Chicago Nursing Home Lawyers Blog

There have been increasing reports in recent years about elder abuse, neglect and exploitation. Many elderly adults are abused in their own homes, in relatives’ homes, and in facilities responsible for their care. The abuse can be physical, emotional, sexual or it can occur in the form of financial exploitation. Elder abuse can also occur in the form of neglect or abandonment.
Governor Pat Quinn has signed several new laws to protect senior citizens against crimes committed by their caretakers or family members. The new laws will promote safety, increase oversight and accountability for caregivers and help authorities identify and respond to reports of abuse, neglect and exploitation.
“Our seniors deserve our respect and protection against those who would take advantage of them,” Gov. Quinn said in a press release. “Safeguarding seniors from exploitation and abuse will make our state stronger.”

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In order to file a civil lawsuit, you need to have some concrete damages, such as medical bills, lost time from work, or property damage. However, oftentimes a party might also be seeking some non-concrete damages, such as loss of normal life, pain and suffering, or loss of society. The cost of these non-concrete damages is more subjective and therefore harder for the jury to quantify. However, the difficulty in determining the cost of these damages should not preclude a jury from awarding them.
In the Illinois wrongful death lawsuit of Estate of William Sloan, deceased v. South Shore Nursing & Rehabilitation Center LLC, et al. 09 L 14819, the trial jury elected not to award any damages for the plaintiffs’ loss of society. As a result, the plaintiffs appealed the jury verdict for its exclusion of the plaintiffs’ loss of society claim on the basis that the plaintiffs themselves had also suffered as a result of the decedent’s death.
The original lawsuit was filed after William Sloan, a resident at South Shore Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, lit himself on fire after being left unsupervised in his room. Sloan had been trying to light a cigarette, but ended up setting himself on fire and suffering from first, second, and third degree burns. Those burns left Sloan susceptible to developing an infection, which in turn led to his death.
Sloan’s daughters brought a wrongful death claim against the nursing home for its negligence in leaving Sloan unsupervised with smoking materials. The claim was brought under the Illinois Nursing Home Act and alleged that South Shore was responsible for Sloan’s death. The Illinois jury entered a $1.65 million verdict against South Shore, which included damages for Sloan’s medical expenses, his pain and suffering, disfigurement from the fire, and for his loss of normal life. However, the verdict failed to include any damages for the loss of society his daughters suffered upon his death.

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In the recent case of Vincent v. Alden-Park Strathmoor, Inc., No. 110406, 2011 WL 1077706 (Ill.Sup.Ct.), the Supreme Court reviewed the nursing home malpractice lawsuit to determine whether or not punitive damages are allowed in the event that the wronged party is deceased. The Vincent case was filed by the family members of Majorie Vincent, an elderly resident of Alden-Park Strathmoor, after Majorie died while living at the long-term nursing facility.
Majorie’s family filed a complaint under the Illinois Nursing Home Care Act, which alleged that Alden-Park had violated the Act through its negligent and abusive treatment of Majorie. The complaint specifically accused Alden-Park of failing to provide Majorie with adequate medical and personal care and was willful and want in its conscious and reckless disregard of her health and safety.
In its complaint, the plaintiffs reserved the right to seek punitive damages, which are damages awarded as punishment for the defendant’s willful and wanton behavior. And while the plaintiffs did not seek the damages in their original complaint, they did reserve the right to do so at a later date. However, the defendants brought a motion seeking to bar the plaintiffs from requesting punitive damages at any time. The motion was based on the general assumption because the Illinois Nursing Home Care Act does not specifically state whether or not punitive damages survive a person’s death, that they do not.

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The Illinois wrongful death lawsuit of Estate of Richard Schrik, deceased v. Oyindamola Omole, RN, No. 07 L 10740, involved claims that the decedent died as a result of nursing negligence. The nursing home resident fell while under the supervision of a nursing staff member and was the victim of a poor neurological exam by the same nurse.
Richard Schrik had been living at the Howe Development Center, a nursing residence run and operated by the State of Illinois for residents with developmental disabilities. Schrik had severe mental retardation and had been diagnosed with the mental abilities of a three or four year-old. He had been living in state institutions since 1977.
In 2002, Schrik was noted to be running around the residence facility, throwing garbage cans and acting out in general. While running around, Schrik fell and hit his head. His fall resulted in a severe fracture and the hyperextension of his neck, which resulted in a spinal cord injury.
At the time of Schrik’s fall, Oyindamola Omole, a registered nurse (RN), was the nurse in charge. While the wrongful death complaint did not hold Nurse Omole responsible for Schrik’s fall, it did include claims of nursing negligence regarding the exam she conducted immediately following the decedent’s fall.

