Illinois Nursing Home Abuse Blog

Nursing home patients feel helpless when it comes to dealing with the nursing home’s hierarchy. For example, a 97-year-old nun living in a nursing home found herself in great discomfort with a wheelchair and had to ask how much a new one would cost. The nun was going to use her birthday money she had saved up to buy a new wheelchair. Another patient had numerous bruises from falling because employees do not help her in and out of her wheelchair. Legislators have noticed a decline in the level of nursing home care, and a lack of information on how to voice concerns to administrators. The elderly patients are often too intimidated to ask questions. With the fastest growing portion of the population being people in their 90’s, nursing home care must improve. Additionally, there must be ways for patients to effectively voice their concerns without feeling intimidated. To read the full story, click here.

A 97-year-old woman trusted a caregiver to come into her home and give her aid. Unfortunately, the woman was greatly deceived by her caregiver who gained access to her checkbook and stole more than $22,000 of her savings. The caregiver forged numerous checks by writing them to herself, and the elderly woman only discovered this fraud when she began to assemble her income taxes. The caregiver did not stop with the check book; she also stole clothes and cash from the 97-year-old victim. The fraudulent caregiver left the elderly woman on New Year’s Eve and never said goodbye. Although warrants have been issued for her arrest for larceny from a person over 60, there are no leads as to where this criminal could be. Fraud against the elderly is becoming all too common. To read the full story, click here.

A former nursing assistant has been indicted on sexual-assault charges after being accused of assaulting a mentally disabled patient in his care. The employee worked at a nursing home facility which serves 120 residents. The nursing home employee was accused of sexually assaulting a 69-year-old woman with advanced Alzheimer’s disease. The employee has been indicted of first-degree sexual assault. The elderly, especially those with Alzheimer’s, are extremely vulnerable to sexual assault. It is important for both families and nursing home supervisors to monitor the employees assigned to these individuals. To read the full story, click here.

Choosing an Illinois nursing home for a loved one can be a difficult decision. The media and news reports dictate that often nursing home falls, nursing home abuse, nursing home neglect and nursing home deaths are the norm. However there are many free services that exist to help someone choose an Illinois nursing home appropriate for the level of care, supervision and monitoring that a nursing home resident deserves to receive. In Chicago, Illinois a free resource is offered through the Illinois Department of Public Health so that one is able to look at how many past complaints, violations and penalties have been given to an Illinois nursing home. In today’s world this free internet source is invaluable and may be one of the best ways to prevent a nursing home lawsuit from occurring and preventing the need to contact a nursing home lawyer in the future. Many gimmicks exist to try to have individuals pay for reports on the quality of nursing homes but the nursing home lawyers at Levin & Perconti believe that the reports from the Illinois Department of Public Health are an invaluable source of information. To access the website click here.

Galesburg Terrace, an Illinois nursing home, has employees who want the Illinois Department of Public Health to take over control of the nursing home. The nursing home is currently owned by Gern Healthcare, a Chicago-based company. The Service Employees International Union, SEIU, is going public with an effort to get four Illinois facilities controlled by Gern Healthcare placed in receivership. SEIU says studies of patient care and employee turnover over the past two years have yielded 77 violations of patient care and fire safety. More than 88 percent of the violations were for cases where potential or actual harm existed for the residents living there. Some of these allegations listed included failure to keep residents cleaned and groomed, failure to call 911 in a timely manner and failure to adequately staff and monitor a confused resident, resulting in that resident’s death. SEIU also says that when nursing home exchanges hands, employee turnover is great and long-term patients need long-term employees. To read the full story, click here.

