Chicago Nursing Home Abuse Lawyer Blog

In the battle to protect nursing home residents from violent patients, Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan says that more unannounced spot-checks are going to occur to make sure that any convicted criminals living as residents in assisted living facilities are not a danger to their co-residents. She calls this initiative “Operation Guardian,” which will concentrate on assisted-living facilities for the poor.

The spot-checks come after the arrest-warrant checks in December and January that were instigated to find criminals who should be behind bars rather than living in assisted living facilities. 12 residents were arrested at 4 Chicago, Illinois nursing homes. An employee at one of the Chicago assisted living facilities was also apprehended.

Madigan says that this latest initiative will included the assessment of care plans for ex-convicts and resident interviews. She wants to make sure that all nursing home residents have undergone criminal background checks. The spot-checks will start next week.

Chicago, Illinois Nursing Home Negligence
Our Chicago, Illinois nursing home abuse lawyers cannot stress how important it is for assisted living facilities to make sure that any dangerous patients are kept separate from other residents. In some cases, it may be necessary to deny a patient a bed at a facility if he/she is someone with a violent criminal past who may physically assault or sexually attack another resident. A nursing home patient who was injured while staying at an assisted living facility because of Chicago nursing home abuse, neglect, or patient violence may be entitled to personal injury compensation.

Attorney General's office to step up spot-checks of nursing homes, Sun-Times, February 24, 2010

Illinois steps up nursing home safety push, Chicago Tribune, February 24, 2010

Related Web Resources:
Illinois Attorney General Home Page

Nursing Home Safety Task Force

Continue reading "Fighting Illinois Nursing Home Negligence: Attorney General Lisa Madigan Says More Unannounced Spot-Checks of Assisted Living Facilities Planned" »

On Friday, federal health care officials began taking steps to end Somerset Place’s federal funding. The Chicago, Illinois nursing home has come under close scrutiny following several incidents of nursing home abuse and patient violence. Somerset tired to block the bar against federal funding with an emergency civil action, but a district court judge denied its request.

Somerset is one of the biggest nursing homes in Illinois. According to recent inspection reports by federal health care workers, patients at Somerset are poorly supervised and some of them are prone to aggression and drug use. At the end of 2009, there were 66 mentally ill, convicted felons residing among the facility’s approximately 300 nursing home residents. The Illinois Department of Public Health has cited the Chicago-area assisted living facility multiple times for violations.

Over a 15-month period, beginning April 2008, Chicago police have examined 15 alleged incidents of battery or assault, 5 cases of alleged drug possession, and 5 alleged sexual assault incidents at the assisted living facility. One patient was killed after she wandered off the premise, prostituted herself, and used crack cocaine. Other Somerset residents have also been able to walk out of the nursing home and deal drugs, beg for money, assault others, and solicit sex. According to two people that work at the Chicago nursing home, caseworkers are inadequately trained and the assisted living facility is poorly staffed.

State officials have come up with a plan to move residents.

Chicago Nursing Home Abuse and Neglect
Chicago assisted living facilities are supposed to protect all of their patients from any kind of abuse, violence, or other hazards, while keeping them safe. This includes ensuring that nursing home workers are not abusing or neglecting patients, protecting residents from residents that are considered potentially dangerous, and making sure that patients do not harm themselves or go off the premise without supervision.

Troubled nursing home is losing federal money, Chicago Tribune, February 5, 2010

Nursing home loses legal fight to stay in Medicaid, Southtown Star, February 7, 2010

Related Web Resources:
Somerset Place

Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services

Continue reading "Following Incidents of Chicago Nursing Home Violence and Abuse, Authorities Take Steps to Withdraw Somerset Place’s Federal Funding" »

According to a Chicago Tribune investigation, authorities have looked into at least 86 incidents of alleged sexual violence at Chicago nursing homes since July 2007. The alleged incidents of rape and criminal assault involved patient victims and were said to have occurred in about one quarter of the 119 Chicago nursing homes. Nearly all of the 86 cases involved resident assailants—though some of the alleged Chicago nursing home sexual attacks involved attackers who were nursing home workers or visitors. Out of all of these cases, an orderly is the only one who has been arrested.

