Chicago Nursing Home Abuse Lawyer Blog

In Kane County Circuit Court, two women that are accused of neglecting their elderly mother testified at their criminal trial on Friday. Julie and Jill Barry are charged in Illinois with criminally neglecting an elderly person.

Mary died in 2007. Her daughters were charged with neglecting her after paramedics that arrived at their home discovered the 84-year-old woman living in poor conditions and suffering from serious bedsores. She passed away from cancer complications at a hospital the following week.

Both women maintain that they never abused their mother. They say they provided her with the care that she needed, including bathing her on a regular basis. They also claim that they didn't realize she was suffering from serious bedsores.

Elder Abuse
Elder abuse is a serious matter that can occur anywhere. Not all elder abuse cases occur in US nursing homes. Abuse and neglect of the elderly is also known to take place in private residences. Nursing home workers, professional caregivers, and family members tasked with caring for an elderly person have all been known to commit elder abuse.

According to the American Psychologist Association:
• For every elder abuse or nursing neglect case reported to police, as many as five cases may go unreported.
• Studies show that elderly people that are abused tend to die earlier even than those who are very sick but are not elder abuse victims.
• Most elder neglect and abuse cases happen in private homes behind closed doors.
• Elder abuse can consist of physical abuse, verbal abuse, emotional abuse, psychological abuse, sexual abuse, and/or financial abuse.

Daughters defend care of elderly mother, Chicago Tribune, May 30, 2009

Elder Abuse and Neglect: In Search of Solutions, APA

Related Web Resources:

Continue reading " Chicago Elder Abuse Lawyers: Two Daughters Charged with Neglecting Their Mother Testify At Their Criminal Trial " »

In Illinois, former nursing home resident Velma H. Penberthy is suing Cahokia Nursing and Rehabilitation Center for providing her with inadequate nursing care. The plaintiff lived at the long-term care facility from August 18 – December 29, 2008.

Penberthy contends that nursing home workers neglected to provide her with the proper care by failing to come up with a plan to ensure that she was kept clean so that the skin of her abdominal folds didn't become infected, as well as neglecting to come up with the appropriate plans to address her mental, medical, nursing, and psychosocial needs. Penberthy is seeking an Illinois nursing home neglect judgment in excess of $50,000.

Nursing Home Care Plans
Nursing homes are supposed to come up with customized plans designed to address each resident’s medical, nursing, and dietary needs. A sick or elderly person usually doesn’t seek admittance to a long-term care facility unless he or she needs specialized and/or round-the-clock care.

Because there are usually numerous residents living at a nursing home, it is important that nursing home workers have specific instructions regarding the type of care each person will need. These plans may include a list of prescriptions and a schedule for administering the medications, special instructions about nursing care, the need to monitor the patient for specific symptoms, and special feeding and dietary instructions.

It is important that nursing workers adhere to these plans so that a nursing home resident gets the best care possible. It may even be necessary to modify a patient's nursing home care plan as the resident’s health condition changes—whether for better or worse. Failure to provide a resident with the proper nursing care can be grounds for a nursing home neglect lawsuit.

Cahokia Nursing and Rehabilitation Center sued over resident's care, The Record, May 28, 2009

Nursing Care Plan Resources

Related Web Resources:
Nursing Home Related Web Sites, Medicare.gov

Illinois Nursing Home Administrator's Association

Continue reading " Former Resident Files Illinois Nursing Home Neglect Lawsuit Over Inadequate Care " »

Over two dozen nursing home residents are being displaced because the Care Living Center of Edmond, a nursing home, is losing its Medicaid and Medicare funding. According to state health inspectors, the long-term care facility received citations for a number of deficiencies related to medical neglect and nursing neglect that they believe places residents’ welfare, health, and safety in imminent danger.

Incidents of nursing home neglect that were discovered at the US nursing home included failure to turn, feed, or clean certain residents. As a result, some of the nursing home residents had lost a lot of weight. Improper training of staff and failure to answer residents’ call lights were two other problems occuring at the long-term care facility.

