Illinois Nursing Home Negligence?: Kankakee County Assisted Living Facility May Have Failed to Report Two Sexual Abuse Incidents Involving Residents
The Illinois Department of Public Health and the nursing home Bourbonnais Terrace may both have neglected to notify police in a timely manner about two alleged incidents of sex abuse involving one resident victim and one resident perpetrator. The nursing home patient accused of sexual abuse reportedly has a past conviction for murder.
The allegedly incidents occurred at the Kankakee County assisted living facility in January but the state didn’t find out about it until it conducted its yearly inspection in March.
The state is now fining the Bourbonnais nursing home $20,000, which the assisted living facility is contesting.
It is the responsibility of all nursing homes to protect residents from becoming the victim of any kind of Illinois nursing home abuse or neglect. This includes protecting residents from each other—especially if a patient has a history of violence or his or her mental illness increases the risk that the resident might harm another patient. The assisted living facility is obligated by state law to report any incidents of nursing home abuse or neglect and they can be held liable for nursing home negligence if they fail to fulfill their duty of care to a resident.
Sexual abuse does occur in nursing homes. The assailant can be a nursing home worker, another resident, a visitor, or an intruder to the assisted living facility. Patients receiving private nursing care can also becoming the victims of Chicago nursing negligence or abuse.
Just last week, a caretaker pleaded guilty to raping an 80-year-old elderly resident at a privately run assisted living facility. The Humberto Rodriguez, 50, has been sentenced to time in prison and is now a registered sex offender for life. His attorney claims that Rodriguez and the victim were friendly before the assault happened.
It doesn’t matter how friendly a nursing home worker and a patient are with each other. Sexual abuse of any kind is wrong, a crime, and can be grounds for a Chicago nursing home abuse lawsuit.
Police look into sex abuse allegations, The Daily Journal, September 18, 2009
Santa Rosa caretaker admits raping 80-year-old woman, Press Democrat, September 17, 2009
Related Web Resources:
The National Center on Elder Abuse
