Posted on August 31, 2022 in Nursing Home Abuse

Placing a loved one in the care of a nursing home or residential care facility can be one of the toughest choices a family makes. Trusting in management and staff to give your loved one the care they need and deserve can feel like a risky gambit, especially when stories of understaffed nursing homes are so common. The last thing you want to worry about is whether the basic conditions at your loved one’s nursing home are sanitary and safe. Yet when a nursing home is struggling to meet staffing requirements, proper sanitation is often one of the first signs that your loved one is being neglected and needs to be given urgent attention. If you are worried about the cleanliness of your parent or grandparent’s nursing home, trust your instincts and find out whether it is time to take action. 

Unsanitary External Conditions May Be a Sign of More Serious Dangers

When you visit your loved one in their nursing home and notice things just do not seem to be clean, take note. Nursing home residents are often elderly and immunocompromised, which can mean that exposure to bacteria, viruses, and other diseases can quickly become dangerous. If common areas like kitchens and bathrooms seem dirty, residents’ equipment may be unclean as well. Medical equipment, such as wheelchairs, oxygen tanks, and catheters, requires regular cleaning and sanitizing. Without careful sanitization, residents can fall victim to: 

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 Posted on August 17, 2022 in Neglect

Illinois nursing homes are responsible for providing their patients with everyday care and support. From feeding and cleaning to comfortable rest and intellectual enrichment, patients are often completely dependent on the staff in residential care facilities to meet their needs. Sadly, nursing homes are often not as diligent about providing excellent staff as they should be, leading to neglect and even abuse. 

One of the first places nursing home neglect often appears is in residents’ dental care. Regular dental care requires daily attention to minute details. Symptoms of derelict dental care appear quickly, making it hard to fake quality dental care where there is none. Problems that start in the mouth rarely stay there; dental problems often snowball into further, more serious issues. Elderly people are at particular risk of contracting illness and disease through poor dental care. Here are some common oral health problems in nursing home residents without proper dental care. 

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 Posted on August 10, 2022 in Sepsis

When a body becomes overwhelmed with an infection, it may kick the immune system into overdrive. Sometimes, this triggers a dangerous condition called “sepsis.” Sepsis is not an infection per se, but rather a full-body immune system response in which the body begins attacking its own tissues. This can rapidly lead to organ failure and death. 

Because of their vulnerable health and difficulty communicating, elderly residents of nursing homes are at increased risk of suffering from sepsis. Here are five conditions that can cause sepsis in an Illinois nursing home if proper treatment, supervision, or cleanliness is not observed. 

Bed Sores

When a patient lays in bed for too long, the pressure of their body weight on the contact points with the bed or chair can turn into bed sores. Nursing home staff are responsible for moving patients regularly and ensuring they do not develop these painful sores. If the sores do begin to develop, nursing home staff should catch them well before they become an open wound susceptible to infection.

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 Posted on July 27, 2022 in Neglect

Everyone knows that the human body requires water. However, few realize just how quickly dehydration can occur. When a person’s body is already weakened due to age or illness, appropriate hydration is essential. Consequently, nursing home residents are at an especially high risk of dehydration-related consequences. Staff must be extra vigilant for signs of dehydration. If a resident is dehydrated, action must be taken immediately to prevent serious medical complications or death.

Symptoms of Dehydration in Nursing Homes

Dehydration occurs when the body loses more fluid than it consumes. Elderly individuals already have lower levels of hydration and many take medications that further lower the volume of water in their bodies. Nursing homes must carefully monitor the amount of water residents consume and look out for signs of dehydration such as:

• Infrequent urination

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 Posted on July 21, 2022 in Neglect

Although it is common, diabetes is a very serious medical condition. Diabetes is especially dangerous in elderly people or those with co-occurring medical conditions. Individuals who experience cognitive decline from dementia and related illness are also at increased risk of severe diabetes complications. These individuals may not recognize the signs of dangerously high or low blood sugar or be able to express their concerns to others. This is why it is so important for nursing home staff to monitor diabetic residents and provide consistently high-quality medical care to these vulnerable individuals. Nursing home neglect can lead to severe diabetes-related injuries or death.

Residents with Diabetes Need to Be Closely Monitored

Diabetes affects blood glucose levels and is often managed using insulin shots. Because the consequences of poorly managed diabetes are so great for elderly and sick people, nursing homes must be vigilant. Staff should help diabetic residents maintain normal blood sugar levels and prevent hyperglycemia or hypoglycemia. Diabetes can differ greatly from one person to the next, so nursing homes should have a personalized plan for each diabetic resident. The staff should regularly monitor the resident’s blood sugars using a glucose meter. According to the Mayo Clinic, blood sugar levels should be tested multiple times a day, including between meals and before going to sleep.