Also, nursing home workers’ did not appear to be following medical instructions given by doctors, including monitoring patients’ blood pressure and blood glucose and separating nursing home residents with infectious disease from other patients. One nursing home patient that was not receiving the proper treatment prescribed by a doctor reportedly had 17 bedsores. Two nursing home residents managed to wander off the property and were found blocks away from the nursing home.

Medicare and Medicaid Funding
Medicare and Medicaid funding is provided by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. If state inspectors visit a nursing home three times and deficiencies cited the first time haven’t been remedied, the funding can be terminated.

Because Care Living Center is losing its funding, 12 Medicare patients and 17 Medicaid residents will have to move to another facility that qualifies for either of these health insurance programs. However, regardless of whether your loved one’s nursing home care is paid for privately or through Medicare or Medicaid, a nursing home is obligated to provide all residents with the proper medical attention and nursing care and in a safe environment that is free from nursing abuse or nursing home neglect.

Edmond inspection forces care home exodus, Newsok.com, May 22, 2009

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services: Nursing Home Deficiencies Explained, GilbertGuide.com

Related Web Resources:
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services

Nursing Homes in Illinoishttp://www.malmanlaw.com/lawyer-attorney-1214741.html

Continue reading " Chicago Nursing Home Abuse Lawyers: Chronic Nursing Home Neglect at Facility Forces Residents to Seek Other Housing " »

Three women were placed in jail earlier this month after they were accused of committing elder abuse. The defendants are 70-year-old Minni Lee Jeff, 64-year-old Maudeine Mayer, and 37-year-old Angela Townsend.

Jeff is accused of forcing Elija Earl, a 78-year-old man, to live in a shed in her yard. The shed had no plumbing. Jeff was Earl’s caregiver and had been given power of attorney to care for him. She allegedly committed financial elder abuse, spending the majority of the $160,000 he received from a 2005 train accident and placing the remaining funds in her account. Very little of the settlement is believed to have gone toward Earl’s care.

The elder abuse incidents involving Earl reportedly go back a few years when, after the train derailment, Jeff took charge of Earl’s care. The Department of Social Services discovered that Jeff was residing in the shed and moved him to a nursing home. In 2007, Jeff took over Earl's care once more. That was the year that Earl received his train accident settlement.

Earl’s elder abuse case came to light again this year when investigators demanded that Jeff account for Earl's money. A judge sent her to jail earlier this month when she was unable to provide the requested information about her finances.

Police went to retrieve Earl and place him in protective custody but Mayer, who is Jeff’s sister, and Townsend, who is Mayer’s daughter, had taken him with them. They claimed they had just gone out for ice cream but did not bring him to police even though they said they would. They refused to answer the deputies’ phone calls.

Earl was finally placed in protective custody after the women met with investigators and police took them in. Both women are charged with obstruction.

Financial abuse is another form of caregiver abuse that could lead to criminal charges against the person committing the abuse, as well as compel the victim’s family to file a Chicago elder abuse lawsuit.

Some Examples of Financial Abuse:
• Using someone else’s name to obtain a credit card.
• Abusing a power of attorney to take money out of someone’s bank account.
• Pressuring someone to give gifts and money in exchange for services, companionship, or care.
• Taking advantage of someone who isn’t able to make decisions and getting them to give money or make purchases.

Women charged in elder abuse, Aikenstandard.com, May 14, 2009

Related Web Resources:
Elder Financial Abuse, CentralCalLegal.org

Illinois Department on Aging

Continue reading " Three Women Charged with Financially Abusing Senior Who Was Made to Live in Shack without Plumbing " »

The problem of nursing home abuse just won’t seem to go away. Today, a former Punta Gorda Elderly Care Center was arrested and charged with the felony elder abuse of a 78-year-old female patient.

The former nursing assistant, 58-year-old Leticia Calderwood, is accused of kicking an elderly resident in the back and slapping her on the face. The nursing home neglect incident allegedly occurred on May 19 as Calderwood and two other nursing home workers were helping the elderly resident get up from a fall accident. It was while Calderwood was supposed to helping the patient that she is accused of kicking and slapping her.

The former nursing home worker is being held without bond. Calderwood faces one charge of abuse on the elderly and one charge of battery on the elderly. Both charges are third-degree felonies.

