Chicago Nursing Home Abuse Lawyer Blog

Winter in Illinois can be hazardous to the sick and elderly, which is why our Chicago nursing home abuse law firm want to remind you of how important it is for assisted living facilities to make sure that they keep patients as warm and healthy as possible. Otherwise, cold temperatures coupled with negligent nursing care can prove fatal for residents.

Steps that Chicago assisted living facilities can take to protect their patients from the cold weather:

• Make sure facilities have sufficent heating.
• Secure entrances and exits so that patients don’t wander off the grounds unattended.
• Pay extra attention to residents that are at risk of wandering.
• Remove Chicago slip and fall snow and ice hazards from the nursing home grounds
• Make sure that patients are well fed and wearing warm clothing
• Keep extra food, water, and medications on the grounds in the event that a heavy snow storm makes it impossible to get more supplies.

Hypothermia
Hypothermia, which involves the untended lowering of the body temperature, can occur during very cold temperatures. It is a health emergency that requires immediate medical attention. The elderly and those with health issues are among those at greatest risk of developing hypothermia. Health conditions that can increase a patient’s hypothermia risk include cardiovascular disease, diabetes, fall injuries, fractures, dementia, mental illness, and being under certain medications.

Wandering/Elopement
For a nursing home resident, especially one who is very ill or suffering from some type of mental illness, to wander from a facility is dangerous during any time of the year can be dangerous. He or she may become the victim of a Chicago car accident, a violent crime, or a fatal fall. However, getting lost in the snow when the temperature is extremely low can prove fatal for the resident, who may end up freezing to death.

Nursing home patients are also susceptible to flu, the cold, a cough, pneumonia, and other illnesses during the winter months. Unlike persons with strong immune systems, such sicknesses can prove detrimental to their health and result in infection and health complications. Now, more than ever, nursing home staff must carefully monitor their patients’ health.

Winter Safety Measures, Wisconsin.gov

Preparation is key for winter woes, Sun-Times, December 22, 2010

Related Web Resources:
Chicago Nursing Homes, The City of Chicago

How to Prevent Wandering at a Senior Care Facility, Caring.com

Continue reading " Chicago Nursing Homes Must Keep Patients Warm and Healthy During Winter Months " »

A 91-year-old female nursing home patient was injured recently after a 25-year-old assisted living facility worker tried to force her to touch his private parts. The worker, Telesforo Vasquez III, was arrested and charged with injury to the elderly and attempted sexual assault.

According to police, when the Castle Pines resident refused to touch Vasquez, he tried to force her down. That was when she hurt her buttock area and hip.

In other recent nursing home sexual assault news, nursing home assistant Paul Scott has pleaded guilty to sexual abuse of a physically helpless defendant. He is accused of sexually abusing a 77-year-old woman.

Last month, the family of a 90-year-old woman sued a nursing home for her wrongful death, which occurred after she was sexually assaulted by a 90-year-old male resident. The plaintiffs contend that the assisted living facility did not do enough to deal with the male perpetrator even though he had been involved in previous sexual incidents.

Per state records and the nursing home negligence complaint, the male patient was caught attempting to assault another woman on January 25, 2009. He was pulled away from and then left unattended while the manager went to get medication for him. The patient was found soon after in another female patient’s room with his pants down. After removing him from the room, nursing home staff left him alone and the elderly resident went to another room and raped the victim. It was the visitor of another patient who heard the victim’s cry for help. Following the rape, the elderly woman stopped eating. She passed away 18 days later.

Chicago Nursing Home Sexual Assault
The rape, sexual assault, and molestation of patients by workers, other residents, and visitors to assisted living home facilities continue to be a serious problem. Injuries from sex abuse at an Illinois assisted living facility may be grounds for a Chicago nursing home negligence case.

