Chicago Nursing Home Abuse Lawyer Blog

On May 13, 2013, hundreds of nursing home staff members gathered outside of the Thompson Center in downtown Chicago to protest the most recent cuts for medical services. While Illinois lawmakers allege that cuts are being made across the board, members of the cheering crowd rallied behind the idea that cutting Medicaid funding for nursing home residents is "just wrong."

One concerned citizen in particular stated that her brother is a resident at a facility in Aurora and recently the frames on his glasses broke. However, he is unable to get a new pair for at least 2 years, which is the mandatory waiting period. This is just one example of the repercussions from the state reducing or eliminating Medicaid funding for prescription drugs, dental care, eyeglasses, chiropractic care, and a variety of other services.

The Medicaid cuts that effectively eliminated dental, vision, and podiatry were supposed to save Illinois approximately $1.6 billion. However, state officials have admitted that those projected savings feel short by nearly 30%.

Fortunately, there is an increasing amount of awareness. For example, resident of a nursing home located in Quincy recently took it upon themselves to persuade Illinois lawmakers to restore some of the services that were cut as a result of Medicaid reform last year. The residents gathered to show their support for the Health Care Council's campaign titled, "Be a Star for Nursing Home Residents." The council is a professional association representing more than 80,000 nursing home professionals who serve more than 80,000 residents throughout 500 different nursing facilities in Illinois.

In furtherance of their campaign, representatives spoke to specific detriments of the funding reductions/eliminations. For example, a cut on a person's foot may not be thought of as a fatal issue. However, when the patient is a diabetic a simple cut can cause serious problems.

In order to show Governor Quinn and his staff that they truly are "stars," the residents were decked out in Hollywood attire, including crowns, feathered boas and fedoras. The residents then signed a petition that will be delivered to Governor Quinn, along with legislators.

On the other hand, the campaign did acknowledge that restoring Medicaid funds for dental, vision and podiatry would cost Illinois approximately $3 million to $4 million per year. However, with nearly 85% of residents within certain facilities relying on Medicaid funding, it is crucial to find a way to restore the funding and ensure that the residents will receive adequate care. The residents are real people with real medical needs.

The information in this blog was provided by Matt Hopf of the Herald-Whig. The article can be located at http://www.whig.com/story/22148391/nursing-home-residents-rally-to-restore-cuts-in-service.

Additional information regarding the recent protest outside of the Thompson Center in downtown Chicago can be located at http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2013/05/13/nursing-home-workers-protest-medicaid-spending-cuts/.

If you or someone you love has been injured, neglected or abused in a nursing home at the hands of nursing home caretakers, please contact Ed Fox & Associates today.

Recent developments in the area of filial support law have the potential of affecting how families budget for nursing home costs. Currently, 29 states (not including Illinois) have what are called filial support laws on the books. Filial support laws are put in place in order to require certain family members of an indigent elderly person to provide financial assistance for his or her unpaid care. These laws have various levels of requirements depending upon the state that you are in. A recent law review article by law professor Katherine C. Pearson, which was published in the Spring 2013 edition of the University of Illinois Law School's Elder Law Journal, took an in-depth look at some of the states where these laws are taking a more prominent role in nursing home funding.

One of the cases that Pearson looked at was the Pennsylvania HCRA v. Pittas case. In September of 2007, John Pittas' (who was the appellant) mother was admitted to an HCR facility for skilled nursing care and treatment where she resided and was treated until March of 2008. In March of 2008, Pittas' mother relocated to Greece. A large portion of her bill at the HCR facility went unpaid and, as a result, HCR sued Pittas for $93,000 under the state's filial responsibility law. After a three-day trial, the trial court ruled against Mr. Pittas in the amount of $92,943.41. On appeal, the appellate court affirmed this ruling and refused to consider imposing joint responsibility on his mother's husband or her two other adult children.

In a recent article reacting to this decision in the Southern Illinoisan Business Journal by Richard Habiger, he states that "[w]ithout proper planning by both parents and children, and without legal advice from an experienced elder law attorney, children may very well be on the hook for thousands of dollars of care required by their aging parents." Although there are no filial support laws currently on the Illinois books, there are some experts, like Professor Pearson, who believe that more states may adopt similar laws in the upcoming years. This puts a premium on making sure that families plan for the costs of nursing home care in advance of admitting their loved ones into a long-term care facility.