Elsewhere in the US, a former St. Joseph Nursing Home employee says she thinks she was let go from her job because she used her cell phone to record an incident involving another female nursing home worker verbally abusing a male patient suffering from Alzheimer’s or dementia. Tracie Bowers says that the unidentifiable sound that can be heard on the recording is the other nursing home worker striking the patient’s hand. Bowers says the patient, who is known for being combative, didn’t do anything to provoke the worker.

Bowers says a nursing supervisor didn’t take her complaints about the other nursing home worker seriously, which is why she reported the incident to a charge nurse. Facility administrators then reported her allegations to the state health department, which is now investigating her claim. The nursing home's administrator, Frank Triboli, however, says Bowers was not let go for reporting the alleged abuse incident.

Verbal Abuse
Verbal abuse is abuse and in many ways can be as damaging as physical abuse even though the injuries may not be physically visible. Verbal abuse demeans the spirit and can lead to depression and the deterioration of one’s health.

Any kind of abuse at a nursing home by a nursing home worker is nursing home abuse.

Nursing home worker charged in abuse of woman, 76, Herald Tribune, May 20, 2009

State investigating nursing home abuse claim, UticaOD.com, May 7, 2009

Related Web Resources:
Elder Abuse in Nursing Homes, NOLO

The Verbal Abuse Site

Continue reading " Chicago Nursing Home Abuse Law Firm: More Nursing Home Workers Accused of Elder Abuse " »

Actress Brooke Shields says she is very upset that a tabloid reporter was able to sign her mother, Teri Shields, out of a US nursing home for a brief visit. Teri, 75, has dementia. The actress says her mother has been temporarily residing in the long-term care facility because of her condition and that the decision to admit her mother to the nursing home was a difficult one.

Police, who were called to the nursing home to look for the older woman, alerted the 43-year-old star about the incident, which occurred on Thursday. While police say that the protocol that the long-term care facility follows allowed for the reporters to sign Teri out of the nursing home, the facility grew concerned that she had been gone for some time.

Teri was found in a restaurant nearby where she was talking to the freelance reporter. Brooke Shields says she is outraged that the National Enquirer approached her mother knowing that the elderly woman's mental health is poor.

The actress is vowing to take legal action against all parties involved. She says that the two reporters that signed her mother out had presented themselves at the home as the older Shields’s friends.

Brooke Shields says the National Enquirer is behind the incident. The tabloid magazine has issued a statement responding to her accusations by saying that Teri had asked the freelance reporter to help her run errands and take her to lunch.

Dementia
Dementia can affect each person afflicted with the condition in different ways. In many instances, the reason a person with dementia is admitted to a nursing home is because he or she needs special help.

Symptoms of Dementia (Again, symptoms will depend on the severity of condition):

• Has problems finding/choosing the right words to say
• Forgets appointments or names or events
• Loses items
• Experiences difficulty performing daily tasks without assistance, such as cooking, cleaning, driving, eating, dressing, bathing, and using the bathroom
• Changes in personality
• Paranoia
• Mood swings
• Confusion
• Disorientation
• Tendency to wander
• Can’t absorb new information
• More susceptible to fall accidents
• Hallucinations
• Poor concentration
• Withdrawal
• Depression
• Confabulation
• Swallowing problems
• Loss of memory
• Health complications

A nursing home that doesn’t take the necessary and proper steps to take care of a dementia patient and make sure that he or she is safe can be held liable for nursing home negligence.

Tabloid took Shields’ mom out of nursing home, People.com, May 17, 2009

Dementia Overview, EMedicineHealth.com

Related Web Resources:
What is Dementia?, NCPAMD.com

Brooke Shields, IMDB

Continue reading " Brooke Shield’s mom signed out of nursing home to lunch with paparazzi without actress's consent " »

A former certified nursing assistant faces criminal charges for elder abuse. 42-year-old John Ette is accused of punching, hitting, and grabbing an 88-year-old resident who is bedridden, has dementia, and is visually impaired. The assault incident allegedly occurred last October at Adirondack Medical Center's Mercy Nursing Home.

Nursing home workers reported the incident to administrators as well as the patient’s family after they noticed bruises on the patient's face. She also sustained a broker collar bone.

