Chicago Nursing Home Abuse Lawyer Blog

According to a University of California study published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, many dementia patients are at risk of being mistreated by caregivers. The study took a look at 129 people diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease or a related disorder with caregivers in private homes.

According to researchers:
• 47% of the participants had been mistreated.
• 13% of the abuse was physical.
• 42% suffered from psychological abuse.
• 14% were the victims of caregiver neglect.

Risk factors among caregivers that increased the chance of mistreatment included depression, high levels of anxiety, social isolation, and the sense that caring for the dementia patient was a burden. Persons with dementia who were verbally abusive or physical abusive had a greater risk of being mistreated.

However, this is not to say that any type of patient abuse is ever justified for any reason—whether in a private setting or at an assisted living facility. Many dementia patients cannot be held responsible for their words or actions because they are not even fully aware of what they are doing or saying.

Patients with Alzheimer’s, dementia, or other forms of mental illness need special care. It is important that caregivers and the nursing home workers tasked with providing that care are trained in dealing with the unique issues that come with working with these types of patients.

Unfortunately, many dementia patients are unable to report that they have become victims of Chicago, Illinois nursing home abuse or neglect. Many may not even aware that they are being physically harmed, verbally abused, sexually assaulted, or neglected.

Research on Mistreatment of People with Dementia by their Caregivers, Center of Excellence on Elder Abuse and Neglect

Related Web Resources:
Caregiver Abuse, Neglect, and Exploitation (PDF)

Dementia and Alzheimer's Care

Continue reading " Dementia Patients Are Easy Targets for Chicago Nursing Home Abuse and Neglect " »

Mildred Ellefson, a 101-year-old nursing home patient has died. The elderly woman passed away less than two days after a car that crashed into the Palisade Manor nursing home struck her. An autopsy was conducted to determine whether she died from injuries she sustained during the nursing home accident or from other causes.

Police have charged the driver of the vehicle that struck Ellefson, 18-year-old Clarrissa Jean Kutil, with operating a vehicle without a license and careless driving. Kutil and two others were at the assisted living facility waiting for a friend who worked there to come out when Kutil decided to play a joke on her two companions, who were sitting on the 1994 Oldsmobile Cutlass’s trunk.

She reportedly meant to merely rev the engine of the car to startle the two males when she accidentally placed the car in reverse and stepped on the accelerator instead of the brake. The vehicle crashed through the brick hall of the nursing home, trapping Ellefson, between the wall and her bed. The 101-year-old nursing home patient was treated at a hospital before being released. She went back to the assisted living facility. The nursing home administrator had said that Ellefson sustained bruises and cuts from the car crash.

Nursing Home Negligence
Nursing homes are responsible for their patients’ well-being. When a resident gets hurt or dies while staying at an assisted living facility and workers at the nursing home caused or failed to prevent the injuries or death, the patients and his/her family may have grounds for a Chicago nursing home negligence claim.

101-year-old woman injured in nursing home accident dies, ArgusLeader, June 23, 2010

Woman, 101, dies after crash into SD nursing home, KTIV, June 23, 2010

Related Web Resources:
Nursing Home, Medicare.gov

Nursing Home Abuse Overview, Justia

Continue reading " 101-Year-Old Resident Struck by Car in Nursing Home Accident Dies " »

Another nursing home negligence lawsuit has been filed against Evangelical Lutheran Good Samaritan Society for the elder abuse that a number of residents suffered at the hands of six teen nursing assistants. The latest complaint contends that Albert Lea nursing home’s supervisors were negligent when they failed to properly supervise the teenagers who allegedly sexually, emotionally, and physically abused residents in 2008.

The elder abuse crimes and the young ages of the alleged perpetrators sent shock waves through the country. While four of the girls criminal cases were dealt with in juvenile court, two of the girls, Ashton Larson and Brianna Broitzman, now both age 20, face charges in adult court. Their criminal trials are scheduled to begin next month.

The nursing home company, which has maintained that it didn’t know that the elder abuse incidents were happening, says that it responded right away as soon as it found out about the alleged nursing home abuse. The state's health department did not cite Good Samaritan Society of Albert Lea over the incidents.

The residents who were targeted reportedly suffered from dementia, Alzheimer’s, and other mental illnesses and the abuse reportedly occurred over a number of months. The teen nursing home workers were only supposed to perform simple tasks, such as helping patients with an activity or combing their hair.