According to government records, the 30 Chicago assisted living facilities where sexual crimes allegedly occurred were two times as likely to admit mentally ill patients and those with convicted felony records as the nursing homes that did not report such criminal activity. Many of the nursing homes where nursing home sexual violence allegedly occurred had, per the Tribune, “substandard staffing levels.”

It is also interesting to note that although Chicago police documented 27 reports of nursing home sexual assault at city nursing homes over a 1-year period, the state ombudsman’s office only investigated two sex abuse allegations during the same time period.

The fact that so many sexual assault and abuse crimes are taking place in so many Chicago nursing homes is disturbing. Assisted living facilities must not only take care of its patients’ medical and daily needs, but it is also their administrators' responsibility to run a nursing home where the residents’ are protected from becoming the victim of Chicago nursing home abuse, neglect, sexual violence, and other crimes.

Many nursing home patients are too old, frail, or mentally ill to defend themselves from any type of violence. They may be unable to comprehend that they are consenting to someone’s sexual advances. Some patients who suffer from dementia may have a hard time detailing the incidents of an assault crime. Other residents may be too scared to report what happened or may be incapable of speaking out. Meantime, nursing home workers or administrators may attempt to downplay or conceal evidence of a sexual assault crime under their watch because they do not want to deal with the consequences.

Nursing home sexual violence: 86 Chicago cases since July 2007 — but only 1 arrest, Chicago Tribune, January 12, 2010

Related Web Resources:
Illinois Department of Public Health

Nursing homes in Chicago, Illinois

Continue reading "At Least 86 Alleged Chicago Nursing Home Sexual Violence Incidents Investigated by Authorities since July 2007, Reports Tribune" »

20 Illinois nursing home residents with outstanding arrest warrants were identified today during a sweep of two nursing homes in the Chicago area. Charges against them ranged from indecent exposure to assault to domestic battery. This was the second sweep conducted by authorities within the last five weeks. The raids occurred at Kenwood Healthcare Center and Rainbow Beach Care Center, which are located on Chicago’s South Side.

These raids were at the behest of Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan. Officers from the Cook County Sheriff’s office and Chicago police, in addition to approximately 25 federal marshals, took part in the sweep.

8 people were arrested. Two of the nursing home patients identified were too sick to leave the nursing homes. Nine of the warrants could not be enforced right away because they were issued in other jurisdictions. Police are looking for one fugitive who was not at the nursing home when the raid took place.

State officials and nursing home advocates continue to be concerned about whether Illinois nursing homes can be safe for residents when there are so many younger, mentally ill patients, some of them with felony criminal records, living among the general population in numerous assisted living facilities. As of last month, 3,326 of the approximately 92,225 Illinois nursing home residents were felons.

This dangerous segment of the nursing home patients are a threat to other assisted living patients, especially the older, frailer ones. Some nursing home residents have already become the victims of assault crimes, sexual harassment or assault crimes, and even murder.

Illinois nursing homes are supposed to keep patients with violent tendencies away from the general population and protect them from becoming a danger to themselves or others. You do have the right to sue for Chicago nursing home negligence if you believe that carelessness, neglect, recklessness, nursing home abuse, or inadequate nursing care contributed to your loved one becoming the victim of nursing home violence.

More nursing homes swept for residents wanted in warrants, Chicago Breaking News, January 26, 2010

Related Web Resources:
Lisa Madigan, Illinois Attorney General

Rainbow Beach Care Center

Tighter criminal background checks and stronger sanctions against safety violations are just two of the reforms recommended by Illinois Governor Pat Quinn’s Nursing Home Safety Task Force. The panel was appointed to come up with a plan to combat Illinois nursing home abuse and patient violence. The broad plan provides a 27-point list of “preliminary recommendations” to be refined in the next few weeks before the governor is presented with a final report.

