Chicago Nursing Home Abuse Lawyer Blog

Three mentally ill patients at the Balmoral Nursing Home in Chicago are now accounted for and safe. Missing persons reports had been issued for all three of them.

The first patient who disappeared was Donald Stewart. The 70-year-old suffers from schizoaffective disorder. Police had said that the last time his whereabouts were known was on Wednesday when he walked out of the assisted living facility's front door. Two days later, nursing home resident Earnest Wade also reportedly disappeared after she left the assisted living facility. The 61-year-old suffers from bipolar disorder, schizoaffective disorder, and is an alcoholic. A third person, Josephine Gallegos, 64, also was reported missing after she too left the nursing home. She also has schizoaffective disorder.

Now, officials are saying that at all three patients were accounted for the entire time. They are back at the assisted living facility and are unharmed.

According to the administrator at the North Side nursing home, there are patients at the facility that are allowed to come and go. However, Illinois law requires that a missing persons report be filed if a resident misses curfew. One police detective says that nursing homes file about 15 such reports daily and that most cases resolve themselves.

Wandering/Elopement
That said, Chicago, Illinois nursing homes are responsible for their patients’ physical safety. This means making sure that, in addition to protecting residents from becoming the victims of nursing home abuse, neglect, or patient violence, assisted facility workers must see to it that residents who are not able to take care of themselves are not allowed to wander off unsupervised.

Some nursing home residents that disappear can end up getting hit by a car, injured during a fall accident, or may freeze to death, starve, or become the victim of a violent crime. If your loved one was injured after eloping from an assisted living facility, you may have grounds for filing a Chicago, Illinois nursing home neglect lawsuit.

Three Patients Missing From North Side Nursing Home Found, MyFoxChicago, March 31, 2010

3 missing patients found, raises concerns, WBBM, March 30, 2010

Related Web Resources:
The National Institute for Elopement Prevention and Resolution

Nursing Homes in Chicago, Illinois

The family of a disabled nursing home patient is suing Fox River Pavilion for Illinois nursing home negligence. The resident was allegedly sexually assaulted by Sylvester Graves, who was also a patient at the Aurora assisted living facility.

According to the Aurora nursing home negligence complaint, the 39-year-old Graves, who is mentally ill and has been arrested on numerous occasions, beat and sexually assaulted the woman, who has dementia, while they were in his room. The lawsuit contends that the facility should have been closely watching Graves and/or restricting him. The family is also alleging inadequate security and failure to provide the proper treatment for Graves’s anti-social conduct.

Graves is in jail and charged with eight counts of aggravated criminal sexual assault and criminal sexual assault and battery. He has prior convictions for theft and burglary.

Federal and state officials terminated funding to Fox River Pavilion. According to the state of Illinois, inadequate staffing and failure to properly treat and monitor mentally ill felons contributed to patient violence. Last year, another Fox River patient died from heart failure after his roommate attacked him.

Nursing Home Violence
Illinois nursing homes must properly screen prospective residents to determine whether they could pose a danger to other residents. In addition to protecting residents from Chicago, Illinois nursing home abuse and neglect, the facility must also protect them from patient violence.

The problem of nursing home patients inflicting harm on other residents is one that assisted living facilities, along with state and federal officials, must solve. Too many residents are becoming the victims of rape, physical assault, sexual assault, and other violent crimes because mentally ill or violent residents are being housed, without proper supervision and the appropriate restrictions, with the rest of the nursing home population.

Lawsuit over alleged nursing home sex assault, Chicago Tribune, March 29, 2010

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

Compromised Care, Chicago Tribune

Over 30 Illinois nursing home patients from the Fountains III Independent and Assisted Living Center in Shiloh had to be transported to hospitals after they became afflicted with the a norovirus. The virus, which is easily transmittable and travels very fast, has been known to show up at US assisted living facilities.

The nursing home patients experienced vomiting, acute nausea, and diarrhea. According to BND.com, seven patients were taken to hospitals on Thursday and another 24 were treated at hospitals on Friday. A number of nursing home workers also became ill. A few of the patients stayed at the hospital so they could be observed further.

The Fountains III Independent and Assisted Living Center employs 30 workers and houses 63 nursing home patients. Following the outbreak of the norovirus, nursing home staff started cleaning and disinfecting the whole facility to make sure the virus is killed off. Patients who were afflicted will eat on paper products in their rooms and workers will have to wear masks and gloves when entering the bedrooms so that the virus doesn't spread further. Visitors will be notified about the virus.

