Illinois Nursing Homes Abuse

Illinois Nursing Home Workers Charged With Felonies

Published on: October 17, 2019 | Levin & Perconti

Elder Woman Struggling

Nursing Home Caregivers Charged with Financial Exploitation of Elderly Resident

Grace Watanabe is a 98-year-old woman who had her life savings robbed of her by two former nursing home caregivers employed at Symphony Residences of Lincoln Park, located at 2437 N. Southport Avenue in Chicago.

Last year, Cook County Public Guardian Charles Golbert, with the aid of Levin & Perconti attorneys Steven Levin and Mike Bonamarte, filed a civil lawsuit accusing the workers of stealing $750,000 from Watanabe while she was residing at Symphony of Lincoln Park from 2009 – 2018. It was her bank that flagged the suspicious account activity.

Changes To Nursing Home Quality Measures

Published on: October 17, 2019 | Levin & Perconti

Improve Nursing Home Care

Nursing Homes Cited for Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation Now Highlighted with “STOP” Icon on Government Website

In response to a recommendation by the Government Accountability Office (GAO), The Centers for Medicaid & Medicaid Services (CMS) recently announced that it will now be easier for consumers to identify nursing homes and long-term care facilities with instances of non-compliance related to abuse. To do so, CMS is rolling out a warning icon strategy to highlight facilities that meet the following criteria:

Facilities cited for abuse where residents were found to be harmed (Scope/Severity of G or higher) on the most recent standard survey, or on a complaint survey within the past 12 months;

October is Residents’ Rights Month

Published on: October 7, 2019 | Levin & Perconti

Residents Rights Month

Residents’ Rights Advocates Invite You to “Stand For Quality” This October

Across the country, residents of nursing homes and other long-term care facilities along with family members, ombudsmen, citizen advocates, and facility staff will honor the individual rights of long-term care residents by celebrating Residents’ Rights Month. Residents’ Rights Month is an annual event held in October by the National Consumer Voice for Quality Long-Term Care (Consumer Voice) to celebrate and focus on awareness of dignity, respect and the value of long-term care residents.

The theme for Residents’ Rights Month 2019 is, “Stand for Quality” – to emphasize the importance of standing for quality in all aspects of residents’ experiences – quality care, quality of life, quality services, and quality choices. The nursing home abuse and neglect attorneys at Levin & Perconti invite our community to use this opportunity to push for the rights of those they care about to be known and protected while residing in an Illinois long-term care facility.

Chicago Nursing Home Fined For Withholding Theft Information

Published on: September 27, 2019 | Levin & Perconti

elderly financial exploitation

Chicago Nursing Home Administrators Fined for Refusing to Help Dementia Patient Robbed by Their Employees

Levin & Perconti attorneys Steven Levin and Mike Bonamarte have been working with Cook County Public Guardian Charles Golbert for nearly a year in representing an elderly woman who had her life savings robbed and justice has still not been served. Grace Watanabe is a 98-year-old nursing home resident with dementia who had $750,000 stolen by her care staff while residing at Symphony of Lincoln Park. Now, a judge has imposed a $400-a-day fine on Symphony executives for their refusal to share any information about the alleged theft.

Any type of stealing or misappropriation of a resident’s money is not only immoral; it typically creates a trail of criminal behavior involving additional acts of financial exploitation. The lack of cooperation and extreme difficultness presented by these administrators sends validation to other nursing homes that it is normal to steal from vulnerable residents. And it could go as far to leave many people wondering if these executives would rather wait in silence for Watanabe to no longer be able to pursue her case than to speak up and take responsibility for not preventing the theft in the first place.

Guilty Nursing Homes Hide Behind Forced Arbitration Practices

Published on: September 26, 2019 | Levin & Perconti

Arbitration Agreement

FAIR Act Bill Has Passed the House, Now Headed to the Senate

On Friday, September 20, lawmakers in the House voted 225-186 to pass the Forced Arbitration Injustice Repeal (FAIR) Act, introduced by Rep. Hank Johnson (D-GA) and Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), with the help of many supporters who look to hold long-term care doers responsible for abuse and neglect. The bill is designed to end forced pre-dispute arbitration in contracts between consumers and corporations, including nursing homes, long-term care centers and assisted living communities.