Professor Pearson concluded her article with this theory on where legislation may be heading "It seems reasonable to conclude that when a nation is both willing and financially able to provide adequate public support to assist poor elders, filial support laws are less important and less frequently used. In the United States, when the federal government was willing to fully fund Medicare and Medicaid for elders' health care and long-term care in nursing homes, federal policies led states to repeal or limit the use of filial support laws to mandate financial support for parents by their adult children. However, as the large demographic cohort of baby boomers ages, thus increasing the likelihood of costly health care and long-term care, there may be heightened interest among the U.S. states in using filial support laws against adult children." Our office encourages you and your family to take the necessary steps to plan for nursing home care costs so that you will not have to worry about the effects of this potentially growing area of law. This may very well include seeking legal counsel for advice on how best to plan for funding, and how current state or federal law could affect your family's liability for the costs of long term care.

If you or someone you love has been injured, neglected, or abused in a nursing home at the hands of nursing home caretakers, please contact Ed Fox & Associates today.

Illinois currently funds programs that allow 80,000 elderly and disabled people to live at home. However, Illinois foresees itself running out of funding for such programs by March 15, 2013, which is 3-1/2 months before the fiscal year ends on June 30, 2013.
Once these funds are exhausted, smaller non-profit home healthcare agencies will be forced to close, layoff employees, and leave thousands of elderly people scrambling for alternatives to in-home care, according to Bob Thieman, executive director of the Illinois Association of Community Care Program Healthcare Providers. Thieman further stated, "The state's going to pay for this one way or another. If these seniors cannot be picked up by other in-home providers, they're going to wind up in nursing homes, which will cost a lot more."
It is becoming increasingly evident that the state legislature has failed to improve reforms for the pensions that will reduce the cost. Consequently, the state has been forced to delay in paying its bills in order to balance the budget.
While state officials claim that the situation is improving, Thieman indicated that it is actually getting worse for home healthcare providers. In fact, home healthcare providers already wait nearly 6 months to be paid by the state. Nevertheless, the state has advised them to continue submitting invoices even though they have no intention to paying them immediately.
As for the source of the problem, the department blames the action on overdue bills from last year, which it indicated "ate up" 1/4 of the $687 million budgeted for the current year. This spending strategy was intended to help elderly people remain independent by paying for in-home care.
Unfortunately, this would not be the first time that the state has encountered a problem of this magnitude. In fact, this is the 2nd time in 2 years that the state has exhausted its funds before the end of the fiscal year, according to Thieman. However, this year's warning arrived much earlier. Nevertheless, this early warning caused a much larger backlog of bills.
As previously stated, the program, which includes 40 providers, currently serves approximately 80,000 elderly people each month, according to the Department of Aging. These 40 providers are comprised of entities ranging from nonprofits such as Catholic Charities to for-profit companies such as Addus HealthCare. Further, the 40 providers employ nearly 25,000 home-care assistants, according to Thieman.
One may find themselves blaming the economy as a whole. However, no other state has institutionalized late payment of bills quite like Illinois, according to the National Council of State Legislatures. By the end of the 2012 fiscal year, the state's backlog of unpaid bills stood at $8.7 billion, which was approximately a quarter of the state's annual revenue. This number has the ability to sky-rocket to nearly $22 billion within 5 years unless the state takes action in order to curb its public pension costs. Furthermore, the state currently has $96.8 billion in unfunded pension liabilities.
With regard to possible solutions, Illinois Comptroller Judy Baar Topinka propositioned lawmakers to either approve increased spending or require state agencies with surplus funds to return them for other agencies to use. The legislature responded by approving additional funding. However, it did not allocate any funds for the elderly and people with disabilities, according to Topinka's spokesman, Brad Hahn.
If you or someone you love has been injured, neglected or abused in a nursing home at the hands of nursing home caretakers, please contact Ed Fox & Associates today.
The information in this blog was provided through an article in The Huffington Post authored by James B. Kelleher. If you would like to read the article in its entirety, please visit
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/09/illinois-elderly-home-care_n_2841143.html

A recent article out of Wisconsin has been making the rounds on a lot of local blogs. Changes in Wisconsin law, which took effect in February 2011, prevent families from using state health investigation records in state civil suits against long-term providers including nursing homes and hospices. It also makes these records inadmissible in criminal cases against health care providers accused of neglecting or abusing patients.