Nursing Home Abuse
Assisted living facilities must closely monitor their employees to make sure that nursing home neglect or abuse doesn’t happen. Failure to properly supervise, train, or conduct a background check of staff members can prove detrimental to the residents who are left vulnerable to sexual assault, verbal abuse, emotional abuse, physical abuse, and elder neglect.

Another lawsuit in Albert Lea Elder Abuse Case, Globe Gazette, June 17, 2010

Lawsuit alleges ‘systemic failure to exercise proper supervision,' Albert Lea Tribune, January 26, 2010

Related Web Resources:
Evangelical Lutheran Good Samaritan Society

Nursing Home Abuse Center

Illinois regulators are taking steps to revoke the licenses of seven assisted living facilities, including Evergreen Health Care Center in Cook County. One of the patients at the Evergreen Park assisted living facility was hospitalized after maggots were discovered crawling in and out of her head wound. The Evergreen Park nursing home was cited for failure to properly care for the 86-year-old resident’s wound and has also been cited a number of other times for Cook County nursing home neglect.

According to the White House, some 700,000 to 3.5 million elderly are neglected, abused, and exploited in the United States every year and many of these crime are taking place in US nursing homes. While lawmakers are taking steps to combat nursing home abuse and neglect, so much more needs to be done to tackle this issue that is harming elderly persons in both private and community settings.

Tuesday, June 15, 2010 was World Elder Abuse Awareness Day. The day was intended as a call-to-action to increase awareness about elder abuse awareness and neglect.

The idea that elderly people are suffering because people tasked with taking care of them are abusing, neglecting, or exploiting them is a horrific one. If you suspect that your loved one is a victim of Chicago nursing home abuse or neglect, there are steps that you can take to fight back.

Nursing home neglect and abuse can lead to bruises, bedsores, broken bones, sexual assault wounds, emotional trauma, fractures, malnutrition, overmedication, clogged breathing tubes, sepsis, dehydration, choking accidents, infections, deterioration of health, and wrongful death.

7 Illinois nursing homes face loss of licenses, Chicago Tribune, June 17, 2010

Honoring the Global Effort to End Elder Abuse, The White House, June 15, 2010

Related Web Resources:
World Elder Abuse Awareness Day, Administration on Aging

Nursing Homes in Chicago, Illinois, CityOf.com

Winona Nelson has been sentenced to five years in prison for financial exploitation of an elderly person. The 31-year-old Chicago resident had committed the theft in 2009 after she was fired from The Moorings, an Arlington Heights nursing home where her 89-year-old victim, a dementia patient, lived. She was able to electronically withdraw $6,070 from the elderly woman’s bank account.

According to Cook County Assistant State's Attorney Sherie DeDore, Nelson had misrepresented herself as a certified nursing assistant when the Arlington Heights nursing home hired her. Nelson was at the assisted living facility for just a month before she was let go. She has prior criminal convictions for burglary and forgery.

Elder Financial Abuse
Elderly patients, especially those who are suffering from Dementia or Alzheimer’s, are easy targets for people intent on committing elder financial fraud. Caregivers and nursing home workers have the advantage of being in constant and close proximity to the patient and his/her personal belongings, which can make it easy to access account information and other important financial data. They also will likely have gained the patient’s trust.

Financially exploiting an elderly person is a crime. If money was stolen from your loved one by a nursing home worker, you may have grounds for pursuing a Chicago nursing home negligence lawsuit against the facility where the elder financial fraud occurred.

Unfortunately, many victims of elder financial fraud do not know that they are being targeted or, if they do, they may be afraid, ashamed, or, due to health limitations, unable to report what has happened.

Nursing assistant sentenced in theft, Chicago Tribune, June 11, 2010

Related Web Resources:
Elder Fraud by Relatives or Caregivers, DFI.Wa.Gov

Financial Abuse, National Committee for the Prevention of Elder Abuse

Continue reading " Arlington Heights Nursing Home Assistant Sentenced for Stealing from 89-year-old Resident " »

A former certified nursing assistant has pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting a mentally disabled patient. Junious Boyd Batten admitted that he raped the 55-year-old man, who has the mental capacity of a child, on several occasions. According to the victim’s testimony, in March 2008, Batten told him to take of his clothes and lie face down on the floor of the bedroom before doing “something he was not supposed to be doing.”

