Chicago Nursing Home Abuse Lawyer Blog

A nursing home has been cited because its workers took pictures and made audio recordings of residents that were inappropriate using their cell phones. The pictures and recordings were done without the residents’ knowledge or consent. Staffers then included sexual lyrics from songs with the photographs before sending them to other staffers.

Pimlico Parkway received a Type A citation, which is the most serious citation that a nursing home in Kentucky can be given. The state says that seven residents were abused as a result of the picture taking and audio recording.

The citation said that there is nothing to indicate that the facility had trained staffers so that they would know that such conduct is a form of nursing home abuse. It also noted that the nursing home failed to enforce its policy banning staff members from using cell phones in resident care areas.

Nursing home aides, licensed staff members, facility staff, and housekeepers who were interviewed said that they did not consider taking photos of recording residents to be abusive behavior, which is why they never reported the incidents.

The nursing home administrator, Jo Ann Lovell, says that a number of nursing home workers have been fired. Lovell says that nursing home workers have been reeducated about the facility’s cell-phone ban policy.

The Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services imposed a civil fine of facility of $6,550 a day because residents were considered to have been in imminent jeopardy.

Per Medicare.gov, US nursing homes residents’ rights include:

• Privacy—as long as it doesn’t interfere with other people’s rights, safety or health.
• Be treated with respect.
• Be notified about all services and associated fees.
• Manage their own money.
• Be informed and make decisions about your medical care.

Nursing home staff took inappropriate photos of residents, Kentucky.com, April 29, 2009

Related Web Resources:
Read the citation (PDF)

Resident Rights, Medicare

Continue reading " Nursing Home Abuse Incident Involved Workers Taking Inappropriate Pictures of Residents " »

Public health officials have announced that the Helia Healthcare of Urbana has been shut down. The reason cited for the closing is that the long-term care facility did not succeed in fixing its deficiencies and its status for Medicare funding was revoked. Deficiencies included:

• Failure to prevent bed sores
• Failure to make sure the environment is safe
• Preventive measures so to decrease the risks of choking incidents
• Failure to properly monitor blood-thinner levels
• Inadequate assessments of residents
• Medication mistakes
• Failure to properly prescreen employees
• Failure to notify Illinois that resident funds had been misappropriated

Residents at the Urbana, Illinois nursing home will be transferred to other long-term care facilities. The economic client and delayed Medicaid reimbursements has made it hard for Illinois nursing homes to function properly. Financial problems and/or a significant amount of deficiencies are two of the most common reasons why a long-term facility would close its doors.

Last year, five Illinois nursing homes had to be shut down. Nine Illinois long-term care nursing facilities were closed in 2007. While nursing homes usually give 1-month notices when they are about to close, Helia shut down operations one week after announcing it would close.

Helia Healthcare of Champaign and Helia Healthcare of Urbana received one out of five stars for per the Medicare/Medicaid nursing home rating system. The Urbana facility also received a one star rating for health inspections, quality measures, and nursing home staff.

Poor nursing home care can lead to nursing home neglect, nursing abuse, and medical malpractice. A nursing home with deficiencies cannot provide its residents with a safe environment or the proper care. Victims of nursing home abuse or neglect may be entitled to Illinois nursing home abuse/neglect compensation.

Helia Healthcare of Urbana will close today, News-Gazette, April 24, 2009

Helia Healthcare of Urbana, MemberoftheFamily.net

Related Web Resources:
Nursing Home Compare, Medicare

Senior care groups want nursing home funding protected in Obama's first budget, McKnight's, February 23, 2009

Continue reading " Urbana, Illinois Nursing Home Closes After Failing to Correct Deficiencies " »

An Illinois nursing home neglect lawsuit has been filed against the Atrium Health Care and Rehabilitation Center. According to the complaint, 69-year-old Pauline Richards sustained multiple decubitus ulcers on her thighs, hips, buttocks, back, lower extremities, and feet while staying at the long-term care facility.

The Illinois civil lawsuit contends that workers failed to provide properly supervised and adequate care to Richards and also neglected to put in place a program to prevent and treat bedsores. Nursing home staffers are also accused of failing to follow standard nursing procedures when they did not turn Richards, treat her bedsores, use pressure relieving equipment as part of her care, properly supervise her, obtain treatment plans for her dehydration and weight loss, document major changes to her physical condition, and properly train workers to make sure that she didn’t develop decubitus ulcers.

As a result of the alleged negligent nursing care she received at the Illinois nursing home, the complaint claims Richard experienced dehydration, sustained infected bed sores, and experienced infections, a high fever, mental trauma, physical pain, and incurred medical expenses.