A 32 year-old man, who is brain damaged and paralyzed from the chest down, was living in a group home in Menomonie, WI. In October 2011, he had to be rushed to a local hospital for treatment of a bedsore that had gotten so bad, doctors thought he might be permanently bedridden. A Wisconsin state health department investigation report later found that he had the bedsore for four month before being hospitalized. The facility never reported it to the state or told his family about it. The family is currently suing the facility, seeking damages for negligence, but due to the changes in Wisconsin law, their attorney cannot use state investigation records as evidence in the lawsuit.

Supporters of the bill, which include Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker, argue that this law only has a minimal effect on the use of investigation records. Critics say the law removes a good tool for revealing abuse and neglect because attorney's cannot use state inspection reports to support allegations or impeach a witness. This also has a big effect on injured residents who do not have the capacity to testify about what happened to them.

Around 270 tort reform laws have been implemented in 49 states since 1990. Some, including the one in Wisconsin, can be traced back to the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), which is a group funded by private industry that focuses on pro-business model legislation used mostly by Republican law makers. Supporters of the bill insist that it will help fuel the economy by reducing corporate litigation costs. Brian Hagedorn, Governor Walker's chief legal counsel, said that the law is aimed at jobs, and went on to state "[t]hese changes send a symbolic and substantive message that Wisconsin is open for business." That bears the question, at what cost?

Other proponents of the bill claim that implementation of this law allows healthcare providers to discuss problems more openly "without fearing a (personal injury attorney) is going to come [and read his or her report]." Walker said in an interview that the bill has helped slow the "constant pattern of litigation" that could be seen as a negative by employers.

Judge William Hanrahan, a Dane County (WI) Circuit Court Judge, with 19 years of experience prosecuting crimes against the elderly, expressed concern about the law because it forbids district attorneys and the state Department of Justice from using these records as evidence in criminal cases. He went on to state "I can't imagine if it were a homicide, it would be like saying the police reports couldn't be used."

Laws like this make it harder for attorneys like those at Ed Fox & Associates to do their jobs to the best of their ability in order to protect victims of nursing home negligence and abuse. What is more troubling is that the driving force behind these sorts of laws is stimulating the economy and job growth. There was very little mention of the needs of nursing home and long-term care facility patients by the proponents of this legislation. As was mentioned above, through the work of ALEC (which provides model bills for this type of legislation), 270 similar laws have been implemented across the United States. We have to work hard to make sure that these laws, veiled by good intentions, do not get implemented on a more widespread basis and lead to a lack of justice for those who are victims of neglect or abuse.

If you or someone you love has been injured, neglected or abused in a nursing home at the hands of nursing home caretakers, please contact Ed Fox & Associates today.

A recent Chicago Sun-Times article has "sounded the alarm" on changes that the Long Term Care (LTC) insurance industry will soon be implementing. The article bluntly stated that "Gender discrimination is coming - and it's perfectly legal." The LTC insurance industry has come to the realization that women generally live longer than men. This means that women will use more benefits from their LTC policies. In an effort to increase profit, the LTC insurance industry has decided to move away from a unisex, age-centered model, and adopt a gender-specific model (as we see in life insurance) where policy prices will rise as much as 40 percent for some women. Genworth has announced that they will implement this gender-specific model in the second quarter of this year, and many other insurers are set to follow suit. The article suggests that if you are a woman who is considering purchasing LTC insurance, you should act now before prices start skyrocketing.

The article goes on to quote an employee of the insurance brokerage MAGA, LTC who stated that if someone buys a policy today, it is less likely that his or her premiums will increase by a large amount because "insurers have planned better." He also stresses that having even a small amount of LTC insurance will gain you entry into better facilities which prefer privately insured customers as opposed to those relying solely on Medicaid.