Norovirus
In addition to diarrhea, frequent vomiting, and nausea, fever, chills, muscle aches, headaches, and tiredness are among the other symptoms of norovirus illness. Having norovirus can lead to the stomach flu, non-bacterial gastroenteritis, acute gastroenteritis, viral gastroenteritis, calicivirus infection, and food poisoning.

While most people with norovirus usually recover within a couple of days, special medical care may be required if dehydration results. Considering that the elderly and sick persons are among those at risk of suffering from dehydration-related norovirus complications, it is important that nursing homes make sure they take preventive action so that the virus doesn’t make its way into a facility. Otherwise, if a patients gets sick, the assisted living facility can be held liable for Illinois nursing home neglect.

Common ways that people get norovirus:

• Eating food contaminated with the virus
• Drinking contaminated liquids
• Directly touching someone who has norovirus
• Touching contaminated objects and surfaces and then putting their hands in the mouth

33 nursing home residents taken to hospitals; suffered nausea, vomiting, BND.com, March 26, 2010

What are Noroviruses?, CDC

Illness Hits 33 Patients At Illinois Nursing Home, Fox2now.com, March 26, 2010

Related Web Resource:
Illinois Department of Public Health

Continue reading " More than 30 Shiloh, Illinois Nursing Home Residents Become Afflicted with Flu-Like Virus " »

Good news for Chicago, Illinois nursing home patients. The new health care reform bill, passed by Congress and signed into law by President Barack Obama, includes provisions designed to improve nursing home patient safety and prevent abuse and neglect. The legislation includes the Patient Safety and Abuse Prevention Act, the Elder Justice Act, and the Nursing Home Transparency and Improvement Act.

Under the Patient Safety and Abuse Prevention Act, a national program of criminal background checks will hopefully keep abusive nursing home workers away from residents. Meantime, the Elder Justice Act requires that all nursing home abuse and neglect is reported. It will also improve public agencies’ ability to properly investigate allegations of neglect and abuse while requiring that long-term care ombudsmen are better trained. $32.5 million will go toward grants supporting ombudsmen programs.

The Nursing Home Transparency and Improvement Act will give consumers easy access to information about assisted living facility staffing turnover, inspection reports, and sanctions while requiring that nursing home operators, owners, and financiers provide greater disclosure. Also, $400 million will go toward adult protection services funding.

That the federal government and Illinois officials, including Governor Pat Quinn’s Nursing Home Safety Task Force, are committed to protecting patients from abuse and neglect are two developments that our Chicago, Illinois nursing home neglect and abuse lawyers are pleased to see. Unfortunately, nursing home neglect and abuse and patient violence continue to be huge problems at Illinois assisted living facilities. If you suspect that a nursing home worker or another patient is abusing your loved one, you must remove your relative from the abusive situation immediately, report the incident, and contact our Chicago nursing home negligence law firm to explore your legal options.

Nursing Home Transparency and Improvement Act

Patient Safety and Abuse Prevention Act

Elder Justice Act

Related Web Resources:
Health Care Reform Bill Will Also Improve Long-Term Care, NCCNHR, March 24, 2010

Related Web Resources:
Health Reform

Nursing Home Safety Task Force, Illinois.gov

The owner of Extended Care Clinical, an Evanston-based nursing home company that owns assisted living facilities in Illinois (including in Lake County), Nebraska, Indiana, and Ohio, has been ordered to shut down its Northlake Nursing and Rehabilitation Center following complaints of negligent nursing care that the facility allegedly failed to remedy. All the residents were supposed to be relocated by March 15th—although facility owner Eric Rothner had filed a complaint on March 10 seeking a delay.

Rothner is also the owner of Somerset Place, a Chicago nursing home that was also shut down because of poor nursing care. Chicago nursing home abuse, patient violence, and negligent care were some of the reasons that the 400-bed facility lost its license.

As of early January, there were still 12 residents still living at Northlake. The beleaguered assisted living facility has come under fire from residents and families that have filed nursing home neglect lawsuits and/or complaints, as well as from the state.

One patient, 51-year-old Mary Anne Jackson, reportedly left the assisted living facility in worse shape than when she entered it. Jackson, who had one skin ulcer when she was admitted to Northlake in 2008, reportedly ended up with so many bedsores that her behind disappeared, ligaments, bone, and muscle became visible, and her legs became stuck together. Doctors recommended that her legs be amputated but the family refused.

Another nursing home patient, James Ribovich, was diagnosed with a UTI, sepsis, and gangrene on his scrotum and penis. A wide excision of the gangrene had to be conducted. The 71-year-old died in 2006. His daughter has filed a wrongful death lawsuit alleging nursing home negligence.

