Illinois Nursing Home Abuse Blog

Levin & Perconti has filed a nursing home abuse and neglect lawsuit and wrongful death lawsuit against Care Center and Helia Healthcare for the death of a nursing home resident due to osteomyelitis. The resident developed osteomyelitis, which is a bacterial infection of the bones, while in the nursing home’s care because her pressure ulcers and nutrition were not properly supervised. Malnutrition and pressure sores are a dangerous combination: malnutrition impedes a person’s ability to heal when afflicted with a pressure ulcer. Worsening pressure ulcers can spread bacterial infections to the body like osteomyelitis in this case. In this case, the pressure ulcers eventually required surgical intervention. The decedent is survived by four daughters and three sons.

Levin & Perconti has filed a nursing home abuse and neglect lawsuit and wrongful death lawsuit against South Shore Nursing Home for the death of a nursing home resident due to sepsis. The resident developed a sacral ulcer while in the nursing home’s care that was not properly treated and became septic. In addition to the nursing home failing to treat the septic sacral ulcer properly, the resident suffered from weight loss and malnutrition while at the nursing home. Malnutrition, dehydration and weight loss can seriously impede a person’s ability to heal when afflicted with a pressure ulcer and infection. Malnutrition also promotes the development of new sores. The nursing home also did not properly inform the family members of their mother’s care and status of her pressure sore and infection. The decedent is survived by 3 sons and 2 daughters who were all continually involved with their mother’s care.

The AFSCME, a union that represents state, county, and municipal employees is taking on Springfield to seek a raise for Illinois disabled care workers. Currently, staff wages for Illinois disabled care facilities lag almost 2 dollars behind private employers, making it very difficult for state agencies to retain talented staff to care for the disabled. The pay increase would bring care workers’ hourly wages into line with the cost of living and would approach what private employers pay. In long term care for the disabled, proper wages and salaries are essential to ensure quality care. Often, underpaid and under-trained staff have a high turnover rate which causes resident care to suffer, leading to long term care facility resident abuse and neglect.

Read more on the story here.

The National Center on Elder Abuse has put together a very useful set of charts and information about various state laws governing adult protective services. This resource is especially useful for attorneys who practice in nursing home abuse and neglect or handle other legal matters for nursing home residents who may need to consider state resources for clients who may lack capacity. This information is also helpful for families who may not have sufficient resources to take care of all of their elder's needs and need to seek assistance from the state. Additionally, some nursing home residents without active family members may come under state care if they are no longer able to participate in their care or are suffering from a condition that impairs their abilities sufficiently.

See the charts here.

An elderly couple has died in a nursing home, apparently the result of a nursing home murder-suicide. The husband of the nursing home resident, who often spent time with his wife in the nursing home, apparently shot her in the head before killing himself. News reports indicate that there was a suicide note that both had signed. This incident raises serious questions about the ability of nursing home staff to diagnose mental disorders and depression in nursing home residents. Often, nursing home psychological and psychiatric staff are in short supply and many nurses and nursing aides may not be trained to detect signs of mental illness. It is important that family members stay active and involved with their loved ones’ mental health.

Read more here.

The Weill Cornell Medical School, part of Cornell University, has received a grant to study the feasibility of opening a center on elder abuse. The center, if established, will study ways to educate doctors on identifying and responding to signs of nursing home abuse and neglect. According to a professor, elder abuse and neglect and nursing home abuse and neglect can result in overwhelming feelings of fear, anger, isolation, depression and can even shorten life. Older Americans will soon increase exponentially, making programs that highlight nursing home abuse and neglect even more important for proper health care.

Read the press release here.

Attorney General Andrew Cuomo has joined the fight against fraud in home health care by exposing a large Medicare fraud led by a major home health care corporation. The corporation provides in-home nursing services. In-home nursing service abuse is a growing problem and is often harder to identify than nursing home abuse and neglect. In this case, the home health care corporation coordinated with corrupt health care aide training programs to certify prospective health care aides without ensuring that the prospective aides took required training courses. This incident raises questions about the quality and safety of in home nursing care and should give family members and home care customers pause for thought.

Read the full story here.

A nursing home in Canton, Ohio has lost its federal funding for having too many violations. According to inspectors, each time they went to the facility there was another problem. Unlike large corporate facilities, many smaller homes survive on Medicare and Medicaid to supplement what individual residents can pay to live in the home. This facility had a troubling list of violations including a patient not getting blood thinning medication until five days after the doctor prescribed it, a resident reported an instance of patient on patient rape and the doctor was not notified until 11 hours afterwards, a patient had severely matted and soiled hair resulting from his hair only being washed two or three times in six months at the facility, and old, used syringes lying around in patient rooms.

Read the full news report here.

A nursing home employee has been arrested and charged with theft of medications from nursing home residents. The employee apparently switched prescription pain relievers with over the counter pain relievers and then gave the wrong medication to the nursing home residents. This case shows another example of how medication mixing, giving the wrong medication, and prescription drug theft are more and more common in nursing homes. Family and patient advocates should be sure to check with their loved ones in nursing homes to make sure the resident feels like their medication is working and should also watch how medication is administered.

See the news story here.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has released its action plan for nursing home improvement. CMS is responsible for establishing standards for national nursing home care by developing the standards, inspecting homes, and collaborating with other organizations to help ensure standards are met. The CMS action plan lays out the 2008 goals and milestones for improving nursing home standards including plans on improving treatment and management of bedsores and pressure ulcers, ways to improve feeding by using dedicated feeding aides, and other means of improving nursing home care.

Read the full action plan here.

The National Citizen’s Coalition for Nursing Home Reform (NCCNHR), in conjunction with the SEIU, has set up a toll free hotline to get people in touch with their Senators about the importance of S. 2641, the Nursing Home Transparency and Improvement Act of 2008. To call, dial 1-866-544-7573. After a brief message about the bill, you will be asked to press "1" to be connected to a Capitol operator. Ask for your senator's office. (Senators are listed in order by State on the Senate website, if you need to find their names.) According to NCCHNR, When the senator's office answers, identify yourself and say:

"Please ask Senator ______ to co-sponsor S. 2641, the Nursing Home Transparency and Improvement Act. The bill is sponsored by Senators Grassley and Kohl. Nursing home residents and their families in Illinois are strongly supporting this bill."

The Act would improve publicly available resources and information about nursing homes, increase transparency of Medicare and Medicaid spending in nursing homes, shed light on nursing home ownership, and improve the consumer complaint process. See NCCHNR’s website for information on the Act and be sure to call.

See NCCNHR’s website here.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has threatened to cut its payments for nursing homes by 0.3%. Though the percentage seems small, the economic consequences in the nursing home industry will be much larger. This cut could usher in a total of $4.2 billion and has nursing home industry financiers attempting to figure out what these cuts could look like to nursing home profits for the next few years. Unfortunately, profit often seems the only priority for operators of large nursing home chains. All too often, profits are placed above patient and resident care and can lead to cases of nursing home abuse and neglect, and even nursing home resident deaths.

Read more here.