Batten is facing a maximum lifetime prison sentence after pleading guilty to one count each of forcible sodomy, abuse, non-forcible sodomy, and neglect of an incapacitated adult. By pleading guilty in an Alford plea, he is admitting there is enough evidence to convict him while maintaining that he is innocent. As part of his plea agreement, prosecutors dropped three non-forcible sodomy charges and four forcible sodomy counts.

The former nursing home employee, who worked at the Cote de Neige Home for Adults between late 2006 and the middle of 2007, also admitted to sexually abusing a 24-year-old resident at the assisted living facility. The younger victim is the one who told a counselor about the sexual abuse.

In June 2008, the disabled man’s family filed a $3.5 million nursing home negligence lawsuit against Cote de Neige and its owner for exhibiting reckless disregard for residents when they hired Batten. Prior to and during his time at the home, Batten had been charged with 13 crimes. Although a number of them were dismissed, he was convicted on two assault and battery charges, public intoxication, and contempt of court.

In May 2009, a jury awarded the plaintiffs $750,000 in nursing home negligence damages. $500,000 was for compensatory damages and $250,000 was for punitive damages.

Nursing assistant admits raping disabled man at Newport News group home, Daily Press, May 19, 2010

Facility Hit With $750k Damages In Sexual Assault Case, Daily Press, June 4, 2009

Male nurse admits to raping disabled man in Newport News nursing home, Examiner.com, May 20, 2010

Related Web Resource:
Nursing Home Safety, Chicago Tribune

Continue reading " Nursing Assistant Pleads Guilty to Sexually Assaulting Mentally Disabled Male Resident " »

State officials say that they’ve received a number of complaints in just the last month accusing Clemmons Nursing and Rehab Center of committing at least 20 different violations and that they have evidence to substantiate four of the violations. According to an investigation report, in one incident a nursing aid reportedly threw one female resident, who suffers from a number of health problems and can’t walk without help, onto a bed from her wheelchair. The patient was severely bruised as a result. The assisted living facility has until June 19 to resolve the complaint or it may lose its Medicare funding for new inpatient services.

Nursing home workers work in such close physical contact with many of their patients that it is important that they know how to properly touch them and refrain from doing anything inappropriate or abusive. Molestation, bruising a patient by handling them too roughly, or touching them in a manner that is disrespectful or abusive in any other way is nursing home abuse. Not only can this cause serious physical and emotional injuries to the resident, but it is a violation of his/her rights and can be grounds for a Chicago, Illinois nursing home abuse and neglect lawsuit.

Many nursing home patients need help walking, bathing, moving from their wheelchair to a bed, eating, changing their clothes. Some of them may even need someone to help turn them in bed on a regular basis so that they don't develop pressure sores. This need for physical assistance places residents in a very vulnerable position and it is up to nursing homes and their employees to not violate this trust.

Clemmons Nursing Home Accused of Mistreating Residents, MyFox8, June 8, 2010

Related Web Resources:
Medicare Funding

Camera Captures Violent Scene As Nurse Appears To Dump Elderly Wheelchair-Bound Patient On Floor, Leaves Her, WCBS2, May 27, 2010

Continue reading " Nursing Home Violations Claims Made Against Facility Where Worker Allegedly Threw Patient from Wheelchair Onto Bed " »

Shirley McManus is seeking over $150,000 plus attorney’s fees and costs against Caseyville Property and Caseyville Nursing and Rehabilitation Center for Newton J. McManus Jr.’s wrongful death. She is alleging nursing home negligence and claims that he died because nursing home staffers did not properly treat his decubitus ulcers.

Shirley contends that because Newton developed leg ischemia, bedsores, and a urinary tract infection after he was admitted to the assisted living facility on May 8, 2008, he died just 24 days later. She says that nursing home negligence by staffers, the assisted living facility, and its owner, caused her his personal injuries and wrongful death. Shirley is also accusing the defendants of inadequate nursing care, failure to protect Newton from Illinois nursing home abuse and neglect, failure to notify a doctor about his health issues, inadequate treatment of his pressure sores, failure to comprehensively assess his health, and failure to make sure that he maintain a certain weight.

Shirley says that prior to Newton’s death, he incurred medical expenses and experienced emotional distress, mental anguish, serious pain and suffering, and loss of dignity.