The two count Illinois nursing home neglect lawsuit is seeking a judgment of over $100,000 plus legal fees, costs, and other relief.

Although having any kind of pressure sore is never good for a sick or elderly patient, infected decubitus ulcers can be especially dangerous to the nursing home resident’s health. Not only do infected bed sores often heal more slowly, but they can spread serious infection to other parts of the body.

Signs of an infected bed sore:

• A vile smell coming from the sore
• The area around the bed sore is exhibiting redness or warmth
• The area feels tender
• There is thick yellow or green pus visible
• The tissue around the bed sore is swollen

Signs that the infection may have spread include fever, chills, mental confusion, problems with concentration, a more rapid heart rate, and weakness. While some bed sore infections can be easily treated with an ointment, infections that have reached deeper areas inside the body might require more invasive care.

Patient suffered bed sores, says suit against Atrium Health Care, The Record, April 20, 2009

Related Web Resources:
Illinois Nursing Homes

Bed Sores, Buzzle.com

A nursing home abuse lawsuit filed for the families of four people who died while staying at long-term care facilities and one patient who lost a testicle due to alleged nursing abuse is accusing the state of Colorado of giving local nursing homes a license to kill that has allowed patients to become abused and neglected. The attorneys for the plaintiffs want to sue as a class representing all disabled nursing home residents in the state.

The plaintiffs are representative members of thousands of residents residing in 27 nursing homes run by the SavaSeniorCare chain. The elder care company is also being sued for alleged deceptive trade practices, including promoting itself as a company that provides “state of the art” care at the best facilities, even though nursing home regulators have given its long-term care facilities poor ratings.

According to the nursing home abuse lawsuit, from 2006 to 2008, SAVA facilities received 1,464 citations—three times the national average. Health department records show that 20 of its facilities received below average ratings. Residents at SAVA facilities have reportedly died of blood poisoning, dehydration, and malnutrition.

The plaintiffs’ lawsuit also wants to make sure that nursing homes are properly insured. The Health Care Availability Act requires nursing homes in Colorado to carry insurance worth $3 million a year, with a $500,000 cap for each incident. They can also be self-insured with the approval of the state’s insurance commissioner. Unfortunately, there have been instances when a nursing home receives this approval and it later turns out that the affidavit the long-term care facility turned in verifying that that it put aside $1 million for insurance purposes was bogus.

If your loved one was injured or got sick while staying at a Chicago nursing home because his or her care needs were neglected or because a nursing home worker was abusive, you should take steps to remove the patient from the long-term care facility immediately.

In many cases, disabled nursing home residents may need specialized attention, including round-the-clock care and/or help with feeding, going to the bathroom, and getting around. Failing to help residents with these tasks can lead to personal injury, deteriorating health, and/or wrongful death.

Suit says nursing homes get "state license to kill", The Denver Post, April 13, 2009

Related Web Resources:
SavaSeniorCare

5 disabled nursing home patients sue state over care, Chicago Tribune, August 23, 2007

Access Living: Equip For Equality

Continue reading " Nursing Home Abuse Lawsuit Filed on Behalf of Disabled Residents " »

A former certified nursing home assistant at the Silver Lake Care Center has been charged with two counts of felony caretaker abuse and one misdemeanor charge of verbal abuse for his alleged mistreatment of a number residents while working at the long-term care facility. Last February, the wife of one patient told police that she noticed a scratch on her husband. He had reportedly been complaining that CNA Jason Lynn Pearl had taken off his clothes, spit on him, touched him inappropriately, and threatened to cause him injury, but family members initially didn’t believe him, thinking his stories were a result of his dementia, until they noticed the scratch. Ever since the alleged incidents, the elderly resident has reportedly had problems sleeping and is afraid for his wife’s safety.

Police then discovered that Pearl had used his cell phone to videotape three other patients at the nursing home. Footage shows the 31-year-old former nursing worker yelling at one elderly resident and violently taking off the shirt of another patient. Witnesses reportedly saw the footage before he erased them.

The criminal charges filed against Pearl are based on the testimony of the witnesses who saw the cell phone footage and the accounts of the victims. Staff members at the nursing home, however, contend that because of their condition, most patients are not capable of reporting any abuse incidents.

Pearl’s bail is set at $100,000 and he isn’t allowed to work in another nursing home.

Nursing Home Abuse
Abuse is any kind is harmful to the victim. Not only can nursing home abuse leave physical scars and wounds or cause injury or death, but the victims who survive such incidents can be mentally and emotionally scarred for life. Family members, many of whom may have already struggled with the decision of placing their sick or elderly loved one in another person’s care may also be scarred by such a traumatic event.