Other recommendations included:

• Searching nursing homes for patients with outstanding criminal warrants
• Increased minimum staffing requirements so that they match standards noted in federal government studies
• Expand treatment and housing options
• Transfer mentally ill residents to more appropriate treatment facilities
• Hiring more nursing home inspectors
• Retraining current nursing home inspectors about safety and care issues involving mentally ill residents
• More rigorous patient screenings to determine whether a patient is dangerous/has violent tendencies
• Imposing tougher sanctions on nursing homes that don’t complete all screening procedures

Governor Quinn set up the task force after the Chicago Tribune began providing in-depth reports on the deficiencies in nursing care provided at Illinois nursing homes. Not only do many nursing home patients have to cope with inadequate nursing care, nursing home abuse, and nursing home neglect, but patient violence has also been a growing concern—especially because so many mentally ill patients, including those who have criminal histories of violent and sexual crimes, are housed with older and frailer residents. There are more mentally ill adults younger than age 65 living in nursing homes in Illinois than in any other US state.

Chicago Nursing Home Negligence
You may have grounds to sue an assisted living facility for Chicago, Illinois nursing home negligence if your loved one was hurt or died because he/she was attacked by another patient, abused by a nursing home worker, or neglected.

Nursing home safety: Illinois task force proposes sweeping reforms to end violence at troubled sites, Chicago Tribune, January 15, 2010

New recommendations for nursing homes causing controversy, Sun-Times, January 14, 2010

Related Web Resources:
Nursing Home Safety Task Force

Illinois Department of Public Health

Illinois Department of Aging

Investigators from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services are conducting a special audit and probe of Somerset Place, a North Side nursing home, following complaints by a local lawmaker and reports published in the Chicago Tribune. The North Side assisted living facility, which specializes in mentally ill adults, has received numerous citations for violations regarding patient safety, and the Chicago police has reportedly investigated 15 alleged batteries and assaults, 5 narcotics possession reports, and 5 cases of criminal sexual that reportedly took place inside the nursing home between April 2008 and July 2009.

Neighborhood groups are even complaining that the dangerous activity at Somerset is beginning to spill into the community. One Somerset patient, Maratta Walker, was murdered four months after she was admitted to the assisted living facility.

Walker, who suffered from a seizure disorder and was mentally ill, wasn’t allowed to leave the Chicago nursing home unless she was supervised. Yet she managed to get out of the facility, prostitute herself for money and use crack cocaine. The man charged with her murder, Edward Gibson, is a bank robber that she met while wandering the streets. The two of them allegedly spent days drinking, using heroin, smoking crack, and having sex prior to her fatal beating.

Chicago Nursing Home Negligence
In the last several months, lawmakers have been investigating the dangers that can arise when housing dangerous mentally ill patients with other nursing residents. They are also examining whether or not Illinois assisted living facilities are even equipped to give mentally ill residents the care and supervision that they need to keep them and other patients safe.

The growing evidence that the current system is not working can no longer be denied. Too many residents are getting hurt or dying as a result of Chicago nursing home neglect and nursing home crimes committed by violent patients.

North Side nursing home the target of federal investigation, Chicago Tribune, January 10, 2010

Woman found dead at motel identified, ABC 7 News, May 26, 2008

Related Web Resources:
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services

Somerset Place

Continue reading "Chicago Nursing Home Negligence?: Federal Investigators Target North Side Assisted Living Facility That Housed 66 Felons" »

Last week, US, Illinois, and Cook County officials entered two Chicago area nursing homes to identify 18 residents with outstanding arrest warrants for felony crimes ranging from disorderly conduct to assault. Five people were arrested. One of them was a sex offender who failed to register in another US state. Three of the patients identified were too sick to be removed from their nursing home. Other warrants could not be enforced right away because authorities from other jurisdictions had issued them.

Nine of the Chicago nursing home patients with outstanding warrants were staying at Columbus Park Nursing & Rehabilitation Center. The other nine were residents of the Heather Health Center in Harvey. Authorities say there are three more nursing home patients with outstanding arrest warrants living in Somerset Place.