Verbal and physical nursing home abuse also reportedly occurred at the faculty and at least eight residents did not receive the proper bedsore care that they needed. Poor nursing home management and inadequately trained nursing home workers at Northlake have also been cited as causes for concern by state inspectors and former employees.

Nursing home long troubled, Post-Tribune, March 14, 2010

Northlake closure could stall, Post-Tribune, March 10, 2010

Deadline set to close Chicago nursing home, Chicago Tribune, March 9, 2010

Related Web Resources:
Extended Care Clinical, LLC

Nursing Home Compare, Medicare.gov

Continue reading " Evanston, Illinois Nursing Home Company Ordered to Close Another Assisted Living Facility Because of Poor Patient Care " »

Over the next five years, about 4,500 psychiatric patients may be moved out of Illinois nursing homes into supportive housing—which is good news for both mentally ill residents and the disabled and elderly people that are currently living together in assisted living facilities. The class-action settlement that would set this process in motion is expected to be filed by Monday.

If approved, the state would give mentally ill patient the choice of moving from an Illinois nursing homes to a community-based facility. This alternative arrangement lets mentally ill residents live independently while at the same time providing them access to the help that they need. ACLU of Illinois associate legal director Benjamin Wolf says the settlement will change the current system from one that institutionalizes people to one that actually gives people what they need. ACLU of Illinois filed the lawsuit in 2005.

In Cook County, Lake County, DuPage County, and Will County, our Illinois nursing home negligence law firm is dedicated to making sure that the victims of Chicago, Illinois nursing home neglect and patient violence are compensated for the harm they have suffered at the hands of abusive and neglectful nursing home workers and violent patients.

Not only is it important that an Illinois assisted living facility provide a resident with the nursing and medical care that he/she needs, but nursing home workers must protect a patient from harming themselves and/or others. It is fortunate that Governor Pat Quinn’s Nursing Home Safety Task Force is taking steps to provide better protections for nursing home residents. However, assisted living facilities must still make sure that they fulfill their responsibility to residents by giving them the proper care and taking steps to ensure that they don’t get hurt, sick, or die because nursing home workers were negligent.

New hope for Illinois’ mentally ill nursing-home residents, Chicago Tribune, March 15, 2010

Settlement is a sea change for care of the mentally ill, Chicago Sun-Times, March 16, 2010

Related Web Resources:
Governor Quinn's Nursing Home Safety Task Force

Compromised Care, Tribune Watchdog

Continue reading " Preventing Chicago Nursing Home Neglect and Patient Violence: Thousands of Mentally Ill Patients May Be Relocated to More Appropriate Facilities " »

A woman who had been reported missing from a Chicago, Illinois nursing home has committed suicide. According to police, 37-year-old Catherine Ryan dove to her death onto the Dan Ryan Expressway from an overpass on March 9.

Autopsy findings indicate that she died from multiple injuries caused by a high fall onto the expressway. The medical examiner’s office ruled her death a suicide.

The last sighting of Ryan was earlier this year when she was admitted to Northwestern Abbott Hospital. She called a friend on February 25. Ryan was a nursing home resident at Margaret Manor Nursing Home.

Wandering/Elopement
Many nursing home patients cannot take care of themselves, which is why assisted living facilities must make sure that residents are properly supervised and don’t wander off the premise. Also, many patients with dementia or other forms of mental illness are at high risk of elopement.

This is why assisted living facilities must have enough qualified and properly trained staff to work every shift, make sure that residents that are at risk of wandering are placed in bedrooms close to the nurses station, lock the side doors and secure the windows, install alarms on doors, and activate security cameras and/or employ security guards.

Unfortunately, lack of security, inadequate supervision, and nursing home neglect can make it easy for patients to walk out of nursing homes, which places them at risk of getting hit by a car, becoming the victim of a violent crime, dying from the heat or cold, sustaining serious injuries during a fall accident, starving, or becoming severely hydrated.

In the event that a nursing home resident wanders off and gets hurt or dies, the victim’s family may be able to obtain Chicago, Illinois nursing home neglect compensation.

Woman's death in Ryan jump a suicide: autopsy, Southtown Star, March 10, 2010

Related Web Resources:
Controlling Unsafe Wandering Behaviors in Alzheimer's Patients, Caregiving.com

Aging Parents and Elder Care

Continue reading " Woman Who Went Missing from Chicago Nursing Home Commits Suicide " »

The family of Rodney L. Volkening is suing a South Elgin assisted living facility for Illinois nursing home neglect. The 54-year-old, who suffered from spina bifida, died on July 31, 2008.

Volkening was admitted to the Kane County assisted living facility so he could get the care he needed for his condition. On July 5, he was taken to an Elgin hospital.