If you believe your loved one is a victim of nursing home abuse or neglect, you should remove him or her from the long-term care facility and report the incident. It is also important that you speak with an experienced Chicago nursing home abuse law firm about your case.

Silver Lake Care Center is being shut down and residents are being relocated to other facilities.

Nursing home owner answers allegations, Sequoyah County Times, April 17, 2009

Related Web Resource:
Nursing Home Abuse Overview, Justia

Continue reading " Former Certified Nursing Home Assistant Charged with Felony Caretaker Abuse of Patients Allegedly Took Pictures of Victims with His Cell Phone " »

A Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office says that a nursing home resident may have been murdered. A spokesperson for the office says Thomas Donovan, 63, died because he sustained multiple injuries during an assault. He had a contusion on his face when he was taken to South Shore Hospital, and the nursing home supervisor at Burnham Terrace says that the elderly resident got into some sort of altercation while at the long-term care facility on the night that he died.

However, the coroner’s office is quick to caution that all possible causes of death are still being considered, especially as Donovan had diabetes mellitus, cardiovascular disease, and hypertension.

Nursing Home Violence
Violent attacks targeting residents at US long-term care facilities, including Chicago nursing homes, continue to be a chronic problem, and our sick and elderly are suffering as a result. Sometimes, the attackers are nursing home workers. Other nursing home abuse incidents involve other perpetrators, such as visitors or other residents.

In another possible case of nursing home abuse, a nursing home aide was arrested for allegedly assaulting an 80-year-old nursing home resident. Per the arrest affidavit, another nursing home worker at the Castle Pines nursing home reportedly noticed that a resident whose bedroom door was closed had activated her help light.

The worker entered the room and saw nursing home aide Shondra Rodriguez striking the woman on her left hand. There was also blood on the bed.

Other staffers entered the room and saw that the patient's hands and arms had bruises. There was also a tear on the skin of her upper arm. Rodriguez reportedly admitted to “popping” the elderly resident, holding down her hands, and fighting with her.

A complaint was filed on March 23 after the nursing home’s director told police that someone had slapped an elderly patient’s hand.

Authorities investigating nursing home death, NWI.com, April 13, 2009

Police to question nursing home abuse suspect, KTRE.com, April 8, 2009

Related Web Resources:
Castle Pines Retirement Home

Nursing Homes in Illinois

Continue reading " Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office Says Illinois Home Resident's Death May Have Been A Homicide " »

Choosing the right kind of senior housing for your loved one is a big step and one that requires a great deal of thought, due diligence, and in-person investigation. Not only do you want to make sure that the facility provides the services that your family member requires, but it is important to make sure that the premises are safe and that you don’t place your loved one at risk of becoming the victim of nursing home abuse or neglect.

Here is a brief description of different elderly residential alternatives you may want to consider:

Nursing Homes: Provide round-the-clock nursing care for seniors who can’t live independently. Medical services are provided and nursing home workers are trained to help residents with personal care needs and daily tasks.

Assisted Living: Residents who don’t necessarily require 24-hour care may still opt to live in a facility where there are staff members assigned to help them take care of certain daily tasks.

Adult Day Care: Provides a place for adults during the day. While at the facility, seniors can usually avail of nursing assistance, nutritional support, social activities, and rehabilitation services.

Continuing Care Retirement Communities: A group of residences for the elderly that may include nursing homes, assisted living facilities, and independent living residences.

Alzheimer’s Care Facilities: A facility that focuses on Alzheimer’s care and other diseases involving memory impairment.

Regardless of which facility you select, or whether you opt to bring a professional caregiver into your family member’s home, your loved one is entitled to the appropriate professional care and services. Medical errors, nursing home neglect, or nursing abuse can be grounds for an Illinois personal injury lawsuit against all liable parties.

Types of Senior Housing Facilities and Services, SeniorOutlook.com

Related Web Resources:
Nursing Homes in Illinois

Quarterly Reports of Illinois Nursing Home Violations

Continue reading " Knowing the Differences Between Illinois Nursing Homes, Assisted Living Facilities, and Other Senior Housing " »

In Illinois, a Champaign County nursing home worker is behind bars for allegedly punching an Alzheimer’s patient in the face two times. According police, Sharoia Hill, 28, wanted an item back from the 87-year-old patient and assaulted him in order to retrieve it.

Hill’s arraignment took place yesterday, and she was charged with two counts of aggravated battery. If convicted of the Class 3 felony charges, she could be convicted to up to five years in prison and made to pay a $25,000 fine.