According to state records, the two Chicago area nursing homes involved in the sweep are home to a significant number of younger mentally ill residents and felons. As of December 10, 32 of the patients residing at Columbus Park were felons. 62 were diagnosed as suffering from a mental illness. 123 of the193 nursing home patients were younger than 65. At Heather Health Center, there were 32 felons residing in the Harvey nursing home on December 10. 49 patients were mentally ill. 58 out of 108 residents were younger than 65.

Illinois officials continue to remain concerned over the number of nursing home residents that are hurt by younger nursing home residents who are mentally ill and/or have violent tendencies. Patient violence can be grounds for Chicago, Illinois nursing home negligence if the assisted living facility could have acted otherwise to prevent the physical assault, sexual assault, or murder from happening.

This is not the first sweep of this kind involving Illinois nursing homes. According to the Chicago Tribune, Illinois State Police removed about 80 sex offenders and fugitives from 20 Northern Illinois assisted living facilities between January 2005 and June 2006. Following that sweep, there was a nearly 67% drop in the number of Illinois nursing home neglect and abuse complaints filed.

Illinois nursing homes are supposed to provide its residents with medical attention, nursing care, and physical protection from injury accidents and violent crimes.
Nursing home sweeps find 18 residents with outstanding warrants, Chicago Tribune, December 23, 2009

Related Web Resources:
Madigan Calls for Tougher Safeguards at Nursing Homes, Lisa Madigan, October 8, 2009

Compromised Care, Chicago Tribune

Continue reading "Raids of Two Chicago Area Nursing Homes Uncovers at Least 18 Residents with Outstanding Felony Arrest Warrants" »

98-year-old nursing home resident Laura B. Lundquist has been indicted for the murder of Elizabeth W. Barrow, her 100-year-old roommate. Lundquist is charged with second-degree murder. The two nursing home residents lived at the Brandon Woods nursing home.

Barrow was found dead in her bed last September. She had a plastic bag over her head. While suicide was investigated as a possible cause of death, the Chief Medical Examiner’s Office declared her death a homicide by manual strangulation.

Barrow’s son, Scott, claims that Lundquist had verbally harassed and threatened his mother, as well as complained about her roommate’s visitors. He also claims that the 98-year-old woman accused his mom of taking items from her.

Scott says he asked nursing home officials to separate the two residents but they told him the two women were getting along fine. Brandon Woods said the two women were offered the opportunity to change rooms but they both refused.

On Friday, a Superior Court judge ordered Lundquist to undergo a 20-day competency evaluation before she is arraigned.

Nursing Home Negligence
Nursing homes are responsible for keeping residents safe. This means keeping patients with violent tendencies away from other residents.

Meantime, Governor Pat Quinn's Nursing Home Safety Task Force continues to examine ways to curb nursing home violence between residents, which has proven deadly for a number of victims. There are steps and procedures that Illinois assisted living facilities can follow to keep residents from becoming the victims of violent crimes. Failure to do so can be grounds for a Chicago, Illinois nursing home negligence lawsuit.

Roomate, 98, indicted for murder in 100-year-old woman's nursing home death, SouthCoastToday, December 11, 2009

Mass. Woman, 98, Accused of Killing Roommate, 100, ABC News, December 11, 2009

Related Web Resources:
Nursing Home Safety Task Force

Nursing Homes, Medicare

Continue reading "Nursing Home Violence: 98-Year-Old Resident Indicted for Murder of 100-Year-Old Roommate" »

Authorities are now charging Ardyce Nauden with first-degree murder. The 62-year-old Chicago nursing home resident was at first charged with aggravated battery of a senior citizen and attempted first-degree murder for allegedly punching a fellow resident on August 21. However, the victim, 72-year-old Andres Cardona, died on September 18. The two men resided at Columbus Park Nursing Center, an assisted living facility on the West Side. Cardona was in his wheelchair when the Chicago, Illinois nursing home assault incident happened.