Following an internal probe, Ette was fired. The investigation revealed that the former CNA neglected to follow the proper policies and procedures at the hospital for reporting the incident. The nursing home, however, did report the incident to state officials. The Attorney General’s Office then conducted a criminal investigation.

Criminal charges against Ette include willful violation of health laws, second-degree endangering the welfare of a vulnerable elderly person, and endangering the welfare of an incompetent or physically disabled person. If convicted, the former CNA could face up to four years in prison.

Meantime, the victim continues to be a resident at the nursing home.

Nursing Home Abuse Cases
With more people living longer lives, the nation’s elderly population is growing. This means that more seniors and their families may be requiring the services of Illinois nursing homes to provide them with the specialized care that their loved ones need.

Unfortunately, nursing home abuse and neglect continue to be large problems affecting long-term care facilities throughout the US. Every week, there are reports of neglect and abuse incidents involving nursing home residents who got hurt because they were abused by another patient or by a nursing home worker. There are also far too many cases involving patients whose health deteriorated because they were the victims of nursing home neglect.

There are steps that you can take to ensure that your loved one is compensated for their personal injuries.

Elder abuse charged at Adirondack Medical Center's Mercy Nursing Home, Press Republican, May 14, 2009

Related Web Resources:
As the population ages, so does elder abuse, ABC Local, May 14, 2009

Elder Abuse, HelpGuide.org

Continue reading " Nursing Home Abuse: Former CNA Charged with Assaulting Bedridden Elderly Resident " »

In Cook County Circuit Court, the family of a 69-year-old female nursing home resident who was allegedly raped by a younger, mentally ill patient is suing Maplewood Care of Elgin for Illinois nursing home neglect. The complaint, filed on Monday, seeks at least $50,000 in damages and names Maplewood Care, former nursing home administrator James L. Doyle, and S.I.R. Management as the defendants.

According to the Chicago nursing home neglect lawsuit, 21-year-old resident Christopher Shelton could not be found during bed check but no one made an attempt to look for him or notify residents that his whereabouts were unknown even though he was a young, sexually frustrated, aggressive, mentally ill convicted felon.

Later in the evening, a nurse heard the sound of a woman moaning. When she entered the resident’s room, the elderly resident was crying and Shelton was in her bathroom contacting 911 to report that the woman had been attacked. The emergency medical personnel that arrived at the scene to examine her confirm signs of sexual trauma.

Shelton was admitted to the Elgin nursing home last November. He has bipolar disorder with aggression. He reportedly told nursing home workers that he was feeling sexually frustrated yet they failed to monitor him to make sure he didn’t act on his frustrations.

The Chicago nursing home neglect complaint accuses Maplewood Care of trying to cover up the rape by portraying the incident in its report to the state as a consensual sexual encounter between the two residents. It also contends that the family was not notified that a resident with a history of violent and aggressive criminal conduct was at the Illinois nursing home.

The lawsuit also accuses the Elgin nursing home of failing to do a proper criminal check on Shelton. The 21-year-old nursing home resident had an outstanding arrest warrant in his name for felony battery charges. Shelton has pleaded not guilty to 11 counts related to the alleged rape, including a charge for aggravated sexual assault.

Mentally Ill Patients in Illinois Nursing Homes
According to a recent Associated Press review, there is a disturbing trend occuring in US nursing homes involving older nursing home residents becoming the victims of crimes committed by younger, stronger nursing home patients that are suffering from mental illnesses, such as bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, and depression. Out of all the US states, Illinois was noted as the state with the most number of mentally ill patients under age 65—over 12,000 patients—in nursing homes.

Regardless, Illinois nursing homes are responsible for making sure that all of their residents do not the become the victims of any type of violent crimes, including nursing home abuse, sexual abuse, rape, and physical assault. Failure to take action to protect nursing home patients can be grounds for an Illinois nursing home neglect lawsuit.

Family sues nursing home in alleged sex attack, AP, May 12, 2009

Illinois Nursing Homes Tops in Younger Mentally Ill, Chicago Tribune, March 23, 2009

Related Web Resources:
Maplewood Care of Elgin

Illinois Nursing Homes House More Mentally Ill Patients Under Age 65 than Long-Term Care Facilities in Other US States, the Law Offices of Steven J Malman & Associates, PC, March 20, 2009

Last week, a 72-year-old nursing home resident was charged with sexually abusing another patient. The alleged victim, a 54-year-old female patient, has the mental capacity of a 5-year-old. Both the victim and the assailant are residents at the Rehabilitation Center of St. Petersburg.