Rape victim's family sues nursing home, JSOnline, November 26, 2010

Update: Nursing Home Worker Charged With Sex Abuse, WKBW, November 29, 2010

POLICE REPORTS: Nursing home worker arrested on charges he tried to abuse a patient, The Lufkin Daily News, December 2, 2010

Related Web Resources:
Nursing Home Sexual Violence, Chicago Tribune, January 26, 2010

Elder Abuse and Neglect, HelpGuide

According to panelists attending a Senate Aging Committee forum, with the number of dementia patients continuing to grow, overmedication is becoming a serious problem. They said that one reason overmedication occurs is that family members, caregivers, and nursing home workers can mistake patients' complaints about physical ailments for unruly or aggressive conduct. To manage the patient’s behavior, antipsychotic medication that the patient doesn’t actually need is administered. On that note, our Chicago nursing home abuse law firm wants to remind our readers that giving medication to a patient without valid cause is a negligent act.

Panelists at the forum recommended other non-pharmacologic ways to deal with aggressive or unruly dementia patients, including allowing the same nursing home staff to work with specific patients so there is a better understanding of each resident’s needs and personality, hands-on skill training for family members, personal counseling, and activities that are easier for dementia patients to engage in. A number of speakers noted that even though the topic of providing dementia patients with better care has been around for some time, not much action has been taken on a federal level.

However, a number of experts have also stepped forward to say that they don’t think that dementia patients are being overmedicated and that, in fact, they are receiving appropriate care to deal with their delusions and hallucinations. These experts say that the medications can prevent some dementia patients from becoming dangerous to themselves or others.

There are about 5 million people in the US suffering from some form of dementia. Regardless of whether or not a dementia patient needs medication to cope with his/her disease, a patient should never be overmedicated for any reason.

Overmedication is a form of Chicago nursing home abuse and can be used to control or unnecessarily sedate patients for the convenience of the staff. Giving an Illinois patient too much medication can increase their chances of becoming involved in a fall accident or engaging in behavior or actions that could be harmful to themselves and/or others.

Drugging of Dementia Patients Cited as Serious Problem, ABC News, December 9, 2010

Overmedication in the Nursing Home, The New York Times, January 11, 2010

Related Web Resources:
United States Special Committee on Aging

Dementia and Alzheimer's Care

Illinois Nursing Homes, Illinois Department of Public Health

Continue reading " Overmedication a Problem for Dementia Patients, Says Panel " »

At least 129 people recently fell ill with the norovirus at three Northern Illinois nursing homes. At least six nursing home resident required hospital care. Unfortunately, noroviruses have been known to occur at long-term care facilities. Their close quarter environment and the fact that many nursing home residents already have weakened immune systems make it easy for the virus to spread. There are steps that nursing home workers can take to prevent the spread of the norovirus. Failure to provide patients with a safe, clean, and sanitary environment can be grounds for a Chicago nursing home negligence case if illness, injury or death results.

A person can become afflicted with a norovirus, which causes gastroenteritis and usually results in fever, diarrhea, and abdominal cramps, eating contaminated foods or drinks, touching objects or surfaces that are already contaminated, or having direct contact with someone suffering from the illness.

Steps that Illinois nursing home workers can take to prevent catching or spreading the norovirus:

• Use a household bleach solution to clean and disinfect surfaces.
• Wash hands with soapy warm water after changing diapers, using the bathroom, prior to preparing food, or when leaving or entering a resident’s room.
• Isolate residents with the norovirus so that they don’t spread the illness to others.
• Temporarily suspend group activities that would require sick residents and nursing home patients who are well to interact with each other.
• Make sure that nursing home staff that have been afflicted with a norovirus are not allowed back to work until their symptoms have been gone for two to three days.
• Don’t assign the same nursing home staffers to both the group of patients who have the norovirus and the group of patient’s that don’t have the virus.
• Make sure that staff use disposable gloves and masks when taking care of patients with the norovirus.
• Ensure that nursing home workers wash their hands any time they leave or enter a patient’s room.

If you believe that your loved one fell ill at an Illinois nursing home because of negligent nursing care or service, do not hesitate to contact our Chicago nursing home neglect lawyers.

Norovirus sickens 129 in Illinois nursing homes, Chicago Tribune, November 24, 2010

Norovirus Outbreak at Illinois Nursing Homes Sickens More Than 100, NewsInferno, November 29, 2010

Guidelines for the Control of a Suspected or Confirmed Outbreak of Viral Gastroenteritis in a Nursing Home, Michigan.gov (PDF)

Related Web Resources:
Norovirus, CDC

Nursing homes in Illinois