Posted on November 07, 2022 in Nursing Home Abuse

Sexual abuse of a nursing home resident can be incredibly difficult for family members to identify and address to satisfaction. Anybody who is dealing with a nursing home abuse case in which they believe their loved one was sexually abused should immediately contact a Chicago nursing home abuse attorney.

Certain sexual abuse cases could result in both civil and criminal liability issues for nursing homes and their employees. People should familiarize themselves with some of the more common signs of sexual abuse so they can know how to spot when their loved one may be in danger. 

How Common Sexual Abuse Really Is 

CNN reported in 2017 that over 16,000 sexual abuse complaints were reported since 2000 in nursing homes and assisted living facilities. It also reported that 226 nursing homes were cited for failure to protect residents from substantiated sexual abuse between 2010 and 2015, and approximately 60 percent led to fines of over $9 million.

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 Posted on November 01, 2022 in Nursing Home Abuse

The National Ombudsman Resource Center reports that the Long-Term Care (LTC) Ombudsman Program is authorized under the Older Americans Act and is administered at the state level, meaning every state has an Office of the State Long-Term Care Ombudsman. The program provides residents of nursing homes and long-term care facilities with access to advocacy for ensuring they receive the quality of care and quality of life they need and legally deserve.

When a family has concerns about potential nursing home abuse or neglect involving their loved one, it can cause many people to begin asking questions for which there are not always easy answers. It is important to understand exactly which kinds of services the Long-Term Care Ombudsman Program may offer.

Provisions of the Long-Term Care Ombudsman Program 

The 2nd Quarterly Report from the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) included more than 100 licensees in Chicago. The IDPH initiated actions against these facilities for being in violation of the Nursing Home Care Act.

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 Posted on October 31, 2022 in Nursing Home Abuse

 Breathing tubes are very serious medical apparatuses that are used when a patient can no longer breathe on his or her own. Unfortunately, in nursing homes and assisted living facilities, residents requiring breathing tubes are among the most vulnerable. If there is an error with the insertion of a breathing tube, a patient is injured while being intubated by a breathing tube, or the tube somehow becomes dislodged, the patient may suffer from severe brain damage from lack of oxygen or another life-threatening injury. In some cases, a breathing tube error may even result in a wrongful death from oxygen deprivation.

Breathing tube injuries at nursing homes may be caused by nursing home abuse and neglect. If you have a loved one who suffered from a breathing tube injury, consider consulting with an experienced attorney who can protect your rights and explain your legal options. 

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 Posted on October 21, 2022 in Nursing Home Abuse

Older adults are amongst the most vulnerable of our society's population. In many instances, a person of advanced age may be unable to care for themselves properly. In some cases, they may need lots of assistance or just a little help here or there. At the very least, when you place your loved one in a nursing home facility, you expect their needs to be acknowledged and met by the healthcare professionals working there.

Any family's worst nightmare is for their loved one to suffer a life-threatening injury while living in a nursing home facility. Unfortunately, when an injury of this type occurs,it sometimes results from some form of nursing home abuse and neglect. If your loved one has suffered a life-threatening injury while at a nursing home, consider contacting an attorney with experience working in cases where elder abuse may occur. 

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 Posted on October 13, 2022 in Nursing Home Abuse

Deciding to put your loved one in a nursing home can be extremely difficult. This is a person you love very much. You may feel guilty about reducing their independence. However, suppose your loved one has dementia like Alzheimer's. In that case, nursing homes can be a secure location where your loved one can live in a community with healthcare workers skilled in caring for patients in similar circumstances. 

When you bring your loved one to live in a nursing home facility, you are assuming your loved one will be appropriately taken care of. Unfortunately, nursing home abuse and neglect happen frequently in nursing homes, especially against the more vulnerable population, such as residents with Alzheimer's and other dementia-related conditions. These patients are often targeted because the abuser assumes that they will be able to blame the patient's condition for any accusations. If you have reason to believe your loved one is suffering from elder abuse at a nursing home, consider contacting attorneys skilled at representing patients with Alzheimer's or dementia who may be getting abused at a nursing home facility. 