Inadequate Nursing Care
What may seem like a minor health condition, wound, or illness at first can turn serious if proper nursing and medical care are not administered immediately. It is nursing home neglect to provide inadequate nursing care. Not only can it lead to health complications or death for a resident, but also the patient may have to experience severe pain and suffering and loss of dignity and comfort.

Woman sues Caseyville nursing home over man's death, The Record, June 3, 2010

Related Web Resources:

Decubitus Ulcers, Emedicine

Leg ischemia, American Family Physician

Licensed practical nurse Jessie Joyner is charge with abuse, neglect, mistreating a nursing home resident, and stealing medication from another patient. Surveillance footage shows the 56-year-old nurse sharply jerking a wheelchair, as the 85-year-old patient seated on it falls to the ground. Joiner is then seen walking by the patient, who is on the ground flailing, twice, before leaving the area.

More than two minutes later, another employee arrives on the scene and does nothing for over a minute before he begins speaking to the elderly woman. Joiner comes back to the accident site and help is finally called. However, this help wasn’t administered until over four minutes after the fall accident.

The elderly resident, who has dementia, broke her hip during the fall accident. However, it wasn’t until the nursing home administration reviewed the footage that the true cause of the hip fracture was discovered.

Meantime, Joiner has pleaded not guilty to the criminal charges. Her defense lawyer says that the patient fell on her own and that the nurse had tried to help her. However, the attorney general’s complaint contends that Joiner has said that she knocked the elderly resident from the wheelchair and did not help her. She is also accused of not reporting the fall accident until another staffer noticed the woman on the ground, and also of lying about the incident.

In an unrelated incident, which also took place that night, Joiner has admitted to taking more than 20 Percocet pills that were supposed to be for another patient. She said she took the medication for her own use and got rid of paperwork to conceal her actions.

Subjecting an assisted living resident to cruelty and neglect is nursing home abuse and a violation of the patient's rights. Even if criminal charges aren't pursued, you may still be able to sue for Chicago nursing home neglect and abuse.

SHOCK VIDEO: NYC Nursing Home Horror, WCBSTV, May 27, 2010

Nurse charged with abusing patient, stealing drugs, ABC Local, April 22, 2010

Related Web Resources:
National Center on Elder Abuse

Nursing Homes Resident Rights, Medicare.gov

Continue reading " Nursing Home Abuse: Video Shows Patient Being Dumped from Wheelchair onto the Ground " »

The family of Morris Howard is suing Virdia Spain and Illuminada Tuzon for his Cook County wrongful death. Howard, a 58-year-old Chicago resident, was a patient at Elgin Mental Health Center in 2008 when he went into anaphylactic shock and died.

In their Elgin wrongful death complaint, the plaintiffs claim that the defendants, who worked as therapy aides at the long-term care facility, fed him fish, even though the center knew that Howard was allergic to seafood. His tray even came with a pink cover to note that he was a high-risk patient with dietary restrictions. Morris had been allergic to fish since he was age 2 and a card on his tray listed this information.

Howard, who was physically and mentally impaired, was unable to communicate effectively. However, his family contends that the two women knew about his allergy.

Following Howard’s death, Tuzon and Spain were charged with abuse of a long-term health care facility resident and accused of not only criminal negligence, but also of acting recklessly when providing him with care. The criminal charges against them were eventually dropped because prosecutors found that there was no evidence showing that the two therapists had known about his allergies and then decided to intentionally feed fish to him.

Long-term care facilities must have the proper procedures in place to make sure that patients with dietary restrictions are not given the wrong food. For example, some residents may be on a very low sugar diet or are lactose intolerant. Others may be allergic to seafood, nuts, some other type of food. Still others can only eat food that has been ground up or liquefied. In some cases, failure to abide by these dietary restrictions can cause severe allergic reactions, choking accidents, other serious health complications, and even death.

Family sues over man's fish allergy death, Chicago Breaking News, May 28, 2010

Aides charged in Elgin Mental Health Center death, Daily Herald, November 12, 2008

Related Web Resources:
Elgin Mental Health Center, Illinois.gov

Allergic Reaction and Anaphylactic Shock, EmedicineHealth

Continue reading " Cook County Wrongful Death Lawsuit Claims Chicago Man Went into Anaphylactic Shock Because He was Fed Fish at Elgin Mental Health Center " »