There has been some backlash to this gender-specific model which charges women more for the same plan that is given to men due to this perception that all women live longer. Based on the National Women's Law Center's (NWLC) 2012 report entitled "Turning to Fairness," the practice of "gender rating" costs women approximately $1 billion in the individual health insurance market in a year. It also states that on average insurance companies charge non-smoking women more than male smokers. Currently only thirteen (13) states have banned gender rating (Illinois is not one of them). The report states that gender rating also occurs in the group market where businesses with a predominantly female workforce will often pay more for coverage.

The NWLC report ends by documenting some of the effects that the Affordable Health Care Act (ACA) will have on these practices. Section 1557 of the ACA prohibits discrimination in health programs receiving federal dollars, including insurance, and other programs conducted by the federal government, including health insurance exchanges. Most of these provisions will take effect in 2014, and unfortunately will not reach those insurance programs that are not federally funded. The hope of the NWLC is that the implementation of the ACA will influence private insurance providers to adopt similar practices so that women will be treated with the same factors as men in the market.

If you or someone you love has been injured, neglected or abused in a nursing home at the hands of nursing home caretakers, please contact Ed Fox & Associates today.

According to an article by Deborah L. Shelton, a Chicago Tribune reporter, Illinois ranks 3rd among states in the number of times federal officials suspended payments to a nursing home due to serious deficiencies. In the past 3 years, payments for Medicare and Medicaid have been suspended 91 times at 78 different homes. Suspending such funds occurs when the deficiencies at a facility are so serious that regulators must press for immediate improvement.
The Illinois Department of Public Health conducts surveys of nursing homes under contract with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Facilities are rated on an A to L scale, with L indicating the most serious deficiencies. In Illinois, D was the most common rating by far.
Scores of J, K, and L signify "immediate jeopardy to resident health or safety." For example, a J score signifies an isolated incident while a K score signifies that the deficiency was part of a pattern. An L score, which is the most severe, signifies that the occurrence was widespread. Among the 773 nursing homes in Illinois, 144 nursing homes were cited for at least one J, K, or L deficiency within the last 3 years. However, 54 were able to escape without any fines from Medicare or Medicaid. In regards to nursing homes in the Chicago area, All American Nursing Home had the highest number of serious deficiencies, 11, according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
Additionally, a total of $2.43 million in fines were levied against 199 nursing homes, with the average fine being $6,031. The penalties ranged from an $80,160 fine imposed against a Chicago nursing home for having 53 deficiencies to a $650 fine imposed on a Peoria nursing home cited for 27 deficiencies.
Further, some nursing home facilities have been designated as a special focus facility, which means that the facility has a history of serious quality issues and is part of a special program to stimulate improvements in care. According to Illinois surveys, Fairview Care Center of Joliet was one of three homes that tied for having the most deficiencies in the state, 82. Due to these deficiencies, the facility has had their payments suspended twice and has been designated a special focus facility. In fact, last year a resident was attacked with a metal container by another resident. The resident was hurt and had to get six staples and six stitches to the head. State auditors cited the facility for failing "to respond appropriately to resident's behavior in a timely manner, provide appropriate interventions and adequate supervision to prevent resident to resident physical abuse."
If you or someone you love has been injured, neglected or abused in a nursing home at the hands of nursing home caretakers, please contact Ed Fox & Associates today.
To read this news article in its entirety, please click http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2012-12-24/health/ct-nw-illinois-nursing-homes-20121224_1_deficiencies-special-focus-facility-three-homes.

Under the Illinois Nursing Home Care Act, nursing home residents are guaranteed certain rights, including the freedom from abuse and neglect, while staying at a long-term care facility. In reality, however, some Illinois nursing homes expose elderly residents to many dangers when they are in their most vulnerable state, times when most would expect a heightened level of care and peace.
When the Chicago Tribune conducted its own investigation, called "Compromised Care," it found that most sex offenders living in nursing homes were unregistered and many cases of assault and rape went unreported.
The investigation also underscored the deeper issues of understaffing and inadequate training and reporting at Illinois nursing homes. The newspaper described the fatal beating of a 72-year-old dementia patient by a convicted felon at the Columbus Park Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, illustrating the danger of placing helpless elderly patients near the potentially violent. In this instance, the attacker had been imprisoned twice for felony convictions in Nebraska and Arkansas, but because Illinois law only required in-state background checks, the home did not know of these out-of-state convictions. Furthermore, the staff failed to monitor the attacker, even after frequent violent behavior, and failed to correctly report the incident.
A similar situation occurred at the All Faith Pavilion nursing home on Chicago's South Side when a 77-year-old man who had been rendered helpless by a stroke was fatally beaten over the head with a clock radio by a 50-year-old man who suffered fits of delirium. The man had had a history of negative and aggressive behavior, but the nursing home still placed the two men in the same room.
If you or someone you love has been injured, neglected or abused in a nursing home at the hands of nursing home caretakers, please contact Ed Fox & Associates today.

