Bloomington Personal Injury Lawyer - Nursing Home & Elder Abuse

Lawsuit Filed Against Nursing Home for Neglect

Christina Cole — Wed, 28 Feb 2007 12:51:44 GMT

A nursing home operator that has facilities in Illinois and Indiana is once again facing neglect charges. The suit involves a case of an 83-year-old patient whose leg was amputated, allegedly because the nursing home staff continually didn't feed her.

A lawsuit has been filed in Cook County Circuit Court by a woman on behalf of her mother, accusing the South Shore Nursing and Rehabilitation Center LLC and its parent company, Care Centers Inc., of several different types of abuse.

Care Centers operates 26 facilities with 4,224 beds in the Chicago and North Indiana area, including facilities that are located in Lansing, Chicago Heights and various other areas.

This is the second suit in the past two months that has been filed against Care Center Inc, alleging serious neglect at one of their facilities.

According to the lawsuit, a South Side resident was not properly fed on 88 occasions between July and December 2005. Brison became dehydrated and more susceptible to infection as a result of the missed feedings, the lawsuit alleges.
The Illinois Department of Public Health investigated and found that Brison did not receive feedings on a significant number of occasions. Her attorney, pointed out that she had diabetes and was particularly vulnerable to the devastating infections that led to her leg being amputated.

Since March 2006, Brison has had two leg amputation surgeries. The lawsuit claims that South Shore is responsible for the infections that made the operations necessary. After the operations she was taken back to South Shore where she remained until her death in October 2006.

The family was searching for other homes, but before they could place her somewhere else she passed away. Care Centers is the defendant in a suit filed in January relating to neglect and abuse at a nursing home in Chicago Heights.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Christina Cole

Nursing Home Receives Maximum Fine

Christina Cole — Wed, 17 Jan 2007 01:18:28 GMT

The maximum fine allowed by law, $100,000, has been fined to a Sacramento nursing home in the death of 84-year-old resident, said state officials on Friday.

An investigation by the Department of Health Services has concluded that poor care of the man by the Arden Rehabilitation and Health center lead to his death on July 13, 2005, said Dr. Mark Horton. The coroner's report said the causes of death included bleeding that was caused by a blunt force head injury, bronchopneumonia and multiple contusions.

The man, whose name has not been released, was transferred to an acute care hospital on June 25, 2005 with extensive bruising to his arms, chest and legs. He was then sent back to Arden Rehabilitation and Health Center only four days later before returning to the hospital again on July 2.

The state's investigation found that the nursing home's staff noted seven times between August 2004 and June 2005 that the man had significant bruising and skin tears.
The nursing home's policies said those injuries were supposed to be reported to the Department of Health Services as possible instances of abuse but were not.
There also was no evidence that the home conducted a prompt and thorough investigation of the injuries, the state said, and the man's physician was not consistently notified by the home about suspicious bruises on his body.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Christina Cole

Woman Accuses Nursing Home of Neglect

Christina Cole — Wed, 10 Jan 2007 21:53:12 GMT

An 81-year-old woman says she was the victim of neglect and abuse during her two month stay at Chicago Heights nursing home.

In a lawsuit filed on Tuesday, Rose Capriotti alleges she fell on her head and suffered from numerous bedsores while recovering from a stroke at the Prairie Manor Nursing home and Rehabilitation Center. Prairie Manor is operated by Care Centers Inc and operates 26 centers with over 4,200 beds in the Chicago area and Northwest Indiana.

A Prairie Manor spokeswoman declined to comment, saying the company had not received the lawsuit.
Within the first week nursing home staff sat Capriotti upright. But because her balance was affected by the stroke, she fell and hit her head, said Susan Novosad, Capriotti's attorney.
"A physician said he thinks (Capriotti) may have sustained another stroke after the April 3 fall," Novosad said. The bedsores were first noticed by the Prairie Manor staff on May 5, Novosad said. Capriotti's family was unaware of the sores until she was admitted to the hospital May 15, the lawyer said.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Christina Cole

Nursing Home Facing Several Violations

Christina Cole — Thu, 04 Jan 2007 13:13:03 GMT

A federal agency is fining a northern New York nursing home for a number of violations.

Officials at the Lewis County General Hospital's nursing home say they are now working to fix the deficiencies that were cited in an inspection report last month. In a report from November, the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services came to the conclusion that officials at the county-owned facility failed to implement abuse policies and procedures in place to protect residents in the dementia unit.

Nursing home officials and staff are also accused of failing to investigate continuous incidents of inappropriate sexual behavior.

A 96-year-old male resident and a 66-year-old female resident in the 40-person dementia unit were inappropriately touching residents of the opposite sex on multiple occasions from April through November. Staff members were told to monitor both residents', but federal investigators say the alleged incidents were not adequately documented or reported.
The nursing home is also accused of failing to properly treat some residents' health problems and neglecting to inform doctors of changes in medications.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Christina Cole