Chicago Nursing Home Abuse Lawyer Blog

The relative of a La Salle County Nursing Home patient is suing the Illinois nursing home for negligence. Henry Elzer is seeking at least $250,000 because the assisted living facility allegedly failed to protect the victim, a woman, while another patient sexually abused her.

In his Illinois nursing home negligence complaint, Elzer says his relative fractured her pubic or pelvic bone during the alleged incident. He says that the Illinois nursing home knew that his relative’s assailant was sexually active.

The Illinois Department of Public Health had released a report about a number of molestation incidents involving the same patient assailant between January 17 and May 26. The man was eventually transferred to a psychiatric home.

The plaintiff also says his relative injured her leg between November 24 and 27, 2006 when nursing home workers either caused her to fall or dropped her. However, because nursing home workers allegedly did not tell a doctor about the woman's injury in a timely manner, X-rays were not taken until over a week after the fall accident.

Elzer is also suing Ottawa Regional Hospital and Healthcare Center for injuries his relative sustained on November 27, 2006. He claims the woman was injured when the wheelchair she was sitted in while riding in a van tipped when the vehicle stopped. Elzer says the wheelchair was not properly secured.

Lately, Illinois nursing homes have come under fire over the number of injury and assaults incidents involving residents attacking other patients. The Chicago Tribune recently wrote extensively on the topic of nursing home violence. Illinois Governor Pat Quinn has set up a task force to solve the problems caused by housing violent nursing home patients with other residents.

La Salle County Nursing Home: Suit filed over sex abuse, My Web Times, October 27, 2009

Nursing home sued for alleged sex abuse, News Tribune, October 28, 2009

Related Web Resources:
Compromised Care, Chicago Tribune

Illinois Nursing Home Task Force

The Chicago Tribune says that since 2001, some 2,900 Illinois nursing home patients have been affected by 1,200 violations involving psychotropic drugs. The newspaper reports that there are residents in nursing homes throughout the state are being administered psychotropic drugs without their consent and without just case. Side effects can include lethargy, drowsiness, tremors, confusion, seizures, involuntary muscle movement, a greater risk of being involved in fall accidents, and death.

The Tribune examined over 40,000 federal and state inspection reports. Although some patients benefited from taking psychotropic drugs, many patients taking the medications were not suffering from psychosis. In Illinois, 2/3rds of 742 Illinois nursing homes have been cited at least once since 2001 for psychotropic drug violations.

Also during this time period, over 600 nursing home residents were given psychotropic drugs without their permission even after many of the patients said they didn’t want the medication. Consent has also been sought, and given, by dementia patients who are unable to understand what they are agreeing to take. Over 200 assisted living patients who took psychotropic meds fell within hours of taking the drugs. A number of them broke their hips or other bones. Several of them died.

One nursing home reportedly gave a female patient psychotic medication because she wouldn’t wear a bra. At another nursing home, an 87-year-old man who was easily annoyed was given antipsychotic meds. The Tribune says 14 patients’ deaths can be linked to misuse of psychotropic drugs. There have even been instances when a patient is wrongly diagnosed as having a mental illness to justify giving the resident the medication.

Nursing Home Abuse
Giving patient medication to keep them quite or restrain them is Illinois nursing home abuse. It can also cause serious injury, health issues, or death. Many nursing home patients are already taking more than enough meds for whatever is ailing them. Adding a powerful psychotic drug to the mix when it isn’t necessary is dangerous.

Compromised Care: Psychotropic drugs given to nursing home patients without cause, Chicago Tribune

Newspaper Investigates Dangerous Mix Of Nursing Homes And Psychotropic Drugs, Kaiser Health News, October 28, 2009

Related Web Resources:
Nursing Homes in Illinois

Nursing Home Compare, Medicare.gov

Continue reading " Thousands of Illinois nursing home patients are being given dangerous, psychotropic drugs without cause, reports Chicago Tribune " »

On Thursday, the Illinois Senate’s public health committee met to talk about allegations of racial disparities that may be impacting the quality and care received by minority patients at nursing homes. The accusations stem from an investigation conducted by the Chicago Reporter magazine, which discovered inequalities between nursing homes where residents were predominantly white and assisted living facilities that housed primarily black patients.