The information in this blog was provided by Sonia Piacenza, Illinois Nursing Home Reform: Sorting Out the Deadly Mix, 16 Pub. Int. L. Rep. 109 (2011)

According to The State Journal Register, Maple Ridge Care Centre recently agreed to pay approximately $18,700 in penalties for allegedly substandard conditions throughout their nursing home facility. The 126-bed facility, located less than 3 hours south of Chicago, made enough improvements to avoid a threatened cut-off of Medicaid and Medicare payments. However, an advocate for nursing home residents and the wife of a former Maple Ridge resident have indicated that the conditions at Maple Ridge have not improved at all.
The facility recently underwent an ownership change in January. However, a regional long-term care ombudsman stated that while Maple Ridge often addresses immediate concerns, complaints continue to come in regarding unanswered call lights, rude and rough treatment by staff, lack of cleanliness and lax attitudes towards infection control. The notion that the facility is understaffed, which is becoming more common in nursing homes, appears to be contributing the substandard conditions.
As for the specific substandard conditions, a mother of a resident recently indicated that she has frequently found her 40-year old daughter sitting in her own urine because the nurse's aides were too busy to help her use the restroom. The mother compared asking for help with talking to a wall. Accordingly, the mother spends much of her time worrying if her daughter is being taken care of at the Maple Ridge facility.
Additionally, during a visit in July, state inspectors found that bandages on a male resident's lower leg hadn't been changed for several days. When the stinking wound dressings were removed, maggots were seen falling onto the floor. However, issues such as this involving cleanliness were considered to be "low-level deficiencies" and no fines were imposed. During the same visit, inspectors found that a woman in a wheelchair had fallen and hit her head on the floor after her attempts to request assistance for 40 minutes had failed. According to the nurse, staff considered the resident's complaints to be a "behavioral issue." Further, the same inspection documented eye infections in 11 residents due to the fact that Maple Ridge failed to look into the outbreak or educate the staff on how to prevent the spread of such infections.
Maple Ridge displayed additional deficiencies regarding infection control during a March inspection. Here, a resident with Methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) was found coughing and walking through the facility, with a mask covering only a tracheotomy opening in his neck and no mask on his face. According to Maple Ridge's infection control coordinator, who had no special training on infection-control prevention, the resident had been admitted with MRSA in June 2011 but did not like wearing his mask and also began to leave his room.
The most disturbing incident that occurred at Maple Ridge involved the death of Keri Daugherty in March 2009. Daugherty was a 32 year old woman with spina bifida who lived at the facility for only 6 months before staff members decided not to follow her wishes and attempt to revive her with cardiopulmonary resuscitation. Here, Maple Ridge agreed to pay a reduced fine of $6,500 to settle the case.
Just 3 months prior to Daugherty's death was the death of Carol Harrison. Harrison was subject to a 16-hour delay in what was later diagnosed as deep-vein thrombosis. This eventually led to the amputation of her left leg and hastened her death in August 2009. The lawsuit was concluded out of court in May for an undisclosed settlement amount. However, according to sources, "The family is glad that it's over and happy with the result."

If you or someone you love has been injured, neglected or abused in a nursing home at the hands of nursing home caretakers, please contact Ed Fox & Associates today.

The information in this blog was provided through an article in The State Journal-Register authored by Dean Olsen. If you would like to read the article in its entirety, please visit http://www.sj-r.com/top-stories/x1782333661/Critics-say-complaints-continue-about-Lincoln-nursing-home.