The assault incident reportedly took place on Wednesday night and was witnessed by two people. The Alzheimer’s patient did not sustain serious injuries but the punches left red marks on his face.

Hill reportedly was new at the Illinois nursing home. The long-term care facility is conducting an investigation into the incident, as is the East Central Illinois Area Agency on Aging.

Nursing Home Assault
Assault by a nursing home worker is nursing home abuse and can cause physical and emotional injury to a resident. Long-term care facilities are supposed to make sure that the nursing aides and other workers that they hire are not inclined to inflict abuse or neglect on their patients and that workers are properly trained regarding how to deal with residents—especially patients suffering from Alzheimer’s or other mental illnesses that may require skilled, specialized handling by professionals who understand that their needs and responses may be different from the average person.

If someone you love was the victim of physical assault, sexual assault, or another kind of abusive behavior at an Illinois nursing home, the long-term care facility could be held liable for personal injury or wrongful death.

Nurse assistant accused of abuse at county nursing home, The News-Gazette, April 10, 2009

Police: Nursing Home Worker Punches Patient, IllinoisHomePage.net, April 9, 2009

Related Web Resources:
Elder Abuse, Medline Plus

Nursing Homes in Illinois

Continue reading " Illinois Nursing Home Worker Punches Alzheimer’s Patient in the Face " »

In Illinois, an 81-year-old nursing home resident who escaped his Maryville nursing home by crawling out of a window on Tuesday at nearly 3am is dead. Jewel R. Lane, a resident of Maryville Manor Nursing Home, was found almost one hour after he escaped. He was suffering from cardiac arrest.

According to authorities, Lane, a Collinsville resident, walked nearly a mile before he was discovered along a highway. Lane was rushed to the local hospital where he was soon pronounced dead. He had been a resident at the Illinois nursing home for approximately two weeks. He was suffering from heart disease and Alzheimer’s dementia.

Without proper supervision, nursing home residents suffering from dementia, Alzheimer’s, or other mental illnesses may be prone to wandering from the premise. Unfortunately, certain nursing homes do not have the staff (or they are not properly trained) or budget to correctly and constantly monitor all of their residents that need this type of watch.

Steps nursing homes can take to prevent residents who are “flight risks” from escaping include:
• Placing alarms on resident beds, doors, or wheelchairs
• Installing exit door alarms
• Surveillance of doors and all exits
• Housing residents who are likely to wander in rooms that are located next to a nursing station

Examples of scenarios that a nursing home resident might get hurt during while wandering away:
• Wanders out of the building and gets sick or dies because of exposure to cold or heat
• Fall accidents after entering a “forbidden” area on the premise
• Getting hit by a motor vehicle after walking off the nursing home premise
• Falling victim to violent crimes after leaving the safety of the nursing home

Failure to properly supervise any nursing home resident can result in an Illinois nursing home neglect claim if the resident is injured or dies.

Continue reading " Illinois Nursing Home Resident Dies After Fleeing Maryville Nursing Home Through Facility Window " »

Up to one million elderly people in the United States are the victims of financial abuse each year, and this crime may be costing them over $2.6 billion annually. The figures are included in a new Metlife Mature Market Institute (MMI) report called Broken Trust: Elders, Family, and Finances that was produced with the cooperation of the National Committee for the Prevention of Elder Abuse and the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.

The report says that for every reported case of financial elder abuse, there are likely four more cases that are not reported. In more than half the cases, the perpetrators are caregivers and family members. Investment fraud scams are also a common culprit of elder financial abuse.

Among the facts included in the study:
• A typical victim elder financial fraud victim is 70 to 89 years of age, Caucasian, female, physically frail, and cognitively impaired.
• In financial elder abuse cases involving child culprits, sons are 2.5 times as likely as daughter to commit this crime.
• A victim of financial elder abuse may become depressed, experience health issues, develop credit problems, and experience loss of his or her independence.

Signs a person may be a victim of elder financial abuse include:
• Appears afraid of his or her caregiver
• Disheveled appearance
• Isolated from family and friends
• Has developed new “best” friends
• Is worried about finances
• Missing belongings
• Behavior or personality changes
• Unpaid bills
• Significant decrease in account balances

Elder financial abuse has also become a problem for nursing home residents who may find themselves suddenly exploited by nursing workers. Just as your loved one is likely entitled to personal injury compensation if he or she was the victim of nursing home abuse or neglect, damages may also be sought against a nursing home worker or caregiver who is the perpetrator of elder financial abuse.

