tribune both ran stories on the tragedy.

The media’s interest in the story illustrates the importance of making members of the community aware of these gross instances of abuse and neglect in the state’s nursing homes. Unfortunately, this story is just one of many sad stories that are reported each year in nursing homes in Illinois and around the country.

If you or your family member has been a victim of abuse or neglect at a nursing home, you have several courses of action:

1) Report the incident to your local Public Health Department. For citizens of Illinois, contact the Illinois Department of Public Health at 800-252-4343. For more information.

2) Contact your local ombudsmen to report the incident and receive advice on preventative measures that can be taken to ensure a similar incident does not recur.

3) Contact an attorney to determine if you or your loved one can be fairly compensated to the harm caused by the abuse and neglect of the nursing home.

To view the Daily Southtown Article.

To view the Chicago Tribune Article.

On Friday, a Cook County jury returned a $2.9 million verdict for the family of a 57-year old woman who died at a nursing home due to the staff’s negligence. The law firm of Levin & Perconti represented Sheila Albores, the daughter and administrator of the estate of victim Ana Carrasco.

Carrasco was admitted to the HCR Manor Care Homewood facility for a short two week rehabilitation stay after having received a tracheostomy tube in surgery two weeks earlier. The staff at the home failed to clean and suction Carrasco’s trach tube to keep it free of mucous and failed to administer medicines crucial to maintaining a patent airway for Carrasco. After five days at the home of suffering from increasingly severe respiratory distress, Carrasco suffocated on her own mucous and was pronounced brain dead.

Friday ended Sheila Albores’ four and a half year battle to obtain justice for her mother and warn other families of the dangerous conditions at the nation’s nursing homes. In 2003, Albores testified on at the Senate Hearings on Aging on Capitol Hill. Sheila told her mother’s story and challenged the committee with these words, “I conclude today’s testimony with this statement; “My mother, Ana Carrasco, was fifty-seven years old, able to voice her complaints and concerns, and had the support of a loving family at her side while in a nursing home, and yet still faced a tragic end. If this could happen to my mother, I ask who will be the voice for patients who either cannot speak for themselves nor have no one to speak for them? What does fate hold for them? I am here today so that no one suffers from neglect while under the care of a nursing home. ”

For the press release.
For the Chicago Daily Law Bulletin Article.

Last week, a Winston-Salem jury awarded $1million to the estate of a man who suffered pressure ulcers due to neglect at Springwood Care Center. The man’s estate sued for both wrongful death and personal injury.

While the jury found the pressure ulcers did not contribute to the man’s death, the jury found the home and nursing staff was negligent in treating the man and awarded the $1million for the man’s pain and suffering.

For the full article.

Last October, Levin & Perconti settled a nursing home abuse and neglect case for $3 million, a record verdict for nursing home cases in Illinois. A 65 year old woman was the victim of nursing home abuse and neglect at Renaissance Hillside in Hillside, IL. The woman developed 4 large pressure sore affecting her back, foot, heel and ankle when the employees of the home failed to monitor, assess and treat her bed sores. Bed sores like these develop when blood supply to the skin is cut off for long periods by pressure and movement.

The woman was admitted to the home for rehabilitation after a stroke. She trusted the home to provide the things she could not give herself after the stroke: nutrition, hydration and movement needed to prevent the development of pressure sores. The chronic understaffing and lack of care subsequently led to the development of pressure sores on parts of her body unaffected by the stroke she suffered and the reason for admittance to the home.

In depositions, the employees of the home admitted they were understaffed and unable to properly turn and reposition the woman to prevent the development of sores. Further, nurses at the home admitted to administering medicine to the woman that was not prescribed by a doctor.

The judge granted leave to plead a willful and wanton count and include a prayer punitive damages. However, no punitive damages were paid towards the settlement.

To see the press release.

Hawaiian nursing-home residents and an educational institution, University of Hawaii, will be the beneficiaries of a $3.2 million settlement of a class-action lawsuit alleging that the Interstate Pharmacy Corp., sold recycled pills to Hawaiian nursing-home patients from the early 1990s through 2000. The settlement will provide an endowment to the University of Hawaii to implement programs that will benefit the elderly and the remainder will be split amongst 3,585 Hawaiian nursing home residents to compensate them for the recycled pills.

For the full article:
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A Northern Idaho jury has awarded $18 million in punitive damages to relatives of an 86-year-old man who sued the nursing home where he died in 1995, claiming he had been abused and overly medicated.
The staff committed more than 700 violations of federal nursing home regulations and eventually caused the man’s death with repeated dosages of Haldol, a powerful anti-psychotic medication they used to control him after he tried to leave the home.

A woman was awarded $800,000 in damages by a Webster District Court jury for negligent nursing care. The claim alleged neglect resulting in dehydration and a pressure sore on the woman’s hip. The suit alleged 2 claims, each resulting in $400,000 awards: one for malpractice, and one for violation of the Louisiana Nursing Home Residents' Bill of Rights.

For the full article.

A settlement was reached in a case involving 23 nursing home patients who were killed by a bus explosion during the Hurricane Rita evacuation process.

Global Limo, the owner of the bus, and BusBank, which hired the bus company for the nursing home, have agreed to pay the maximum coverage of their insurance policies.

The $11 million will be divided among the 21 survivors and the families of the 23 people who died.