In the past, nursing home abuse actions, especially in Chicago, were relatively rare for a variety of reasons, including difficulties in proving causation and the belief that substantial damages were unlikely to be awarded. However, tort litigation has been increasingly utilized to seek redress for these injuries; and substantial verdicts and settlements have been achieved.
Both intentional and unintentional torts can arise in a hospital or nursing home setting. Intentional torts including assault, battery, false imprisonment, and conversion are frequently alleged in nursing home litigation. For example, in Gragg v. Callandra, an Illinois court allowed claims for battery and intentional infliction of emotional distress to be maintained against defendant hospital for disregarding the patient's living will.
Additionally, claims regarding the improper use of physical or chemical restraints also are emerging. In Bryant v. Oakpointe Villa Nursing Centre, a decedent suffered from multi-infarct dementia and diabetes, had suffered several strokes, and required twenty-four-hour-a-day care for all her needs, including locomotion, dressing, eating, toileting, and bathing. Her condition impaired her judgment and reasoning ability and, in turn, caused cerebral atrophy. She had no control over her locomotive skills and was prone to sliding about uncontrollably and, therefore, she was at risk for suffocation by "positional asphyxia." Because she had no control over her locomotive skills, the nursing home's medical director authorized the use of various physical restraints, including bedrails, restraining vests, and wedges and bumpers. The decedent slipped between the rails of her bed and was in large part out of her bed with her lower half of her body on the floor. However, her head and neck were stuck under the bed side rail with her neck wedged in the gap between the rail and the mattress. This prevented her from breathing, which ultimately caused the patient's death. Here, the court upheld the validity of such a claim that the nursing home was liable for the patient's death due to the fact that the death occurred as a result of "positional asphyxiation" while in the facility's care.
Unintentional torts are predominantly claims of negligence in care or supervision such as result in falls or other injuries to residents. Several jurisdictions have imposed tort liability upon nursing homes for injuries sustained by residents as a result of negligent or intentional acts by the facility's employees. A nursing home also may be vicariously liable to a resident who is injured by another resident or by a third party who is not an employee. In addition, several states have created statutory private rights of action, ranging from statutes making explicit a nursing home resident's right to utilize common law remedies, notwithstanding the existence of statutory remedies, to schemes that set out rights and damages available to nursing home residents. The Illinois Nursing Home Care Act also provides for the recovery of attorney fees and costs. Litigants also have relied on consumer protection and related statutes to seek recovery from nursing facilities.

If you or someone you love has been injured, neglected or abused in a nursing home at the hands of nursing home caretakers, please contact Ed Fox & Associates today.

The information in this blog was provided by Elder Law: Advocacy for the Aging 2d, by Allen D. Bogutz, Robert N. Brown, Joan M. Krauskopf, and Karen L. Tokarz.

The short answer to that question is no. When most of us think about Nursing Home Abuse and other similar types of fraud or neglect, we automatically assume the victim is a Senior. Two recent incidents that we came across recently illustrate how that assumption is not always accurate.

In a Southern Indiana City not too far from us in Chicago named Seymour, a 26-year old woman named Kasey Scott plead guilty to Medicaid fraud and neglect of a dependent. Scott, who is a licensed practical nurse, was working for a home respite-care agency when she was hired by a local family to care for their severely disabled 7-year-old son at their home during daytime hours that his parents would be at work. According to the probable cause affidavit, Scott was supposed to follow a care plan which included "providing physical therapy, exercise, interaction, and monitoring the child's vital signs when he experienced seizures." The mother set up a hidden camera to record video during the hours that Scott was to be there due to concerns about the care she was providing. The video showed that on June 5 and 6 of 2011, Scott provided inadequate care which was limited to only feeding, diapering and giving the child medication. The rest of the time, Scott would leave the blind, disabled 7-year old boy on a couch for hours by himself while she would read or watch TV. Scott also falsified notes and stated that she provided care which she did not actually provide which led her employer, Loving Care Agency of Indianapolis, to unknowingly submit false claims to Medicaid for reimbursement of funds that the program paid. Scott will serve one year of her four-year sentence on home detention and the remaining three years on supervised probation.

The second incident is even more troubling. This incident occurred in an Arkansas nursing home/rehabilitation center where a 21-year old female disabled resident told the staff that a man came in and molested her. When police arrived on the scene they tracked down a 42-year old man who claimed that he had visited the nursing home that day, heard the resident call out for help, went to her aid, and called a nurse for her. Police gathered DNA from the man which ended up matching the evidence in the rape kit. The man was charged with the fourth degree felony of gross sexual imposition. The article went on to reveal some startling statistics on abuse in nursing homes: The National Center on Elder Abuse reported that there were roughly 5.9 million cases in 2010 with 58% of these cases relating to neglect. For more up to date statistics on nursing home abuse, you can check out the Center on Elder Abuse's fact sheet which will be attached here.