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 Posted on October 06, 2022 in Nursing Home Abuse

As their loved ones grow older and lose the ability to take care of themselves, a family may decide the best course of action is to move their loved one into a nursing home facility. When families make difficult decisions such as this, they expect, at the very least, that the facility they are moved into is a safe and caring environment that will adequately take care of the family member they love dearly.

Substandard care in a nursing home facility is any family member's worst nightmare. Further unconscionable is the prospect of a family member dying because of the care they did or did not receive. If you believe your loved one suffered a wrongful death in a nursing home facility, consider contacting a lawyer with experience in nursing home abuse and neglect to understand your rights and the options you have moving forward.

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 Posted on September 30, 2022 in Nursing Home Abuse

Studies show that a tragic number of vulnerable adults are abused or neglected in nursing homes across the country, and that the longer someone stays in a nursing home, the likelier they are to face abuse or neglect. When stories of nursing home abuse make headlines regularly, those with loved ones in residential care facilities may be wondering how such a thing can continue to happen. 

Unfortunately, the answer lies in a problem that currently plagues a large portion of the U.S. economy and hits caregiving occupations particularly hard: difficulty recruiting and retaining quality staff. When nursing homes have a hard time hiring enough staff to properly care for their residents, they often resort to hiring subpar candidates, overlooking criminal backgrounds, questionable work histories, or a lack of appropriate qualifications. Sadly - although perhaps, predictably - inadequate staffing results in higher rates of abuse and neglect. 

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 Posted on September 21, 2022 in Nursing Home Abuse

Elderly and sickly residents of Illinois nursing homes are at an increased risk of many different illnesses and injuries. Because of an elderly body’s compromised immune system and slower healing times, injuries that would heal quickly for a younger person can cause serious damage and even lead to unexpected fatalities in nursing home residents. 

Some of these seemingly mild injuries that can become very serious are bone fractures. Because bone fractures are usually not as serious as outright breaks, they tend to get overlooked as a contributing factor to serious pain, loss of life quality, and increased risk of death. But it is important to take bone fractures in elderly nursing home residents seriously and to be aware of avoidable causes like nursing home neglect. 

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 Posted on September 15, 2022 in Nursing Home Abuse

Nursing home residents are often elderly and physically frail, causing them to easily fall victim to diseases and illnesses which are non-threatening in otherwise healthy populations. Illinois nursing homes must meet a high standard of care to make sure that elderly residents are not subjected to conditions that could cause serious illness or death, and–if dangerous conditions are present in a nursing home–that residents are immediately treated. If your loved one has suffered or died from gastroenteritis or another serious infection, contact an Illinois nursing home neglect attorney right away. 

What is Gastroenteritis? 

Gastroenteritis is a serious condition caused by viral and bacterial infections that irritate the stomach and intestines and cause them to become inflamed. Nursing home residents are four times more likely to die from gastroenteritis and are generally infected after being exposed to another infected person or contaminated food or water. Symptoms of gastroenteritis include: 

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 Posted on September 08, 2022 in Nursing Home Abuse

When you made the decision to place your loved one in the care of an Illinois nursing home, you likely had no idea that the facility would do anything other than conform to the highest standard of care. Unfortunately, many nursing homes suffer from chronic issues of understaffing and poor training that can have a severe impact on the quality of the care that residents receive. 

One of the most traumatic things that can happen to a family is receiving a call informing them that their parent, grandparent, or other loved one has been seriously injured in an accident in a nursing home. While some of these accidents are the inevitable result of aging bodies that struggle with mobility, others are the result of inadequate supervision, a dangerous environment, and even sometimes a result of abuse and neglect at the hands of nursing home staff. If you have gotten news that your loved one has been seriously injured at a nursing home, it is important to get details about the incident as soon as possible. An experienced Illinois nursing home injury attorney can help. 

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