Every nursing home abuse case I have handled in Chicago has one thing in common. Understaffing. It is the root cause of almost every form of neglect, from bedsores to falls to medication errors to malnutrition. The facilities know it. The insurance companies know it. And the Illinois Department of Public Health knows it because they cite facilities for staffing deficiencies every single year.
Here is how it works. A nursing home facility needs a certain number of certified nursing assistants, licensed practical nurses, and registered nurses on every shift to meet the care needs of its residents. That number is determined by the acuity of the residents, meaning how sick and how dependent they are. When the facility cuts staffing to save money, the remaining staff cannot provide the care that each resident's care plan requires. Call lights go unanswered. Residents who need help getting to the bathroom are left in soiled clothing. Residents who need to be repositioned every two hours to prevent bedsores are not turned for four, six, eight hours. Residents who need meal assistance do not eat.
The IDPH inspection reports for Chicago-area nursing homes are public record and they are devastating reading. Facilities cited for insufficient staffing, inadequate supervision, failure to follow care plans, failure to prevent pressure injuries, failure to prevent falls. These citations repeat year after year because the fines are a cost of doing business. A ten-thousand-dollar fine is nothing compared to the payroll savings from running short-staffed.
Corporate-owned nursing home chains are the worst offenders because the staffing decisions are made at the corporate level, not by the people providing care. The administrator and the director of nursing at the facility may know they need more staff, but the corporate budget says otherwise. When we litigate these cases, we pursue the corporate parent entity, not just the individual facility. That is where the real assets are, and that is where the decision to understaff was made.
Under the Illinois Nursing Home Care Act, residents have a right to adequate and appropriate care. When a facility fails to provide that care because it chose to run short-staffed, the Act provides for compensatory damages and, in cases of willful and wanton neglect, punitive damages. The corporate profit motive behind staffing cuts is exactly the kind of evidence that supports punitive damages.
If your loved one is in a Chicago nursing home and the care is deteriorating, do not wait for a catastrophe. Call me at 312-500-4500. I will pull the IDPH reports and tell you what the inspection history says about the facility.
When a nursing home does not turn a nursing home resident, or otherwise move their body for them when they cannot, bedsores can develop. That is nursing home neglect. Basically, it means that they are treating a nursing home resident like a peice of furniture. An inanimate object instead of a human being who needs attention and care.
Another example is if a resident cannot walk. They will need help to go to the bathroom or shower. They will need help to do most things. When they do not get the help they need, that is nursing home neglect, too.
Nursing home abuse happens when a resident is hit or beaten or even sexually assaulted. Nursing home residents are often helpless, and many cannot communicate well. It makes abuse cases the 'worst of thew worst' because we all know only the lowest sorts of people prey on the helpless.
The short answer is that if you or a loved one got hurt in a nursing home, then yes. And if they were abused or sexually assaulted or raped in a nursing home, then my advice would be that you MUST consult with a nursing home lawyer.
Nursing home lawyers offer a free consultation. That means you can get answers to your questions and know what the next steps are. You can know if the case is strong and what evidence has to be collected to win. And there is never a fee or charge unless you win your case.
If you or a loved one needs to speak with a Chicago nursing home abuse lawyer, please give me a call. Do not delay.
You can call any day, at any time. My people always pick up this phone. And it really is free.
Any person that cares for, or is involved in the care of, an elderly person, can potentially abuse that person.
When elderly people can no longer take care of themselves, they often rely on the care of several individuals. This includes family, nurses, doctors, at-home caregivers, long-term care professionals, and employees of long-term care facilities.
Elder abuse comes in many forms but always has the same consequences. Elderly abuse results in harm or loss to the person being abused.
Domestic violence, exploitation of finances, neglect, physical abuse, psychological abuse, and sexual abuse are some of the common forms of elderly abuse.
These forms of abuse often go unreported. The person being abused may not see loved ones that they trust with this information or loved ones may not know what to do about the abuse. Sometimes, the person being abused fears retaliation for reporting the mistreatment or they are unable to verbalize the abuse due to a loss of cognitive or physical function.
Abuse can also be hard to recognize and may go unnoticed. It’s critical that loved ones, as well as anybody involved in elderly care, knows how to recognize the signs of abuse.