The allegations are disturbing, considering that, per the Medicare and Medicaid Nursing Home Compare Web site, the state of Illinois has more poorly rated black nursing homes than the other US states. Nearly 60% of the 30 black Chicago nursing homes received the lowest rating for quality possible, compared to 11% of Chicago’s 45 predominantly white assisted living facilities. None of the black nursing homes received the highest rating, while 30% of white assisted living facilities did.

Our Chicago nursing home neglect lawyers are concerned about any reports that a Cook County nursing home may be depriving patients of the care that they need and should be getting. Negligent nursing care can be grounds for a Chicago nursing home neglect and abuse lawsuit.

Also, the Chicago Reporter said that black assisted living facilities were cited for more violations than white nursing homes. The magazine also found that nursing home workers at black nursing homes were not as well trained as the employees at white nursing homes. White assisted living facilities were less likely than black nursing homes to admit sex offenders and ex-offenders as patients.

The latter issue has been a huge concern of late, especially following the recent findings published by the Chicago Tribune from its investigation into patient violence. The fact that patients are subject to Chicago nursing home abuse not just from nursing home workers but also from residents who are mentally ill and/or who may have violent criminal pasts is a very serious sign that not enough is being done to protect patients from nursing home abuse or neglect.

This week, the Nursing Home Safety Task Force, formed by Illinois Governor Pat Quinn, will hear from patient advocates, service providers, nursing home residents, and families. The task force was formed to deal with concerns about resident care and safety.

Our Chicago nursing home abuse and neglect law firm represents clients who are the victims of nursing home negligence.

Nursing home safety task force to hold public meeting, SJ-R.com, October 25, 2009

State senators hear of nursing home bias, Chicago Breaking News, October 22, 2009

Disparate Nursing Home Care, Chicago Reporter

Related Web Resources:
Nursing Home Safety Task Force, Illinois.gov

Nursing Home Compare, Medicare.gov

The family of Janice Maier intends to sue the Brookdale Senior Living Center for nursing home negligence. As of Wednesday, the 77-year-old woman was still in an ICU.

Maier sustained serious injuries after an intruder to the assisted living facility beat and choked her. The man accused of attacking her is Daniel Villareal, 25. However, Maier’s family is blaming the nursing home for failing to protect her and not rescuing her after the assault.

The beating occurred while she slept. Villareal and Maier do not know each other.

Police say that Villareal walked into the nursing home at around 4am through an open back door. Their report says law enforcement officers had to tell the nursing home workers to search the rooms for Maier.

Villareal is charged with Injury to an Elderly Person. He told the authorities that he was frustrated and angry and wanted to choke someone. He kicked Maier in the head about 15 times.

Nursing Home Negligence
Nursing homes are supposed to ensure that their facility is safe and secure. This means taking the necessary safety measures to keep intruders and burglars out and ensuring that the nursing home workers who are hired and the residents that are admitted to the facility are not a danger to others.

Inadequate security at an assisted living facility can result in violent crimes against patients. It can also allow nursing home resident that have a tendency to wander to leave the premise without supervision, which can increase the chances of the patient sustaining a personal injury during a fall accident, pedestrian accident, or another type of injury incident.

Family holding nursing home accountable for the choking of their elderly relative, KENS5.com, October 21, 2009

Woman, 77, choked at nursing home, MySanAntonio.com, October 11, 2009

Related Web Resources:
Nursing Home Overview, Medicare

Eldercare, Department of Health and Human Services

Continue reading " Nursing Home Neglect: Family Blames Nursing Home for Intruder’s Assault on 77-Year-Old Woman " »

This week, Illinois Governor Pat Quinn’s Nursing Home Safety Task Force presided over a public hearing in Chicago where residents, advocates, and social workers demanded that the state stop housing younger, mentally ill adults in nursing homes—especially those who have felony rap sheets or a history of violence.

What has happened as a result of the state’s decade’s long practice of placing these felons with disabled, weak, or frail elderly residents is that the elderly and the sick are becoming the victims of physical assault, sexual assault, and murder.

