Articles Posted in Nursing Home Abuse

by

Most cases brought against Illinois nursing homes are for claims of nursing home abuse or negligence. However, in the case of Carol Kopriwa v. Presbyterian Homes a/k/a Lake Forest Place, 08 L-1033, the plaintiff brought an Illinois personal injury claim against the Illinois nursing home for injuries she sustained while visiting one of its residents.

In January 2007, the plaintiff, Carol Kopriwa, was visiting her seriously ill husband at the Lake Forest Place Nursing Home. This was not the first time Mrs. Kopriwa had visited her husband at the nursing home. However, what was unique about this particular visit was that as Mrs. Kopriwa began to walk away from her husband’s bed she tripped and fell on an electrical cord.

Mrs. Kopriwa had been sitting in a chair next to her husband’s bed right before the fall and had allegedly not noticed the electrical cord being used for his bedside alarm. As a result of her fall, Mrs. Kopriwa sustained a left-sided sacral fracture and left ischiopubic fracture that would require surgery.

Continue reading

by

A Chicago nursing home malpractice case recently received an Illinois jury verdict of a little over $2 million in Estate of William Sloan, deceased v. South Shore Nursing & Rehabilitation Center LLC, et al. 09 L 14819. Sloan was brought under the Illinois Nursing Home Care Act and the Illinois Wrongful Death Act, with issues of nursing home negligence lying at the heart of the case.

The allegations of Illinois nursing home malpractice in Sloan centered not on below standard medical care of the nursing home resident, but rather on issues of improper supervision of the nursing home resident. Sloan’s ultimate death was the result of severe burns sustained after Sloan attempted to light a cigarette, but instead set himself on fire. His estate claimed that the fact that he even had the cigarette was a direct result of the nursing home staff’s failure to adequately supervise Sloan.

Eighty-four year old William Sloan was a nursing home resident of Chicago’s South Shore Nursing Home. One evening in 2004, when the nursing home assistants were assisting other residents to bed, Sloan was left alone in his bedroom. Unbeknownst to the nursing home staff, Sloan had obtained a cigarette and matches from an unknown source. As he attempted to light his cigarette, Sloan dropped a lit match on his lap and set fire to himself.

Continue reading

by

The Illinois Appellate Court, Third District has affirmed a ruling by an Illinois circuit court judge denying the defendant nursing home’s motion to dismiss and to compel arbitration in an Illinois nursing home abuse lawsuit. That ruling opened the way for the plaintiff to pursue the lawsuit against the nursing home in the courtroom and with a jury to weigh the facts of the case, rather than a closed arbitration setting.

In August 2007, the plaintiff, Marilee Curto, signed an agreement with the defendant Pekin Manors, a residential nursing home, to admit and care for her husband, Charles Curto. The contract named Charles as the resident and Marilee as the “guardian/responsible party”. Marilee signed the form as the “legal representative”. Charles did not sign the document.

In a separate agreement, the nursing home asked Marilee, and she agreed to sign an arbitration agreement providing that “any and all disputes arising hereunder shall be submitted to binding arbitration and not to a court for determination.” In the arbitration agreement, the parties waived their rights to a jury trial.

In August 2009, Marilee filed a nursing home abuse complaint against Pekin Manors pursuant to the Illinois Nursing Home Care Act for Charles’ injuries that he suffered while he was a resident. The complaint also sought damages by Charles’ estate under the Illinois Wrongful Death Act and the Illinois Survival Act.

Continue reading

by

A Cook County Illinois jury has entered a $1.1 million verdict in favor of a 62 year-old woman who fell at Northwest Community Hospital in Arlington Heights, Illinois after her knee replacement surgery. As a result of the fall, it was claimed that the new personal injuries sustained to her knee kept her disabled for more than 3 years. The Illinois medical negligence claim was filed in Cook County, Illinois; Shiffman v. Northwest Community Hospital, No. 07 L 9292.
At the time that the Illinois medical malpractice occurred, Arlyne Shiffman was a patient at Northwest Community Hospital. She had undergone a total left knee replacement surgery and was on her second day of recovery when the fall occurred. According to the Illinois medical malpractice lawsuit, Ms. Shiffman had been left alone by the nursing staff while up to the commode and was later found on the floor near the commode.
As a result of her fall, Ms. Shiffman’s surgical wound reopened, leaving it more susceptible to infection. The plaintiff did in fact contract an infection and required three additional surgeries, including a removal of the now-infected knee prosthesis. Ms. Shiffman also needed an antibiotic spacer inserted into her knee, which was left in for three months to ensure she remained infection-free. Her last, and hopefully final, surgery was a re-implantation of her knee prosthesis.

Continue reading

by

A 93 year-old nursing home resident, suffering from Alzheimer’s disease and who was wheelchair bound, was sitting near the front door of the nursing home when a visitor wheeled him to the outside of the home and left him there unattended. No one noticed. Later, the 93 year-old gentleman rolled down a hill in his wheelchair and fell into a ditch near the side of the road. He wasn’t discovered until hours later. The Illinois nursing home negligence case resulting from this occurrence is Binning v. East Bank Center, Ill. Winnebago Co. Cir. No. 09 L 216 (June 2010)
Russell Binning, suffered fatal injuries as a result of his fall as a result of the nursing home’s negligence. He was survived by his wife and two adult sons.