Moving ahead, the FAIR Act could:

3 Things To Do If A Hospital Stay Made You Sicker

Published on: September 25, 2019 | Levin & Perconti

nursing home patients

Your Hospital-Acquired Infection May Have Been Prevented

Medical errors can lead to fatal infections and are now the third leading cause of death in the US. Johns Hopkins patient safety experts say these mistakes are responsible for more than 250,000 deaths per year and nearly 70 percent of the 1.7 million preventable hospital-acquired infections accounted for.

Hospital-acquired infections can be caused by viral, bacterial, and fungal pathogens. The most common types are central-line associated infections, pneumonia, urinary tract infection (UTI), Clostridium Difficile (C. diff) infections, Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), invasive Candidiasis, Septicemia, and surgical site infections (SSI).

Never Sign A Nursing Home Arbitration Agreement

Published on: September 19, 2019 | Levin & Perconti

Arbitration Agreement

Forced and Often Rigged, Arbitration Only Helps Companies

Some companies practice forced arbitration by removing its consumers and workers right to file a claim in a public court through formal, signed agreements. As defined by the American Bar Association, arbitration is “a private process where disputing parties agree that one or several individuals can make a decision about the dispute after receiving evidence and hearing arguments.” Similar to what happens in a trial, those involved will present their case along with evidence to the arbitrator. But parties may not have to follow state or federal rules of evidence. Likewise, the arbitrator is not always required to apply the governing law.

Millions are subject to the binding process, according to a new report by the American Association for Justice (AAJ). Truth About Forced Arbitration, calls the process an immunity and effort to allow companies to continue breaking the law. The AAJ collected five years of data on consumer and employment forced arbitrations reported by the nation’s two largest arbitration providers, the American Arbitration Association (AAA) and Jams and concluded these findings.

Veteran Dies In Ant Infested VA Home

Published on: September 16, 2019 | Levin & Perconti

nursing home abuse

Air Force Veteran Dies in Nursing Home, Covered in Ant Bites

Our team of nursing home abuse and neglect attorneys is again frustrated to hear of another veteran left in immediate danger in a Veterans Affairs (VA) nursing home regulated by the Federal government and Department of Veterans’ Affairs. Joel Marrable, a Vietnam War veteran, had taken up residence at the Eagles’ Nest Community Living Center and was dependent on the Atlanta, Georgia VA Medical Center for his daily living and ongoing medical needs. The 74-year-old veteran of the Air Force had been battling cancer before he recently died in the VA nursing home – covered in ant bites.

Marrable’s daughter, Laquna Ross told WSB-TV, “His room had ants, the ceiling, the walls, the beds. They were everywhere. The staff member says to me, ‘When we walked in here, we thought Mr. Marrable was dead. We thought he wasn’t even alive because the ants were all over him.'”

How Much Do Top Nursing Home Executives Make?

Published on: August 27, 2019 | Levin & Perconti

nursing home executive salary

Nursing Home Top Executive Salaries Rise, Patient Care Need Left Unmet

Nursing home ownership and management can be lucrative for some, but the resulting greed has been known to overpower fiscally responsible care decisions. While busy lining personal pockets, investing dollars back into the care system to support staff and resident well-being will too easily fall off the priority list allowing the resulting struggles to quickly emerge.

Overworked nurses

Illinois Nursing Home Worker Arrested For Misconduct

Published on: July 25, 2019 | Levin & Perconti

illinois nursing home attorneys

Nursing Home Resident Physically Harmed by CNA in Freeport

Freeport Police arrested a former certified nursing assistant (CNA) at an Illinois nursing home in Stephenson County after being accused of attacking an elderly resident earlier this year. The 34-year-old aid with a history of being employed by nursing homes is charged with official misconduct and aggravated battery to a senior citizen.

Detectives say the worker, identified as James Spann, put the 73-year-old resident in a chokehold and a headlock while working at Walnut Acres. Walnut Acres is formerly known as the Stephenson County Nursing Center, located at 2946 S. Walnut Rd. in Freeport.