Wood Dale Nursing Home Injury Lawyer Asks:

Wood Dale Nursing Home Injury Lawyer

Families often assume they can't afford to take on a nursing home, and that assumption is exactly what large facility operators count on. They have staff attorneys and insurers and deep budgets; an ordinary family has grief and a stack of unanswered questions. What levels that fight is a specific Illinois law written to shift the economics — one that can make the facility pay your attorney's fees when a violation is proven. It's the reason these cases are realistic to bring at all.

I'm Scott DeSalvo, and for almost 30 years nursing home injury and neglect cases have been part of my DuPage County practice. This page is about serious, preventable harm — genuine injuries caused by a facility that failed a resident, not everyday gripes. If that's what happened to someone you love near Wood Dale, here's how the law helps, and the conversation is free.

The Law That Levels the Field

Illinois wrote a statute specifically for these families — the Nursing Home Care Act. Beyond setting out residents' rights and letting families sue when a facility violates them, it allows the recovery of attorney's fees and costs from the facility, on top of damages, once a violation is proven. That fee-shifting changes the math. It means a family doesn't have to out-spend a corporate operator to hold it accountable, and it's a big part of why a serious neglect case is worth pursuing even against a well-funded chain.

And no matter how the facility frames it, advanced age is never a license to neglect someone. The care standards apply regardless of how frail the resident was.

Your Illinois Rights, Stated Plainly

Workers' compensation is a no-fault system — you get benefits whether or not the injury was anyone's fault. In exchange, it doesn't pay for pain and suffering. What it does cover: your medical treatment, part of your lost wages while you recover (temporary total disability, paid at two-thirds of your average weekly wage, tax-free), and a payment for any permanent effects. And a right people don't realize they have — in Illinois, you get to choose your own treating doctor. You are not stuck with the company clinic.

The Second Claim Hiding in Some Work Injuries

Here's something most injured workers never hear: a job injury can sometimes be two cases. Workers' comp is your remedy against your employer, but if someone else caused your injury — a defective machine, a careless subcontractor, a driver who hit you while you were working — you may also have a separate "third-party" claim against them. And unlike comp, that claim can include full pain and suffering. Spotting it is one of the first things I look for, because missing it leaves a large part of your recovery on the table.

What Your Employer's Insurer Is Really Doing

The company can be perfectly nice to your face and still be fighting your claim, because the decisions aren't made by your boss — they're made by an adjuster you'll never meet. That adjuster's playbook is predictable: send you to a doctor who clears you early, schedule an "independent" exam with a physician who mostly works for insurers, stop your wage checks at the first excuse, and argue the injury was pre-existing. What most lawyers won't tell you is how often these tactics work simply because the worker didn't know they could push back. You can.

The Fear That Keeps People From Getting Help

Two worries stop injured workers from calling a lawyer, and both are misplaced. First, the cost: in Illinois, a workers' comp attorney's fee is capped by law at 20% of the recovery — you pay nothing up front, and studies consistently show represented workers net more even after the fee. Second, the fear of getting fired: it's illegal in Illinois to fire or retaliate against you for filing a legitimate claim, and if it happens, you have a separate case for it.

Bottom line: comp is a right you earned, not a favor — and the deadline to protect it (three years, with that 45-day notice) starts running the day you're hurt.

Let's Talk — Free, No Strings

Call me and tell me what happened at work. I'll explain exactly what you're owed, flag whether there's a second claim hiding in your case, and tell you what to do next. It's free, and you pay nothing unless I recover for you — capped at 20% by Illinois law.

I answer the phone 24/7. Call 312-500-4500.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can my family really afford to take on a big facility?

Yes, and that's partly by design. The Illinois Nursing Home Care Act can shift the facility's attorney's fees and costs onto them once a violation is proven, and I handle these on contingency and advance the costs myself — so you pay nothing out of pocket. The law is structured to make holding a large operator accountable realistic for an ordinary family.

How do I tell neglect from ordinary aging?

Often only a review of the records answers it honestly. Injuries like advanced bedsores, repeated falls, dehydration, and untreated infections are recognized red flags because the care standards exist specifically to prevent them. Aging explains much, but not a resident who wasn't repositioned, fed, hydrated, or watched the way their care plan required.

Who is actually responsible for the harm?

Frequently more than the aide on duty. Responsibility can reach the facility for chronic understaffing, the corporate owner that set the budget, and administrators who ignored warnings. Many facilities run lean on purpose, and that decision — not a single shift — is often the real cause. I follow the harm up to where the choice was made.

What should I do first if I suspect neglect?

Begin protecting the evidence. Photograph any injuries, note dates, names, and what you observed, and keep everything the facility gives you. If your loved one is at immediate risk, handle their safety and medical care first. Then contact a lawyer quickly, because the facility's records are central to the case and must be preserved before they can be altered.

The facility says the injury couldn't be prevented. Is that true?

Sometimes an outcome genuinely is unavoidable, but that's the facility's standard defense in nearly every case, accurate or not. The way to test it is with the medical records, the care plans, and an expert's judgment about whether the facility met the standards it was required to meet — not the facility's own word.

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