Levin & Perconti Nursing Home Lawsuits Against ManorCare at South Holland Settle for $1.75 Million
This week our Chicago nursing home neglect attorneys at Levin & Perconti announced the conclusion of two separate Illinois nursing home neglect cases against ManorCare at South Holland. Both lawsuits were settled with the facility without the need to go to trial—the latest being approved by the judge in the case just last week. The first settlement was for $1 million while the facility will pay the second family $750,000 for their actions.
Our Illinois nursing home attorneys Steven M. Levin, Margaret P. Battersby, and Tina Dave represented the families in these cases. In both cases the residents developed serious pressure sores which should have been prevented. The pressure sores caused the vulnerable seniors’ health conditions to deteriorate quickly and led to untold suffering for the residents. As Attorney Levin explained, “the victims’ families filed lawsuits to draw attention to the problems at Manor Care South Holland, with the hopes of preventing this from happening to future residents. Our clients’ cases illustrate that there were serious systematic issues at the facility.”
The first case involved an 80-year-old resident who developed several infected stage IV pressure sores during her five month stay at the facility. In this case the victim ultimately died from complications of those sores. Stage IV represents the most serious versions of these ulcers. These sores are virtually always preventable if proper care is provided to seniors who are at risk of developing them. The second Manorcare nursing home settlement was reached with the family of an 82-year-old resident. The victim was only planning to stay at the facility for rehabilitation purposes and then returning home. Unfortunately, that plan did not hold true. Instead, during her six week stay at the home, the victim developed a necrotic State IV pressure sore that required surgery and did not fully heal for two years. In addition, she was malnourished and became immobile while living in the nursing home. The family moved her out of the home when they discovered the mistreatment, but she never fully recovered from the injuries which developed at the facility.
As is often the case when many residents develop painful pressure sores, investigations revealed that cut corners at the facility led to the mistreatment of the seniors at the home. One former nurse at ManorCare at South Holland testified that during her time at the home, the facility was chronically understaffed, making them unable to provide the care the residents needed. When these homes do not have the employees required to provide necessary services, then the development of things like pressure sores are just a matter of time. As Attorney Levin explained the “wound care nurse testified to witnessing many residents lying in their own urine or feces and residents with pressure sores not being turned or repositioned.”
This sort of mistreatment should never be tolerated. It is important for all local families to stand up to this neglect and make their voices heard. It is only with vocal advocates for victimized seniors that changes are usually made to ensure future victims are spared.
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