The Chicago Tribune reported on Tuesday’s hearing:
• One advocate with the Community Counseling Centers, Jamie Jimenez, voiced the concern that nursing homes shouldn’t be used as place for attempting to rehabilitate violent offenders.

• Mental Health America of Illinois board member Mark Heyman pointed out that psychiatric patients are not even getting the proper care at many of these assisted living facilities.

• Regional state ombudsman Nancy Flowers says that police aren’t always told about nursing home crimes and state inspectors and police don’t always share information they may have about an assisted living facility with each other.

Currently, some 15,000 people diagnosed with mental illnesses are living in Illinois nursing homes.

While all prospective nursing home residents must undergo a criminal background check so that the risk they pose to other patients can be evaluated, the Chicago Tribune discovered that in many cases, these screenings weren’t completed until well after the resident had been living in the assisted living facility. Also, the background checks did not uncover all arrests and convictions.

Governor Quinn formed the Nursing Home Safety Task Force so that action can finally be taken to protect elderly and disabled patients from becoming the targets of Illinois nursing home violence committed by other residents. The team is made up of senior leaders from the Department of Corrections, Department of Public Health, Department on Aging, Department of Healthcare and Family Services, Department of Veterans Affairs, Department of Human Services, Illinois State Police, and Illinois Housing Development Authority.

Whether you were abused or assaulted by a nursing home worker or another resident, the Illinois assisted living facility can still be held liable for personal injury or wrongful death. Our Chicago nursing home negligence law firm is committed to upholding our clients' rights and helping them obtain compensation for any harm suffered.

Nursing home safety: Task force hears, voices concern about housing mentally ill felons in facilities, Chicago Tribune, October 21, 2009

Nursing Home Safety Task Force to Hear Public Testimony
Launches Interactive Website, Ilinois.gov, October 17, 2009

Related Web Resources:
Nursing Home Safety Task Force, Illinois.gov

Nursing Home Compare, Medicare.gov

Continue reading " Stop Illinois Nursing Home Violence: Concerns Voiced At Task Force’s Public Hearing in Chicago " »

In Illinois, nursing home patient Anthony Gales is suing Burnham Healthcare Properties for nursing home negligence. He is seeking over $50,000 in damages.

In his Cook County nursing home neglect lawsuit, Gales says that on August 17, 2008, another patient kicked him, which caused him to fall from his wheelchair and fracture his leg. Gales alleges that the Burnham, Illinois assisted living facility knew that his attacker had a history of acting violently.

The plaintiff claims that the Cook County nursing home failed to properly treat his injuries in a timely fashion and did not properly supervise the facility’s residents.

Gales’s Illinois nursing home lawsuit comes at a time when lawmakers are taking steps to tackle the issue of violence between residents. In the past, the issue of nursing home abuse tended to focus on abusive or neglectful acts committed by nursing home workers that abused their authority over sick or frail residents. Now, there is growing concern that nursing home residents can also be vulnerable to other patients who may have violent streaks, serious criminal records, and/or may be mentally ill and are not always aware of their actions.

Illinois nursing homes are responsible for supervising all staffers and residents and for keeping their patients safe. This includes conducting background checks of residents and employee candidates to make sure they are not a potential threat to others and closely supervising “high risk” patients or keeping them away from other residents.

Just this January, a 69-year-old female resident was raped by Christopher Shelton, a 21-year-old patient at an Elgin, Illinois nursing home. Shelton had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder with aggression and was a convicted felon.

Elderly and sick patients stay at nursing homes because they need medical care and supervision and protection. An assisted living facility’s failure to provide that care and protection can be grounds for an Illinois nursing home negligence lawsuit.

Man 'kicked' from wheelchair sues nursing home, Southtown Star, October 16, 2009

Related Web Resources:
Illinois Nursing Homes, Illinois Department of Public Health

Compromised Care, Chicago Tribune

The family of an elderly nursing home patient who died after his genitals disintegrated is suing Everett Care & Rehabilitation for nursing home negligence. In their nursing home neglect lawsuit, they claim that staffers failed to provide Charles Bradley with the proper care.