Staffers there suspected nursing home abuse and neglect. He had severe bedsores and his colostomy bag had exploded. There was a significant amount of stool on him him and he had a very high fever, 107 degrees, that had been left untreated.

The family is seeking over $50,000 plus legal fees. At this time, they are not accusing the South Elgin nursing home of causing the nursing home patient’s wrongful death, but their St. Charles nursing home negligence lawyer is investigating whether abuse and neglect contributed to Volkening’s death. The nursing home resident’s death certificate lists pneumonia and a staph infection as the causes.

The family’s Illinois nursing home neglect lawsuit accuses the facility of violating Illinois’ Nursing Home Care Act, providing the patient with inadequate maintenance, personal care, and medical care, failing to develop a care plan that would reduce the risk of bedsores, failing to take into account Volkening’s medical history, and failing to discover his decubitus ulcers in a timely manner.

Chicago Nursing Home Negligence
Neglecting to care for a nursing home patient can lead to deteriorating health and complications that can prove fatal, especially if the resident already has other health issues. It is a nursing home’s job to provide each patient with the care that he or she requires. Neglect is another form of abuse. If you suspect Chicago nursing home abuse or neglect, you should remove your loved one from the facility immediately.

Suit alleges neglect, abuse by S. Elgin nursing home, The Courier-News, March 14, 2010

Related Web Resources:
Spina Bifida, National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke

Nursing Home Care Act, Illinois General Assembly

According to Illinois officials, Somerset Place, a Chicago nursing home, will close its doors on Friday. The assisted living facility, which primarily houses mentally ill residents, lost its Medicaid funding, as well as its license, following repeated incidents of nursing home abuse and patient violence.

Most of its 400 residents have already been transferred to other assisted living facilities. Care Centers Inc., the management firm that helps manage the assisted living facility, has been named a defendant in over three dozen Chicago, Illinois medical malpractice and personal injury complaints. The company filed for bankruptcy last year.

Chicago police say they’ve investigated a number of allegations involving physical violence, sexual violence, and drug crimes at Somerset. Just last December, there were 66 felons residing at the Chicago assisted living facility.

One nursing home resident, who was allowed to wander off the premise, was found dead. While at the assisted living facility, Maratta Walker managed to use crack cocaine and prostitute herself. Although she didn’t die on the premise, the Somerset nursing workers should not have let her leave the facility while she was unsupervised.

It is the residents who must live with the consequences of inadequate nursing care, poor supervision, and the failure to properly screen prospective residents to make sure that dangerous patients are kept out or, at the very least, more closely supervised and/or kept away from the general nursing home population. You can hold a nursing home and negligent nursing home workers liable for Chicago, Illinois nursing home negligence.

Deadline set to close Chicago nursing home, Chicago Tribune, March 8, 2010

Deadline set to close Uptown nursing home, WGNTV, March 9, 2010
Chicago, Illinois Nursing Negligence: Federal and State Officials Threaten to Shut Down Local Nursing Home Unless Violations Can Be Remedied, ChicagoNursingHomeAbuseLawyerBlog, January 23, 2010

Related Web Resources:
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services

Illinois Department of Public Health

Continue reading " Following Incidents of Chicago Nursing Home Abuse and Patient Violence, Somerset Place to Close by Friday " »

The daughter of a 92-year-old woman who died after falling at an assisted living facility has filed a wrongful death lawsuit alleging nursing home negligence. Helen T. Van Dale was staying at Wingate’s Silver Lake Rehabilitation & Skilled Nursing Residence in Kingston when she fell from her wheelchair in 2007. She died the following day.

Dale had only been residing at the nursing home for five weeks when the fall accident happened. Her daughter, Dottie Hammond, claims that the nursing home also failed to properly diagnose her mother’s urinary tract infection, which caused her mother to become disoriented, fall, and hit her head. According to her death certificate, Dale’s cause of death was blunt head trauma.

Hammond says that at first, the assisted living facility seemed like a well-run, well-maintained place, and she was happy to have her mother stay at the nursing home. Now, however, she has her regrets, and notes that positive evaluations from the state and in-person visits are not always accurate gauges of the kind of care a patient might receive once he/she is admitted to the nursing home.

Urinary Tract Infections
Millions of people suffer from UTI’s, which is considered the second most common kind of bodily infection. Women are especially at high risk of suffering from a UTI.

Common causes of urinary tract infections:
• Bacteria
• Tubes or catheters inserted into the bladder or urethra
• Diabetes
• Diaphragms
• Having sex with partners that use spermicidal foams with their condoms
• Pregnancy

Left untreated, UTI’s can lead to health complications—especially for older adults and young children, who are more at risk of kidney damage. It is a nursing home’s responsibility to decrease the chances that patients will sustain any infections and if they do that treatment is administered immediately.