Nauden, who authorities call a psychotic felon and has a history of aggressive behavior and drug convictions, is accused of using a closed fist to hit Cardona. He thought the other resident was stealing his food. Cardona was knocked unconscious. Earlier this month, the Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office ruled the 72-year-old’s death a homicide.

An investigation by Illinois health officials determined that although nursing home workers at Columbus Park documented Nauden’s aggressive and violent actions, they neglected to protect the other residents from him.

According to the Chicago Tribune, the Illinois Department of Public Health reports that two other alleged assaults, in addition to the Cardona assault, occurred at Columbus Park over a 90-day period. This figure is very different from the 11 alleged beatings that Chicago police say took place at the Chicago nursing home over the same time period.

Nursing Home Negligence
It is appalling that there are elderly and sick nursing home residents who have been assaulted, raped, or killed while staying at Chicago nursing homes because they were not protected from other patients who are mentally ill and/or who have violent tendencies. Moving into a nursing home should make a patient’s life better, not place them in harm’s way.

1st-degree murder charges in nursing home death, Chicago Breaking News, December 15, 2009

Cops: nursing home resident charged with murder, Sun Times, December 15, 2009

Related Web Resources:
Illinois Department of Public Health

Learn how to request police records on potential crime at nursing homes, Chicago Tribune

Continue reading "Chicago Nursing Home Patient Now Charged with Murder of Fellow Resident" »

The La Salle County Nursing Home is the defendant in another Illinois nursing home negligence lawsuit alleging that a resident was the victim of sexual abuse. Marilyn Wig is the guardian of the victim and she wants a minimum of $100,000. Her Illinois nursing home neglect lawsuit contends that workers at the facility allowed a male patient to have contact with the victim.

Illinois health officials have accused the man of sexually molesting several female patients. The alleged assailant was later transferred to a psychiatric facility.

This is the second La Salle County, Illinois nursing home negligence lawsuit filed against the assisted living facility over this male resident’s sexual activities between January 17 and May 26, 2009. Henry Elzer is suing the Illinois assisted living facility for at least $250,000 because he claims the home failed to protect his relative from sexual abuse.

Illinois officials have been hard at work trying to figure out a way to solve the dangerous dilemma caused by housing mentally ill patients with other nursing home residents. Unfortunately, there have been a number of incidents involving mentally ill patients sexually assaulting, physically assaulting, and murdering other residents.

One reason these types of crimes have been able to happen is that the background checks conducted on mentally patients can sometimes miss key information, such as whether or not a prospective nursing home resident has a felony record. And while families are directed by Illinois lawmakers to look through a police Web site to determine whether there are any sex offenders residing in any of the nursing homes they are considering for their loved ones, the Chicago Tribune says that only 59 of the 192 sex offenders living in Illinois assisted living facilities are even named in this registry. In Chicago alone, only one out of every five sex offenders living in a nursing home is listed.

One reason for this type of discrepancy is that sex offenders don’t have to register with Illinois police if their final parole dates or convictions happened over a decade ago. Unfortunately, this does not mean the offender won’t commit another sex crime. Some Illinois nursing homes are also guilty of not telling police when a convicted sex offender has moved into the facility even though Illinois law requires that they provide notification.

Another suit filed over sex abuse, The Times

Nursing homes: Most sex offenders living in nursing homes aren't listed on state police's online registry, Chicago Tribune

llinois Nursing Home Negligence Lawsuit Claims Fellow Resident Sexually Abused Female Patient, Chicago Nursing Home Abuse Lawyer, October 30, 2009

Related Web Resources:
Nursing Home Safety Task Force

Illinois Department of Public Health

Last week, Illinois health authorities began a broad probe into whether a West Side nursing home has been accurately documented incidents involving patient abuse and violence. Columbus Park Nursing & Rehabilitation Center is one of the Chicago area assisted living facilities that houses older nursing home residents with younger mentally ill patients, including those who have felony criminal records.