Bradley had been living at the assisted living facility since 2004, when he moved there to be with his wife, who required 24-hour care. After her death, he stayed at the nursing home.

On November 7, 2007, a nurse notified the residential care manager that the elderly resident had a wound on his penis. The state’s Department of Social and Health Services says the manager did not tell Bradley’s doctor. She went on vacation and forgot about the report.

In March 2008, he was taken to the hospital at his son’s insistence. Jeff Bradley was very concerned about his dad’s deteriorating health. At the hospital, medical staffers diagnosed him with penile cancer, genital infection, severe urinary tract, and pneumonia in both lungs. State records indicate that his penis was almost gone. Charles died 18 days after he was admitted to the hospital.

Nursing home workers told investigators that the elderly patient refused to take baths, did not want help when using the toilet, and wouldn’t let them check him for wounds. They said he usually allowed only one of the nursing aides to provide him with "intimate" care.

The state has cited the assisted living facility for violating federal care standards by neglecting to provide the 97-year-old resident with timely medical care, failing to report that Bradley would not let workers check his genitals, and neglecting to tell his doctor or family members about the changes in his health.

While nursing home residents are allowed to refuse care, it is important to remember that many patients may not know that saying no to certain medical care or help could be detrimental. Some patients suffer from deteriorating mental conditions or may be too embarrassed to get the care that they need. Nursing homes can be held liable for negligence if the patient does not get the care he or she needs.

You can contact an experienced nursing home law firm in your state to explore your legal options. In Illinois, our Chicago nursing home lawyers would be happy to speak with you.

Nursing home cited, sued after elderly man's genitals disintegrate, SeattlePI, October 16, 2009

Lawsuit: Wash. nursing home neglects penis ailment, The Seattle Times, October 16, 2009

Related Web Resources:
Penile Cancer, National Cancer Institute

Illinois Department on Aging

A jury has convicted Anthony D. Marshall, the son of philanthropist Brooke Astor, of grand larceny for elder financial fraud. Marshall, 85, is accused of stealing tens of millions of dollars from his mother. He faces a maximum 25 years in prison. Astor, who was suffering from Alzheimer’s, died at age 105 in 2007.

Marshall was found guilty of 14 of the 16 counts against him, which included charges for conspiracy, forgery, and fraud. High profile celebrities, such as Barbara Walters, Henry Kissinger, and Annette de la Renta, testified that Marshall had abused his mother and attempted to enlarge his inheritance through her estate.

Elder Financial Abuse
According to a Virginia Tech, Metlife Mature Market Institute, and National Committee for the Prevention of Elder Abuse study, elder financial abuse costs older people about $2.6 billion annually. Elderly women are more susceptible to elder financial abuse than men. However, it is important to note that as with all elder neglect and abuse crimes, many elder financial abuse incidents go unreported.

Unlike physical abuse, which often results in physical injuries as evidence, financial exploitation is not a physical crime. This means that coupled with a victim who is mentally impaired, too weak, or too sick to act as a good witness, elder financial abuse cases can be harder to prosecute in criminal court. Elder abuse experts are hoping the outcome of the Astor-Marshall case will change this.

Elder financial abuse victims can also pursue an elder abuse lawsuit for damages in civil court.

Brooke Astor's Sad Legacy -- Money Changes Everything, Chicago Tribune, October 14, 2009

Brooke Astor’s Son Guilty in Scheme to Defraud Her, NY Times, October 9, 2009

Related Web Resources:
Broken Trust: Elders, Family, and Finances, Metlife.com (PDF)

Financial Abuse, National Committee for the Prevention of Elder Abuse

Continue reading " Elder Financial Abuse?: Brooke Astor’s Son Anthony D. Marshall Convicted of Stealing Millions from His Mother " »

The Illinois Senate’s public health and human services committee will hold a hearing on November 5 on ways to improve safety at nursing home homes throughout the state. The hearing is in response to the Chicago Tribune’s reports exposing the dangers elderly nursing home residents face when they are housed with mentally ill felons. The Chicago newspaper reported on incomplete criminal background checks, low staffing levels, and deficiencies in reporting violent crimes.