If you or someone you love has been injured, neglected or abused in a nursing home at the hands of nursing home caretakers, please contact Ed Fox & Associates today.

According to the Illinois Department of Public Health's Quarterly Report of Nursing Home Violators, the Illinois Department of Public Health initiated action against 132 Illinois nursing homes for violations of the Nursing Home Care Act or it has recommended decertification to the Director of the Department of Healthcare and Family Service, or the Secretary of the United States Department of Health and Human Services for violations in relation to patient care.
http://www.idph.state.il.us/about/nursing_homes_violations12/quarterly_report_2-12.htm.

This Quarterly Report covers the time period from April 2012 to June 2012. The next report will cover July 2012 to September 2012 and it will be interesting to see if the number of nursing homes with actions initiated against them or decertification recommendations placed with appropriate federal agencies has increased or decreased.

While these statistics do not necessarily give any insight into the frequency of nursing home abuse, neglect or injury incidents, they do provide insight into the level of compliance of Illinois nursing homes with relevant laws that exist to protect the elder against such incidents. Nursing homes are tasked with caring for arguably society's most vulnerable class of citizens and these nursing homes need to make more of an effort to come into compliance with the Illinois Nursing Home Care Act and relevant federal laws. The reported 132 Illinois nursing home violators between April 2012 and June 2012 is a disheartening number. It is a frightening number for any person currently living in an Illinois nursing home and/or considering a transition into a nursing home and Illinois nursing homes need to do better. The nursing homes need to do better to prevent abuse, neglect and injuries that seem to occur at an alarming frequency. The nursing homes of this state need to respect the laws governing them and need to make a strenuous effort to come into compliance with any relevant laws.

If you or someone you love has been injured, neglected or abused in a nursing home at the hands of nursing home caretakers, please contact Ed Fox & Associates today.

A Lincoln, Illinois nursing home, Maple Ridge Care Centre, is planning a $500,000 effort to improve its operations and repair its reputation after coming under fire for several alleged instances of patient mistreatment, cleanliness issues, and mismanagement of infection control.

Tim Fields, a spokesperson for Maple Ridge, said that significant capital improvement dollars will go toward facility renovations that aim to improve the living conditions of the residents and the working conditions of the staff. Those renovations include updating the facility with new computer systems, break rooms for the staff and nursing stations. In addition, a medical records system is set to be installed, along with new social areas with flat-screen televisions and Internet availability.

Maple Ridge recently underwent a change in ownership and in the process of that change, will change its name to Symphony of Lincoln.

Despite the change in ownership and although the new owners have set out a plan to improve its operations, there are still concerns about understaffing, facility conditions, rough treatment of Maple Ridge residents by staff, lack of cleanliness, etc. Some feel that if the facility has additional funding that it should be spent directly addressing patient problems.

Jamie Freschi, a regional long-term care ombudsman, in a report dated August 25, 2012, stated that despite the change in ownership, complaints are still incoming about unanswered call lights, rude and sometimes rough treatment of Maple Ridge residents by the staff, lack of cleanliness and lax attitudes toward infection control. Freschi feels that if Maple Ridge has additional funding to spend on the facility, that additional funding could be spent providing more staffing and training.

There is cause for concern with the issues and complaints presented about Maple Ridge because these sub-par conditions often lead to nursing home neglect and/or injuries. Lincoln resident Diana Sexton reported that, up until the last few days, she had frequently found her daughter sitting in her own urine while nurse's aides were too busy or unwilling to help her use the restroom. Complaints like Diana Sexton's are too many and changes need to be made to prevent instances of neglect, abuse and/or preventable injuries from occurring. Nursing homes are tasked with providing a certain level of care to its residents and must strive to maintain that level of care so that residents do not suffer from low quality care due to understaffing and/or general lax staff attitudes that often lead to devastating results for nursing home residents.

If you or someone you love has been injured, neglected or abused in a nursing home at the hands of nursing home caretakers, please contact Ed Fox & Associates today.