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 Posted on July 15, 2022 in Wandering and Elopement

One of the greatest challenges faced by any long-term care facility is managing the balance between residents’ safety and independence. The individuals living in a nursing home deserve to have the same freedoms as any other adult. However, their freedom is sometimes limited to ensure the residents’ wellbeing. This is an especially crucial issue for residents with Alzheimer’s disease, dementia, or other conditions affecting cognition.

A key responsibility of any nursing home is preventing wandering and elopement of residents. When residents are not monitored properly, they can roam into unsafe areas of the nursing home or even leave the premises entirely. Sadly, in some cases, wandering and elopement leads to catastrophic or fatal injuries.  

Injuries Caused by Lack of Supervision of Nursing Home Residents

Most nursing home residents are elderly adults who spent decades building families, careers, and lives outside of the facility before arriving at the nursing home. Losing some of their independence and being confined to a nursing home is difficult regardless of whether the resident suffers from cognitive decline. However, individuals with reduced cognitive abilities or memory loss may have an especially hard time adapting to life inside of a nursing home. Some try to escape the facility. Others wander around the facility and become lost. A nursing home resident who wanders into a kitchen, supply closet, or other hazardous area of the facility may be seriously injured or even killed. Injured residents may be left suffering in pain for hours before staff find them.

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 Posted on July 11, 2022 in Nursing Home Abuse

Nursing home residents are some of the most vulnerable people in our society. Whether they suffer from physical disabilities, cognitive decline, or both, nursing home residents deserve to be protected. Nursing homes and other long-term care facilities are supposed to be safe places for elderly and disabled people to get the help and medical attention they need. Sadly, many nursing homes miss the mark.

One form of nursing home negligence that is rarely discussed is resident-on-resident abuse. Staff in a nursing home have a legal duty to supervise residents and protect them from foreseeable harm. This includes protecting nursing home residents from physical, mental, or sexual abuse at the hands of other residents.

When a Nursing Home Resident Injures Another Resident

Resident-on-resident abuse refers to abuse one nursing home resident inflicts on another. This type of abuse can happen for many different reasons. Sometimes, the abuser suffers from severe cognitive decline caused by Alzheimer’s disease or dementia and does not even realize what he or she is doing. Other times, the abuse follows an altercation of some kind.

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 Posted on June 30, 2022 in Medication Errors

Providing medication to residents is a huge part of a nursing home’s responsibility. Elderly residents and those with serious medical issues rely on medications to manage pain and symptoms. For many, receiving their prescribed medications is the difference between life and death.

Medication errors can occur for many different reasons, but whatever the reasons, the impact can be catastrophic. Something as simple as mixing up two residents’ medications can lead to fatal consequences.

If your loved one passed away because of a medication mistake in a nursing home, you and your loved one deserve justice. The best way to hold the nursing home accountable may be to file a wrongful death claim against the facility.  

Deadly Medication Errors in Illinois Nursing Homes

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 Posted on May 31, 2022 in Nursing Home Falls

Hip fractures are one of the worst outcomes of a fall accident. While any type of fracture can be painful, hip fractures are particularly incapacitating. Over 300,000 elderly people are hospitalized with hip fractures every year. Women suffering from osteoporosis are at the highest risk of hip fractures but anyone can suffer a broken hip in a fall.

Broken hips take a massive toll. Most sufferers require surgery and must endure long, painful recoveries. Studies show that the 12-year mortality rate doubles after a hip fracture.

Sadly, many hip fractures are preventable. Nursing home neglect, mistakes, and substandard care increase the risk of preventable fall accidents.

Reasons Elderly and Ill Residents Suffer Broken Hips

The vast majority of hip fractures are caused by falling. Elderly people have lower bone density and less muscle mass than young people. They may also take medications that make them dizzy. The risk of falling is quite high for those over 65 years old. This is why it is so important for nursing home staff to decrease the risk of falling as much as possible.

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 Posted on May 16, 2022 in Medication Errors

The majority of people living in nursing homes and other long-term care facilities take one or more medications each day. They may need the medicine to mitigate pain, lower triglycerides, reduce blood pressure, or treat infections. When used correctly, medications can be lifesaving. When used incorrectly, medications have the potential to seriously injure or kill a nursing home resident.

Most Common Types of Medication Errors

It is no secret that many nursing homes are understaffed and underfunded. Many facilities do not have enough staff to provide residents the high-quality care and attention they deserve. Employees are often overworked, underpaid, and undertrained. Staffing issues like these increase the chances of medical mistakes.

Research shows that preventable adverse drug events are common in nursing homes. Approximately 16 – 27 percent of nursing home residents will be victims of medication mistakes according to the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society. Frighteningly, studies show that the number of medication mistakes in nursing homes is increasing.

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