The heads of the departments of aging, public health, human services, and health care and family services, in addition to industry groups and elder advocates, are expected to speak at the hearing.

Illinois Governor Pat Quinn recently formed the Nursing Home Safety Task Force. The task force’s job is to figure out how to better regulate assisted living facilities so that its patients are protected from nursing home resident violence. Also, Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan is calling for improved criminal background checks of patients and more nursing home inspections.

Our Chicago nursing home abuse law firm welcomes any changes to nursing home regulation that could protect residents from becoming the victims of violent crimes committed by other patients, nursing home workers, visitors, or intruders. It's bad enough that nursing home patients are vulnerable to nursing home abuse and neglect from staffers. Now they have to worry about becoming the victims of nursing home patient violence. This is a problem that must be addressed immediately!

While mentally ill nursing home patients are entitled to the proper care, it is important that the necessary steps are taken to determine whether a prospective resident might be a danger to themselves or others—especially of he or she already has a violent criminal past. Conducting full background checks will allow a nursing home to assess the degree of danger a patient might pose so that steps can be taken to keep them away from other patients or tougher security/supervisory measures can be implemented.

State Senate hearing to examine nursing home safety, Chicago Tribune, October 12, 2009

Task force targets violence in Ill. nursing homes, AP/Google, October 9, 2009

Illinois Nursing Homes Mix Seniors And Mentally Ill Patients, Some Criminals, Medical News, September 30, 2009

Related Web Resources:
Nursing homes in Illinois

Tribune Watchdog: Compromised Care, Chicago Tribune

Continue reading " Preventing Nursing Home Violence Between Residents: Illinois Senate Committees to Hold Hearing in Chicago on Assisted Living Safety " »

The family of an 84-year-old nursing home patient who died one week after she was admitted to a hospital for infected sores is suing a nursing home for wrongful death. Their civil lawsuit is seeking $35 million from Ruxton Health nursing home and former nursing home administrator Sue Myatt.

According to the wrongful death complaint, a sore was discovered on Lorina Wiggins’s left ankle on December 27, 2007. The sore became infected and by March her bone was visible. She died on March 21, 2008 from what the plaintiffs are calling wound complications. Their lawsuit also claims that Wiggins developed seven sores over a six-month period while staying at the nursing home.

Wiggins’s son, Bob, says no one told him that his mother had an infected sore or that other lesions had developed. He couldn't visit his mother at the nursing home between January and March 2008, but he phoned the facility to check on her. His nursing home negligence lawsuit says nursing home staffers told him his mother was “fine” and there were “no problems.”

This is the third nursing home negligence lawsuit within the last year naming Ruxton Health as a defendant. The family of Lillian Funn sued the nursing home for wrongful death after she died from skin ulcers and multiple nursing home bedsores in 2008. The civil suit was settled in April.

Last August, the family of 70-year-old Roper Houston filed a $26 million wrongful death lawsuit against the assisted living facility. Houston, who was mentally handicapped because of a traumatic brain injury he sustained as a child was transported to a hospital because there was blood in his urine. However, the plaintiffs contend that nursing home workers did not tell the hospital he struck his head when he fell out of bed.

Houston had resided at the assisted living facility for 30 years. His sister-in-law Sue says that he was involved in 14 fall accidents in a year and she made it a point to post notes warning staffers to take extra precautions. She said the notes were disregarded.

Between January 2007 and April 2008, state regulatory officials received 28 complaints alleging patient negligence at Ruxton Health.

Nursing home faces another lawsuit, Daily Press, October 9, 2009

Nursing home death leads to $26M suit, WAVY.com, August 26, 2009

Related Web Resources:
Elder Abuse in Nursing Homes, Nolo

Nursing Home Overview, Medicare

Members of the Nursing Home Safety Task Force met yesterday to begin the process of figuring out how to better regulate nursing homes so that residents do not become the victims of violent crimes committed by other residents who are mentally ill and/or who have violent criminal pasts. Illinois Governor Patrick Quinn announced he was forming the task force following an investigation by the Chicago Tribune that exposed breaches in screening and regulation that allowed mentally ill patients with violent streaks to be housed next to elderly or very frail residents.