The Chicago Tribune reports that when it initially asked the Illinois Department of Public Health for reports of assault allegations over the last 90 days involving the Chicago nursing home, the department at first said there were none. Health officials eventually came up with reports of three alleged beatings at the assisted living facility during this time period. Meantime, Chicago police say 11 alleged batteries occurred at Columbus Park Nursing & Rehabilitation Center over the same three-month period.

Just last August, Andres Cardona, a 72-year-old dementia patient was beaten by 62-year-old Ardyce Nauden, a mentally ill resident who has a history of aggressive behavior. The fatal beating happened when the 72-year-old wandered into Nauden’s room and started eating his lunch.

Five hours after the beating happened, the nursing home faxed an incident report to state officials notifying them that Cardona got hurt after Nauden threw a cup of water at the 72-year-old patient, striking him in the eye. Illinois health officials say because the report did not convey the seriousness of the attack, they did not immediately investigate the incident.

According to a state investigation, nursing home workers knew that Nauden could be violent yet neglected to protect the other patients from him. The Chicago nursing home, however, says it is challenging this finding.

A week after the fatal beating, a female patient reportedly sustained facial bruises after a 53-year-old patient who suffered from delusions and hallucinations punched her.

Preliminary data from Chicago police reports that there were 28 alleged battery, assault, or sexual assault incidents at Columbus Park between March 2008 and August 2009.

Chicago Nursing Home Neglect
Illinois nursing homes must protect residents from injuries. This includes making sure they don’t become the victims of Chicago nursing home abuse or neglect or patient violence. Unfortunately, too many residents are the victims of nursing home violence or neglect.

Compromised Care: West Side nursing home probed after death: Psychotic felon fatally beat dementia patient at facility with numerous reports of violence, records show, Behavioral Health Center, November 13, 2009

Chicago Nursing Home Assault by One Resident Seriously Injures another Patient, Steve Malman, August 27, 2009

Related Web Resources:
Illinois Department of Public Health

Compromised Care, Chicago Tribune

Continue reading "Chicago West Side Nursing Home Under Investigation Following Reports of Patient Violence " »

In Chicago, state senators expressed anger about the number of violent nursing home crimes committed by patients. In an effort to curb Illinois nursing home violence, are demanding a full revamp of the way Illinois inspects and monitors assisted living facilities. They also want a stricter screening system for determining which prospective residents may be too violent to house with other patients.

At Thursday’s hearing, the senators announced plans to present reform legislation. Illinois Governor Patrick Quinn’s new Nursing Home Safety Task Force also provided a broad outline of steps it will likely recommend to end the practice of placing dangerous felons and mentally ill residents with other patients in state nursing homes.

Task Force head Michael Gelder spoke about the need for both service options that are specifically geared specifically toward psychiatric patients and improved assessment methods for placing mentally ill patients in the right environment where they can receive the appropriate care.

A recent series of reports by the Chicago Tribune exposed just how dangerous it can be as a sick or elderly nursing home resident living with a younger, mentally ill patient who might also be dangerous. A number of sick and elderly residents have already been physically assaulted, sexually assaulted, and murdered by mentally ill patients with criminal records and/or violent streaks.

Last week, advocates for mentally ill patients had called on the state to overhaul the way psychiatric patients are dealt with and come up with new housing options for mentally ill patients. Housing catered toward mentally ill patients is not only cheaper than housing them in Illinois nursing homes, but it could also allow these patients to thrive. Studies show that mentally ill patients don’t pose a greater danger than do other people as long as they are given the proper care.

A nursing home patient who was injured by another resident may have grounds for filing a Chicago, Illinois nursing home negligence lawsuit.

Senators outraged over Illinois nursing home safety, Chicago Tribune, November 6, 2009

Nursing home reform: Advocates for mentally ill urge overhaul of nursing home operations, Chicago Tribune, October 30, 2009

Related Web Resources:
Nursing Home Safety Task Force

Nursing Homes in Illinois

Continue reading "The Fight Against Nursing Home Violence: State Senators Hold Chicago Hearing About Improving Patient Safety " »

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 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 " »

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 " »

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