A nursing home reform advocate points out that there are many clear cases of nursing home abuse that continue to be seen and that there need to be changes in the law and changes in the way in which nursing home patients are protected from abuse. He also mentions that many of these abuses fail to get reported to the authorities and that even the agency responsible for monitoring for abuse and neglect has claimed that this abuse is not happening in places where it is clear that it is. He suggests several reforms that could be made in the law to help protect against this abuse and neglect such as background checks being performed on all of the employees and requiring nursing homes to obtain liability insurance. The husband of a victim of nursing home abuse is quoted saying that patients in nursing homes have no more rights than inmates in prisons. The issue of nursing home abuse and neglect is also prevalent in Chicago, Illinois. For the full story click here.

Allegations of abuse at an Ohio nursing home drew the attention of state investigators. The Attorney General’s Office is now investigating the after reports of abuse and neglect. Eight nurses were fired from the nursing home after falsely reporting that they had cared for a patient’s would, although it became obvious that the neglected to care for the wound. Although the patient has made a full recovery, the Attorney General’s Office continues their investigation. The nursing home, which reported the incident to the state, followed all state regulations in reporting the incidents. This type of neglect is a threat everywhere, including Chicago. To read the full story, click here.

An Alzheimer’s patient at an Oklahoma nursing home was an alleged victim of severe physical abuse, prompting advocates to demand reform. The photos show that the woman had severe bruising to the face, neck and a black eye, all indicative of physical abuse. However, the nursing home had informed the family that the patient had fallen. The family asked the Department of Human Services to investigate and the agency declined an investigation, stating that there was no indication of abuse and neglect. This type of physical abuse is a threat everywhere, including Chicago. To read the full story, click here.

Four teenage nursing assistants were found to have been verbally, sexually and emotionally abusing residents. The girls were supposedly abusing patients that have Alzheimer’s so bad that they wouldn’t be able to say it or remember what had happened. They girls would abuse the residents and then laugh when the residents became upset. The abuse was cited as spitting in mouths, poking breasts and nipples, putting fingers in mouths, touching and tapping genitals, sticking rear ends in faces, rubbing buttocks, rubbing penises, touching perinea, anal insertion, holding residents down, and teasing them. They girls were terminated when officials became aware of their conduct, and employees who were aware of the nursing home abuse and failed to report have also been terminated. This shocking story is an example of nursing home abuse and negligence that can happen anywhere, including Chicago. To read the full story, click here.

A former nursing home aide was sentenced to up to 15 years in prison for sexually abusing an elderly woman. The man was an employee of the nursing home. The 31 year old employee pleaded guilty to forcible sex abuse for molesting the 85-year-old woman in her nursing home. The distraught family members of the victim asked to Judge to sentence the nursing home employee to the maximum sentence, which he did. At this time, no other nursing home residents have filed sexual abuse charges. Sexual abuse is an extremely important issue in nursing home regulation. To read the full story, click here.

A nursing home where two patients have recently fallen from their wheelchairs, resulting in one wrongful death and personal injuries to the other, has had their license downgraded. One of the patients that fell out of their wheelchair suffered a fractured neck and ruptured blood vessel in his brain and died as a result of the fall. The other patient suffered multiple personal injuries including head injuries and a possible concussion as a result of his fall. These two incidents happened only two days apart and occurred only one month after the facility was fined when the Health Department found 21 deficiencies in their operations. The nursing home claims that the falls were both results of miscommunications and that the other issues occurred when the home was under different management. There is no word on whether a wrongful death suit or personal injury suit will be filed by the families of the victims. For the full story click here.

The family of a woman who died while being cared for in a nursing home has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the nursing home for abuse and neglect. The family is suing because they feel that the nursing home neglected their daughter by not treating her properly and that her not receiving the proper care resulted in her untimely death. Shortly before her death, the family confronted hospital staff telling them that the patient looked uncomfortable and the staff told them that everything was under control. The next day the patient was in a catatonic state and ended up dying. The family has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against not only the individual nursing home but against the company that owns this nursing home as well as many others for abuse and neglect of their patients. When asked about the lawsuit the company said they hadn’t had time to review the complaint fully and did not comment further. The issue of nursing home abuse and neglect is a common problem and happens in Chicago, Illinois as well. For the full story click here.