The Binning family brought an Illinois nursing home malpractice lawsuit against the nursing home under the Illinois Nursing Home Care Act where it was alleged that the nursing home facility had chosen not to

(1) properly monitor and supervise the nursing home resident; (2) had chosen not to properly control activity near the nursing home’s front entrance; and (3) chose not to warn others not to assist residents without permission.

Continue reading

by

An 89 year-old man was admitted to a nursing home for short-term rehabilitation after undergoing a hip replacement surgery. The man developed Stage II sacral pressure sores in the nursing facility. Rosenbloom v. Claremont Extended Healthcare, et al., 08 L 3872.
A <a href="Rosenbloom v. Claremont Extended Healthcare, et al., 08 L 3872″>nursing home malpractice lawsuit was filed alleging that the defendant nursing home chose not to put in place a care plan, follow the wound care recommendations of a doctor and inaccurately access the resident’s wound, causing it to deteriorate to an infected Stage IV bed sore.

Many times in nursing homes, the residents are unable to move about on their own. In those cases, it is very common for these types of immobile residents to develop pressure sores from inactivity, in ability to change position and because of a lack of appropriate bedding.

Continue reading

by

A nursing home resident, who suffered from Down syndrome, had wandered off the facility grounds in March 2006. During that time away, the man, age 47, was struck by a car. He suffered a fractured pelvis and traumatic injury to his sciatic nerve. Hannigan v. Aspire Illinois, Inc., 06 L 4612
Following surgery and a long hospital stay, the man was released, but permanently hampered by his injuries.

In the Illinois nursing home negligence lawsuit filed, it was claimed that a line-of-sight supervision was required at the nursing facility. Another claim of nursing home negligence was that a door alarm should have been placed in the nursing home. The man had previously left facility unattended and that event was noted in his chart.

Continue reading

by

A Chicago area nursing home has settled an Illinois nursing home negligence case brought by the family of an 87 year old Illinois woman who developed bone infection after her skin broke down. She died six months later. Alberta Jones had been a resident at the Mercy Health Care Rehabilitation Center in Homewood, Illinois. Moffett v. Mercy Health Care Rehabilitation Center, 06 L 11430 Circuit Court of Cook County, 2010)
Ms. Jones was in the nursing home because she had a stroke. She was a known fall risk which required her to be assisted for her daily living. That would mean a Mercy Health Care employee would help Ms. Jones to the bathroom, to her wheel chair, to her meals and to her physical therapy sessions.

During her stay at Mercy, Ms. Jones fractured her femur when she fell unattended. During the bone’s healing process, she was fitted with a brace. Because of the tight fit, her skin began to break down when the device rubbed against her leg. Over a period of time, Ms. Jones developed osteomyelitis, or a bone infection. Her health declined and then she died, leaving an adult daughter surviving her.

Continue reading

by

A recent Illinois nursing home negligence settlement deals with a recurring issue in many Chicago nursing home abuse cases – the development of pressure sores, also known as bed sores or decubitus ulcers. In Clapman v. Manorcare Health Services, Inc., the plaintiff brought a claim against an Illinois nursing home after she developed a large sacral pressure ulcer. The Illinois nursing home abuse case settled for $650,000 prior to trial.

In Clapman, the plaintiff alleged that the nursing home failed to develop a plan of care to prevent the plaintiff from developing pressure ulcers. Essentially, whenever a patient is recognized as being at risk for developing pressure sores, or any other type of skin breakdown, the medical providers have a responsibility to develop a plan, referred to as a plan of care, to try and prevent the at risk issue from occurring.

While the nursing staff at Manorcare did develop a plan of care for the plaintiff, it failed to include any provisions to prevent the development of pressure sores. This lack of a prevention plan was the main issue in Clapman and was what the plaintiff attributed her eventual osteomyelitis to.

Continue reading

by

Nursing home residents are especially at risk for developing skin infections. Therefore, nursing homes should have a lot of practice at developing skin care plans for residents in order to prevent skin breakdown and the development of skin ulcers. However, recent Illinois nursing home negligence case involved allegations that the nursing home failed to implement a care plan that would have prevented the decedent’s skin from deteriorating. Moffett v. Mercy Health Care Rehab. Ctr., No. 06 L 11430.

Another issue in the Illinois nursing home negligence case was whether the nursing home had taken adequate steps to prevent the decedent from falling while in the nursing home’s care. Upon her admission to the Mercy Health Care Rehab Ctr., the decedent, Alberta Jones, was at risk for falling due to a recent stroke. During her time at Mercy Rehab, Jones did in fact fall and required a brace to support her right femur.

The brace caused her skin to breakdown when the device rubbed up against her leg. Over a period of weeks, nursing home employees and nurses chose not to monitor this patient who then developed osteomyelitis, a bone infection. Skin ulcers that have spread uncontrollably can cause osteomyelitis if the skin breaks down so far that the bone is exposed to air. If a patient develops osteomyelitis from skin ulcers it is normally a red flag that the nursing home did not implement a proper skin care plan and is an indicator of nursing home negligence.

Continue reading