The defendant, Christopher McDermott, was charged with lewd and lascivious battery on a disabled person. McDermott is accused of fondling the female resident’s breast. Nursing home workers had reportedly warned him on more than one occasion that he was not allowed to engage in any type of contact with her.

Sex Abuse at Nursing Homes
Nursing homes are supposed to protect their patients from any kind of abuse. This means providing extra protection for residents who may not be able to take care of themselves because they are physically or mentally incapacitated and keeping residents who may be prone to abusive behavior away from the other patients.

Nursing homes must also make sure that they hire workers who are not inclined to engage in nursing home abuse or neglect. Unfortunately, there are a disturbing number of sexual abuse incidents that occur throughout the US that involve nursing home workers molesting or sexually assaulting patients.

Recently, a 52-year-old nursing worker at the Northwoods Rehabilitation Center was charged with misdemeanor forcible touching, felony sex abuse, and misdemeanor third-degree sex abuse for incidents involving a 78-year-old resident that allegedly occurred at the nursing home between December 15, 2007 and January 7, 2008.

The female patient is physically incapacitated. The indictment against Robert Gunderson accuses him of allegedly fondling the woman’s vaginal area and breast areas at night.

He also faces separate third-degree sex abuse charges from when he worked at Eddy Ford Nursing Home between August and September 2008. Gunderson is accused of forcibly kissing a younger victim with multiple sclerosis and who was confined to a wheelchair.

Nursing homes must prescreen nursing home workers to make sure that they don’t have a criminal record or a history of suspicious behavior. Because of their age or deteriorating health—two reasons why a person needs the protection and care of a nursing home to begin with—nursing home residents are easy targets of nursing home abuse or neglect.

Man Charged with Molesting Fellow Nursing Home Resident, TBO, May 5, 2009

Troy nursing home aide accused of sexually abusing 78-year-old patient, CBS6Albany.com, May 5, 2009

Related Web Resources:
Nursing Home Abuse: Neglect, Physical and Even Sexual Abuse are the Harsh Realities Facing Today's Elderly, NewsInferno.com, June 21, 2007

Elderly Often Unrecognized Victims of Sexual Abuse, Senior Journal, November 9, 2004

Continue reading " Fellow Nursing Home Resident Charged with Molesting A Female Patient " »

The Health Care Council of Illinois is taking steps to protect its 65,000 long-term care professionals and 100,000 nursing home residents from the swine flu. A type of influenza, the swine flu is considered a more serious and potentially fatal virus and at this time there is still no vaccine.

Swine Flu Symptoms:

• Eye infections
• Influenza-like symptoms
• Serious respiratory disease
• Pneumonia

As of May 7, 2009, the Chicago Sun-Times reported that there are now 225 confirmed swine flu cases in Illinois. If even healthy people are at risk of contracting the contagious virus, you can imagine how much more dangerous the swine flu can be to sick or elderly people with weakened immune systems.

This is why it is so important that Chicago nursing home workers and long-term care employees in other Illinois nursing homes take the necessary steps to make sure that the virus doesn’t enter their nursing homes so that workers and residents don’t get sick and spread the swine flu to each other.

To protect Illinois nursing home residents from the swine flu, HCCI recommends the following:

• Make sure all visitors use a hand sanitizer before entering an Illinois nursing home patient’s room.

• Examine visitors for flu-like symptoms and don’t let them into the nursing home if they exhibit any signs of the illness.

• Make sure that you have tissue boxes, covered waste baskets, and hand gel sanitizers available throughout the nursing home.

• Teach residents, workers, and guests about proper cough etiquette and techniques.

• Keep residents with flu-like symptoms in one area of the nursing home. Make sure that the nursing home workers are treating them.

• Make sure that staff members treating these patients use facial masks, gloves, and gowns.