Woman sues after mom’s death, Boston Herald, March 7, 2010

Urinary tract infection, MayoClinic

Related Web Resources:
Urinary Tract Infections in Adults, National Kidney and Urological Disease Information Clearinghouse

Falls in Nursing Homes, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Continue reading " Nursing Home Neglect Led to 92-Year-Old Woman’s Wrongful Death, Claims Lawsuit " »

The estate of Frederick Winston Kibler is suing the Rosewood Care Center of Alton for wrongful death. The Illinois nursing home neglect complaint claims that the assisted living facility failed to provide Kibler with the proper nutritional diet, proper hydration, and a care plan.

Kibler died on February 26, 2008 after developing septic shock, pneumonia, malnutrition, multiple organ failure, a serious urinary treat infection, and dehydration.

Elizabeth Gibson, the independent administrator of Kibler’s estate, says that the Illinois assisted living facility caused his death. She alleges numerous negligent acts, including the failure to protect his safety, not using the proper diagnostic equipment, not providing sufficient staffing, failing to correctly monitor Kibler’s condition, and failing to call a doctor in a timely manner.

Gibson says that Kibler’s next-of-kin have experienced lost of companionship and society, as well as suffered severe grief. They also have had to pay for Kibler’s costly medical bills.

The defendants of the Illinois wrongful death lawsuit are Drs. Robert J. Marshall, D’Andrienne Carli Jones, Ubeydullah Deligonul, and David R. Huyette. Gibson is seeking over $100,000 plus legal fees and costs.

Chicago, Illinois Nursing Home Negligence
Malice doesn’t have to be involved for Chicago, Illinois nursing home neglect to occur. Neglecting a patient and not providing him/her with the proper medical and nursing home care can be grounds for a nursing home negligence lawsuit.

People stay at nursing homes because they are sick, frail, and/or unable to take care of themselves without help. This may be due to old age or because of a serious illness. Assisted living facility workers can cause someone’s death if they don’t do their jobs correctly.

Rosewood Care Center in Alton named in wrongful death complaint, Madison/St Clair Record, March 3, 2010

Related Web Resources:
Rosewood Care Center in Alton

Nursing Homes, Medline Plus

A judge has agreed to give Penny Whitlock $10,000 to hire expert witnesses. Whitlock, a registered nurse, is charged with two counts of obstructing justice and five counts of criminal neglect of a long-term care facility resident. The criminal charges were filed following a 15-month probe into a number of suspicious deaths at the Woodstock Residence assisted living facility in 2006.

Whitlock, who used to serve as the McHenry County nursing home’s director, is accused of endangering patients when she failed to report allegations made by staff members that nurse Marty Himebaugh was administering dangerous doses of drugs, such as morphine, to patients. Whitlock allegedly said that Himebaugh should be allowed to keep acting as the “Angel of Death.”

Whitlock says she is already $107,000 in debt and cannot afford to pay more for her defense. Although county prosecutors did not object to her request for legal help, they have said that if she is convicted, she will have to pay the county back for the expert fees.

Meantime, Himebaugh is waiting for her criminal trial on multiple felony charges to take place.

Illinois nursing home abuse and neglect are not only crimes but they can be detrimental to a patient’s health. In the ideal case scenario when Chicago, Illinois nursing home abuse or neglect is involved, the offending nursing home worker is brought to justice in criminal court. Regardless of whether or not this happens, an Illinois nursing home negligence victim or the family member of someone who died because of abuse, neglect, or medical malpractice at an assisted living facility may be able to sue the liable party/parties for damage.

For instance, in 2008, Vickie Lund filed a McHenry County nursing home negligence lawsuit against Woodstock Residence, Himebaugh, and Whitlock. Lund says that Virginia Cole died after she was administered “improper and unlawful” doses of medication while at the assisted living facility. In another Illinois wrongful death lawsuit, Sharon Hunt claimed that her son died because he was administered a deadly dose of morphine while staying at Woodstock Residence.

Nurse accused of ignoring suspicious deaths gets $10,000 to help defense, Daily Herald, February 25, 2010

Arrests Made In McHenry County Nursing Home Deaths, CBS2 Chicago, April 4, 2008

llinois “Angel of Death” Nursing Home Abuse Cases Leads to Two Wrongful Death Lawsuits, Chicago Nursing Home Abuse Law Blog, October 7, 2008

Related Web Resources:
Nursing Homes in Illinois

Elder Abuse Prevention, Illinois Department on Aging