Below are the common forms of elder abuse and the signs to look for:
This involves unsolicited touching, fondling, intercourse or any other sexual activity. If the elderly person is unable to consent, has been threatened or physically forced to participate in sexual activity, it’s a form of sexual abuse. Physical marks may be an indication of sexual abuse.
This includes verbal assault, threats, harassment as well as intimidation. This form of abuse is difficult to detect but it could cause fear of a caregiver, disconnection from loved ones or acting-out in unusual ways.
Often resulting in injury, the signs can be anything from scratches and cuts to broken bones.
When an elderly person is restrained or isolated for reasons other than medical reasons, this is a form of abuse.
An abuser may deny medication, care, shelter, food or other necessary physical assistance. This can result in physical, mental and emotional harm.
This affects an elderly person’s ability to care for themselves. Signs include checks that are unaccounted for, inability to make payments, missing credit cards or property and insufficient bank account funds.
This encompasses anything from not washing clothing to not providing necessary care. Common signs of neglect include unsanitary living conditions, bedsores, dehydration, malnutrition or unexplained medical conditions. All of this, unfortunately is common Chicago Nursing Home Abuse.
The first thing you should do if you suspect nursing home abuse is have a presence at the nursing home. Visiting once a week is good. More than once a week is even better. Get your family and friends involved.
I can tell you that it is a fact that the staff at nursing homes usually pay more attention to patients with frequent visitors. That’s because they know you are watching them, so they do a better job of tending to your loved one’s needs.
Making sure your loved one has visitors and those visitors ask questions means that the staff is going to take better care of your loved one. It also means that you will discover abuse or neglect or injury much faster.
The second thing you should do if you suspect injury, abuse or neglect of your loved one at a nursing home is to make a formal complaint. Report the nursing home to the Illinois Department of Public Health.
The Nursing Home Hotline is 800-252-4343. You can make a complaint at that phone number and the State of Illinois will investigate the nursing home for violating State and federal rules and they will get to the bottom of whether your loved one has been abused.
This report helps a nursing home lawyer in bringing a case against the nursing home. Even if the report comes back with no violation you may still have a valid nursing home abuse case. But getting the state involved is a great idea that can really help a nursing home abuse and neglect case.
Once you take this important step, nursing home abuse attorneys in Chicago can step in to help you determine if you have a case.
Nursing home abuse includes physical abuse (hitting, pushing, rough handling), sexual abuse, emotional or psychological abuse (intimidation, isolation, verbal threats), financial exploitation, and neglect (failure to provide adequate food, water, hygiene, medical care, or supervision). All of these are violations of the Illinois Nursing Home Care Act.
More common than most people realize. Federal data shows that the majority of nursing homes in Illinois have been cited for deficiencies, and a significant percentage have been cited for causing actual harm to residents. Understaffing is the root cause of most neglect — when facilities don't have enough staff to care for residents, basic needs go unmet.
Document everything — take photos, write down observations, note dates and times. Request your parent's medical records and care plans. Report the suspected abuse to the Illinois Department of Public Health and the Department on Aging Elder Abuse Hotline. Consider moving your loved one to a safer facility. Then contact a nursing home abuse attorney at 312-500-4500.
Yes. If a nursing home's failure to maintain adequate staffing levels directly resulted in harm to a resident — missed medications, unanswered call lights, falls due to lack of assistance, bedsores from not being repositioned — the facility can be held liable. Staffing records and inspection reports are key evidence in these cases.
You can recover medical expenses, pain and suffering, emotional distress, and in cases of willful or wanton neglect, punitive damages. The Illinois Nursing Home Care Act also allows recovery of attorney fees in successful cases, which means the facility pays your lawyer's fee on top of your damages.
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Would you like to know more about signs of nursing home abuse and neglect?
If you or a loved one is dealing with a situation like this, give us a call any time, day or night. We are here to help. 312-500-4500
Scott DeSalvo founded DeSalvo Law to help injured people throughout Chicago and surrounding suburbs. Licensed to practice law in Illinois since 1998, IARDC #6244452, Scott has represented over 3,000 clients in personal injury, workers compensation, and accident cases.
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