If your loved one got sick at an Illinois nursing home because the nursing home neglected to take proper care of the resident or failed to maintain an environment that was free from harmful bacteria or other unsanitary conditions, you may have grounds for filing an Illinois nursing home neglect lawsuit on their behalf.

Illinois Nursing Homes Prepare for Swine Flu Pandemic, Murphysboro American, May 6, 2009

Illinois Swine Flue Cases Up, Chicago Sun-Times, May 7, 2009

Related Web Resources:
H1N1 Flu (Swine Flu), CDC

Health Care Council of Illinois

Continue reading " Protecting Illinois Nursing Home Residents from Swine Flu " »

In Chicago, 84-year-old nursing home resident Benny Saxon died on Monday after he fell from a fourth story window at Alden Wentworth Rehabilitation and Health Care Center. It is not known at this time whether he fell or jumped.

Police are investigating the incident. Saxon suffered from dementia and had recently been agitated.

Nursing Home Negligence
Chicago nursing homes must make sure that their residents do not come to harm while under their watch. This means giving patients with special needs the 24-hour care that they need and making sure that there is nothing in their environment that can cause them to get hurt or die. Failure to exercise this duty of care can be grounds for a Chicago nursing home neglect lawsuit.

For example, if a resident’s room is located on a higher floor, then the nursing home must make sure that the window is properly secured so that the patient doesn’t accidentally fall out of the window by accident. One way to do this to make sure that the resident’s bed isn’t located too close to the window, the screen hasn’t come loose, or that the windows have locks that prevent a patient who may not realize what he or she is doing from falling out.

If a nursing home patient is a “flight” or “wander” risk, then it is up to the workers at the nursing home to make sure that windows are properly locked and that there are alarm systems in place to warn nursing staff if a patient tries to escape.

Falling from great heights can lead to catastrophic injuries, including traumatic brain injuries, spinal cord injuries, and broken bones. Unlike with younger fall accident victims, older people can take a longer time to recover from such injuries, which can lead to serious health complications and even death.

If your loved one got hurt or died while staying at a Chicago nursing home and you believe that he or she is the victim of nursing home abuse or neglect, it is important that you consider your legal options.

Man falls from nursing home window, Southtown Star, May 5, 2009

Related Web Resources:
Preventing Falls in the Elderly, Colorado State University

Alden Wentworth Rehabilitation and Health Care Center

Continue reading " Chicago Nursing Home Patient Dies in Fall Accident from Fourth Floor Window " »

In Cook County Circuit Court, the guardian of Illinois nursing home resident Margaret McCauley is suing Brighton Gardens Assisted Living of Orland Park for personal injury. McCauley sustained serious injuries during a fall accident and from exposure to cold weather when she wandered off unnoticed during a field trip to a local high school on December 2, 2007. The elderly resident, who suffered from Alzheimer’s disease and severe dementia, was found eight hours later on train tracks about a mile from the school.

Bright Gardens, Sunrise Senior Living Services, and Activity Director Debra Ann Adler are the defendants named in the Illinois nursing home neglect complaint. The Illinois civil lawsuit accuses nursing home employees of failing to properly supervise and monitor McCauley.

According to the Alzheimer’s Association:
• Over 60% of Alzheimer’s patients will wander at least once.
• Over 127,000 serious wandering cases reported every year.
• If a dementia patient who wanders is not discovered within 24 hours, he or she could get seriously hurt or die.

The Mayo Clinic says that people wander for a number of reasons:
• They may be looking for something or someone familiar or they may be hungry or thirsty or need to go to the bathroom but can’t remember where to go.

• They may be trying to get away from too much stimuli because they find the noise or surroundings overwhelming.

• They may be trying to reestablish an old routine from their old life.

Illinois nursing homes charged with taking care of a sick or elderly resident are responsible for anticipating and preventing potential wandering incidents. When failure to supervise or monitor a patient with Alzheimer’s or dementia results in the resident wandering off, getting hurt, or dying, the long-term care facility can be held liable for nursing home neglect.

Nursing Home Sued After Woman Found On Train Track, CBS2Chicago.com, April 24, 2009

Alzheimer's: Understand and control wandering, MayoClinic.com

Related Web Resources:
Alzheimer’s Association

Brighton Gardens Assisted Living of Orland Park