Financial Abuse Costs Elders More Than $2.6 Billion Annually, According to MetLife Mature Market Institute Study, Though Four in Five Cases Are Not Reported, BusinessWire.com, March 17, 2009

Related Web Resources:
MetLife

National Committee for Prevention of Elder Abuse

Elder Abuse, HelpGuide.org

Continue reading " Elder Financial Abuse Costs Victims Over $2.6 Billion a Year, Says Report " »

Officials are reporting that from 2006 to 2007, a number of nursing home residents at the Tendercare Health Center-Birchwood sexually and physically abused other patients. They also say that the nursing home’s management failed to report the incidents or do anything to stop them from happening. The assaults have resulted in a criminal investigation and fines against the US nursing home, which is now on the US government’s list of the most troubled nursing homes in the country.

Both male and female residents were reportedly victimized and some of the assailants still live at the long-term care facility. One former 68-year-old resident reports that nursing home workers failed to stop the hostile residents from repeatedly harming other patients.

According to the state inspectors’ report, residents regularly felt “anxious, fearful, helpless, humiliated, devaluated” and as if they needed to be on the look out. The patients also reportedly felt as if they weren’t safe and that the long-term care facility was not concerned about their well-being. They reportedly blamed staffers for allowing the abuse.

One incident involved a male resident harassing a 58-year-old resident who was suffering from dementia and Down syndrome. The facility social worker reportedly dealt with the situation by telling the victim to stay away from her harasser. When suspicious bruises were found on the patient's thighs and breast, nursing home workers failed to tell police about her injuries.

Another mail resident reportedly assaulted a woman suffering from multiple sclerosis. Because the woman is immobile, except for her wrists, and cannot speak, she was unable to physically or verbally respond when he approached her in the dining room and put his hand up her shirt.

There are also reports of one man touching women's legs during bingo games and another man exposing his sexual parts to others.

Extendicare Health Services Inc. owns Birchwood. The nursing home has also been cited for inadequate medication records, issues with patient confidentiality, failure to prevent fall accidents, and inadequately caring for bedsores.

Sexual and Physical Assaults
US nursing homes are supposed to make sure that patients do not become the victims of any violent crimes or other abusive incidents. Failure to ensure a resident’s safety from such incidents can be grounds for a nursing home neglect or abuse lawsuit.

Assaults left residents anxious, Record-Eagle, March 31, 2009

Report details abuses at local nursing home, Record-Eagle, March 31, 2009

Related Web Resources:
Tendercare Health Center-Birchwood, USA Today

Extendicare Health Services Inc.

Continue reading " Nursing Home Residents at US Long-Term Care Facility Reportedly Sexually and Physically Abused Other Patients Residents " »

Long-term care operator Extendicare of Wisconsin has come under fire again with two new nursing home neglect lawsuits naming the company as a defendant. In Madison Circuit Court, the estate of nursing home resident Kimberly Hamilton is suing Extendicare for her wrongful death. The complaint accuses one of Extendicare’s nursing homes of negligent care, resulting in mental and physical injuries and eventually death to Hamilton.

The wrongful death lawsuit also accuses the long-term care facility of not practicing acceptable standards of care and failing to maintain a safe environment. The complaint is seeking a jury trial to determine legal and medical costs, as well as punitive damages. Some 56 complaints were received in 2007 involving 26 residents at the Kenwood nursing home where Hamilton resided.

In another nursing home neglect lawsuit, the sister of a nursing home resident who sustained brain damage when her tracheal tube got clogged with mucous is suing Extendicare. The 49-year-old patient died a few months after the incident occurred.

Norene McPherson's nursing home neglect lawsuit comes after a federal judge dismissed a class action case against Extendicare Health Services, Extendicare Homes, Inc, Fir Lane Terrance Convalescent Center, Inc., and 15 Extendicare facilities in Washington State.

The class action plaintiffs had claimed that the long-term care company had misrepresented the quality of services it could provide current and past residents who were at the facility from 2004 to 2008. McPherson’s elder abuse attorney, however, has been quick to point out that just because his client’s case was not going to be addressed as part of a class action did not mean that she still can't receive compensation via the civil court system.

In the last few years, Extendicare, which owns more than two dozen nursing homes, has received citations numerous times for serious care violations. Meantime, a number of residents and/or their families continue to file complaints targeting the long-term care company for alleged nursing negligence.

Elder Abuse Complaint Filed Against Extendicare, Fox Business, March 31, 2009

Nursing home suit alleges negligent care, Richmond Register, April 1, 2009

Related Web Resources:
Extendicare

Elder Abuse, Helpguide.org