I have not had the opportunity to blog in about a month, so forgive me if this news is a bit old.

Anyways, I just stumbled across this CNN news story from early July commenting on a disturbing video of a group home employee allegedly abusing a helpless resident. I must warn you, the video is difficult to watch and may hit especially hard for those of you with loved ones in homes. I had trouble stomaching it and am still feeling a bit angry.

An anonymous source sent one copy of the video to the State of Connecticut, one to the group home, and one to a news station. The source labeled the videos "A Perfect Employee" and included a description stating that the incident happened at the East Hartford, Connecticut group home. For those of you who do not wish to watch the gruesome video, it depicts a caretaker whipping a defenseless, disabled resident with a belt, kicking her in the stomach, and dragging her across the floor by her hair. The employee is no longer working at the home and has since been arrested.

This story may be tough to accept as true, but it serves as a sad reminder that this type of abuse does happen in our world. If you notice signs of nursing home abuse or neglect please refer to this helpful guide for information on how to proceed.

If you or someone you love has been injured, neglected or abused in a nursing home at the hands of nursing home caretakers, please contact Ed Fox & Associates today.

On Saturday, July 28, 2012, Illinois Governor Pat Quinn signed several new laws to protect senior citizens in Illinois. Governor Quinn has long been committed to protecting Illinois seniors and the signing of these new laws in just an extension of that commitment. The laws signed on Saturday "will promote safety, increase oversight and accountability for caregivers and help authorities identify and respond to reports of abuse, neglect and exploitation." http://www.enewspf.com/latest-news/latest-local/35152-governor-quinn-signs-new-laws-to-protect-illinois-seniors-.html.

Some highlights of the laws include giving law enforcement and fire departments access to reports of elder abuse, neglect, financial exploitation or self-neglect compiled by senior service providers, allowing the Illinois Department on Aging to receive reports of elder abuse or neglect for senior service providers via the internet and requiring nursing home residents' identification wristlets to include their facility's telephone number so that those residents who are found outside of their facility can be returned safely.

Each of the new laws seeks to address an area in which elder care has been deficient. These laws will help reduce instances of abuse, neglect and nursing home injuries, as well as facilitate more efficient communication to more efficiently and effectively address the needs of Illinois' senior citizens.

If you or someone you love has been injured, neglected or abused in a nursing home at the hands of nursing home caretakers, please contact Ed Fox & Associates today.

Last week, Gail Drmacich noticed that her 68 year old mother-in-law's arm was turning green. Drmacich's mother-in-law was under the care of St. John's Place, a nursing home facility that is not only in the midst of a criminal elder abuse investigation, but has been faced with three wrongful death lawsuits since 2003. Because it seemed that the nursing home was ignoring this serious sign of injury, Drmacich telephoned a doctor at a nearby hospital. The doctor recommended that the resident be taken to the ER immediately. Drmacich then notified St. John's Place, but she claims it took the nursing home over two hours to order an ambulance.

A medical examination revealed that Drmacich's mother-in-law was suffering from a separated shoulder and a fractured elbow. Drmacich believes the injuries were perhaps the results of a fall, and that they were caused by nursing home neglect. The former resident was still in the hospital at the time the story was reported, but Drmacich had already cleaned out her mother-in-law's room at St. John's Place and withdrawn her from its care. A representative for St. John's Place briefly commented that these are only allegations, yet to be proven by the state or even brought to the state.

Drmacich also stated that her mother-in-law had shown signs of bruising in the past, and Drmacich appears to have been continually frustrated with the care provided by St. John's Place. Although it took something as unnerving as a green arm to alert her that something was seriously wrong, you should be aware that sometimes smaller signals can be signs of big problems. Bruising can be caused by many factors, and can be much more common in the elderly, but there are some types of bruising that should alert you that abuse or neglect may be occurring. Here is a helpful guide on what to do if you believe your loved one is a victim of such abuse or neglect.

If you or someone you love has been injured, neglected or abused in a nursing home at the hands of nursing home caretakers, please contact Ed Fox & Associates today.

http://www.kmov.com/news/local/Another-family-alleges-relative-was-victim-of-abuse-at-St-Louis-County-nursing-home-158639165.html