Earlier this week, as reported by BND, a Cook County jury awarded an elderly woman $843,000 for injuries she sustained in a fall at her Chicago area nursing home. Falls are the most prevalent injury that can be sustained in a nursing home according the Center for Disease Control ( CDC ), accounting for nearly a million falls yearly. While, some of the injuries sustained in falls are an unavoidable consequence of the victim’s physical characteristics and limitations, the CDC estimates that 16% to 27% of the falls are a result of environmental hazards.
Injury awards for falls in nursing homes are not isolated incidents and can cause serious and debilitating pain for the victim for the conceivable future. That is why Illinois and most other states have enacted many laws, which facilitate how nursing homes and other like facilities handle and prevent such harms. In the state of Illinois, there is the broad Nursing Home Care Act that outlines what is required of homes and other similar services. In the act, there are requirements for the lifting of a resident, fixtures that should be available to prevent falls, and policies in place in the event of a fall or injury. When there is a violation or action that falls below the standard of care that has been set by the Nursing Home Care Act, which leads to an injury, that is when a resident should know what do to do and understand their rights.
It is critical for the both resident and family members to first seek to enforce their rights by reporting the injury the Illinois Department of Health, which is the primary agency for enforcement of the Nursing Home Care Act. If a violation is found, penalties can be levied against the nursing home, which range from fines all the way to suspension of the home’s license.