Michael Gelder, who used to be a deputy director for the Illinois Department on Aging and is now Quinn’s health policy senior advisor, is heading the task force, which consists of high-level officials from several Illinois agencies: the departments of aging; health care and family services, public health, corrections, state police, and human services. The Task force members have promised to make their recommendations by the end of January.

On Wednesday, Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan called for unannounced nursing home inspections and better criminal background checks. A series of articles in the Chicago Tribune reported that the current process frequently fails to track all serious felony crimes. This has resulted in other residents becoming the victims of nursing home crimes, including physical assault crimes sexual assault crimes, and murders.

Madigan’s call came in the form of a letter to the Illinois Department of Public Health director, Dr. Damon Arnold. She said that the department should work with Illinois Police to generate revised criminal histories for every offender residing in an Illinois nursing home.

While mentally ill patients definitely are entitled to receive the nursing care that they need, this does not mean that the safety and well-being of elderly and frail resident should be compromised. If an Illinois nursing home agrees to take in mentally ill residents who happen to have criminal records or a tendency to commit violent acts, the facility is responsible for protecting the other residents.

Whether your loved one was the victim of nursing home abuse inflicted by a nursing home worker or another patient, violence of any kind is against the law and may be grounds for an Illinois nursing home negligence lawsuit against the assisted living facility where the incident occurred.

Our Chicago nursing negligence law firm is committed to holding all parties liable for the harm that our clients have suffered.

Madigan Calls for Crackdowns on Nursing Homes, SJ-R.com, October 8, 2009

Nursing home safety: Gov. Pat Quinn forms task force, Chicago Tribune, October 2, 2009

Task force targets violence in Ill. nursing homes, AP/Google, October 8, 2009

Related Web Resource:
Nursing Home Safety, Chicago Tribune

Since 2006, Illinois nursing homes are required to conduct criminal background checks on new residents. One reason for this is the growing number of mentally ill patients with criminal records who are transferred to assisted living facilities. A number of these patients were convicted for serious felony crimes. Many of them are much younger and physically stronger than the elderly and sick residents that make up the rest of the nursing home population.

Nursing home supervisors are supposed to use their findings from a criminal background check to determine whether a new resident poses enough of a danger risk that he or she should be housed without a roommate and/or be monitored closely.

Unfortunately, not all nursing homes do a good job when conducting this screening process, and, as a result, a number of elderly and sick residents have become the victims of violent crimes. Chicago Tribune's examination of this process revealed that many Illinois nursing homes either overlook or miss some ex-convicts’ more violent crimes and downplay the threat they might pose to other long-term care facility residents.

Confidential reports from 45 recent cases show that assessments made were not completed within several months or even up to a year after a mentally ill felon was placed in an Illinois nursing home—plenty of time for a nursing home patient to sustain serious injury during a brutal beating or a rape crime.

Of the 3,000 felons residing in Illinois nursing homes, less than 1% are considered “high risk.” Some 2,077 felons are considered “low risk,” which means they are treated the same as residents who don’t have criminal records. Patients who are considered “moderate risk” are observed more closely than other patients. Some residents who should have but were not placed in the "high risk" category have gone on to injure or kill another resident.

It is the responsibility of an Illinois nursing home to ensure the safety of its residents. This means protecting them from becoming the victims of nursing home abuse, nursing neglect, and violent crimes. Failure to properly screen a nursing home resident or worker who could pose a potential threat to other patients is negligence on the part of the assisted living facility. Failure to closely monitor or isolate a potentially dangerous resident so he or she doesn’t injure others is also negligence.

Contact our Chicago nursing home negligence lawyers to schedule your free case evaluation.

A failure to protect, Chicago Tribune, September 30, 2009

Growing number of younger, mentally ill nursing home residents poses safety risks, news outlet reports, McKnight's, March 24, 2009

Related Web Resources:
Nursing Homes in Illinois

Tribune Watchdog: Compromised Care, Chicago Tribune