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A series of articles by the Chicago Tribune on the poor state of Illinois nursing homes has prompted public action, the latest of which is an increase in surprise inspections to local nursing homes by state officials. Surprise inspections are key in maintaining a safe and healthy environment for nursing home residents and protecting against instances of Illinois nursing home abuse. These investigations ensure that Illinois nursing homes are up to state standards and represent a safe environment for their residents.
However, a recent Chicago Tribune article has uncovered further information that suggests Illinois nursing homes are not as safe as these investigations indicate. According to the article’s sources, several Chicago area nursing homes have possibly been tipped off that their facilities were going to be investigated, giving them time to prepare for the ‘surprise’ inspection. Those facilities that were aware of the pending inspections supposedly increased the staff and presented a false image of the facilities on the date of inspection.
Traditional Illinois nursing home abuse cases focus on negligence or abuse by the nursing home and often are a result of inadequate care by the nursing home staff. For example, one common nursing home negligence claim is that the nursing home failed to prevent the development and spread of decubitus ulcers, also known as pressure sores. There is a high incidence of pressure sores developing in bedridden patients or patients with limited mobility, a category which a high number of nursing home residents fall into.

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On July 29, 2010, Governor Pat Quinn signed a landmark nursing home safety bill. The new legislation is designed to put in place additional safeguards to protect Illinois senior citizens living in nursing home facilities from harm or nursing home abuse.
One of these provisions under the new Illinois nursing home law requires additional screening of incoming nursing home residents, including criminal background checks and psychological background checks. In Illinois many nursing home residents are not actually physically impaired, but were being placed in nursing home facilities instead of a long home mental institution. The new law attempts to relocate many of the mentally ill patients currently residing in Illinois nursing homes in an effort to diminish overcrowding and its potential for nursing home abuse.
The tentative plan is that these mental health patients will be transferred from the nursing homes to smaller residential programs that are more assisted living situations. The mental health communities will supposedly have more staff and better supports for mentally ill patients than their current residences within nursing home facilities.

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An Illinois nursing home abuse lawsuit was recently the subject of a review by the Illinois Appellate Court; Peterson v. Residential Alternatives of Illinois, Inc., No. 3-09-0743. The court reviewed whether the Illinois nursing home had the right to demand the decedent’s estate arbitrate its two-count complaint claiming a wrongful death count and a survival action count under the Illinois Nursing Home Care Act.
The trial court upheld the defendant’s right to arbitrate and denied plaintiff’s request for a jury trial. This arbitration clause issue was recently ruled on by the Illinois Supreme Court in Carter v. SSC Odin Operating Co., LLC, No. 106511 (4/15/10), where the Court upheld the nursing home’s right to arbitrate in Illinois nursing home abuse cases.
The main issue in both Peterson and Carter revolves around the signed arbitration agreement. However, while in Carter the arbitration language was included in the nursing home care contract, in Peterson the arbitration agreement was a separate document. It seems that this seemingly small difference has in fact resulted in a very different legal outcome in Peterson.
The Appellate Court held that even though the two documents were signed on the same date that there was no evidence that they should be taken as one unified document. The language used in the arbitration agreement was very vague and never specifically referred to the nursing home care contract, nor did the nursing home care contract ever refer to the arbitration agreement. Specifically, the arbitration agreement stated, “Notwithstanding the parties intent to submit any controversy or claim arising out of or relating to this agreement or any other document signed or initialed in connection with this agreement to arbitration.”
While the court noted that prior case law has supported the connection between two separate documents signed at the same time, the law requires that “an enforceable contract must be premised on language that is definite and certain as to all essential terms.” Academy Chicago Publishers v. Cheever, 144 Ill. 2d1224, 30 (1991). The court found that the language included in the arbitration agreement did not satisfy this requirement.

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The Illinois Appellate Court recently considered issues of punitive damages under the Illinois Nursing Home Care Act in an ongoing Illinois nursing home abuse case, Vincent v. Alden-Park-Strathmoor, Inc., No. 2-09-065 (April 7, 2010). The court rejected plaintiff’s argument that punitive damages could be recovered in a survival action under the Nursing Home Care Act and remanded the case back to the trial court.
Vincent was brought on behalf of decedent Marjorie Vincent, alleging that defendant nursing home Alden-Park Strathmoor, Inc. caused personal injuries to decedent prior to her death while in defendant’s care. Under Count III of Plaintiff’s Complaint, the estate sought to reserve the right to seek punitive damages under a survival action in the Nursing Home Care Act for willful and wanton behavior.
Punitive damages are additional damages that can be awarded as a way to punish a defendant for willful and wanton behavior, among other things. Counts I, II and III of plaintiff’s complaint dealt with compensatory damages, which would reimburse the estate for actual loss or harm as a result of defendant’s actions.
The defendant nursing home won a motion to strike plaintiff’s punitive damages reservation from the complaint on the basis that punitive damages claims do not survive a resident’s death. In response the plaintiff filed an interlocutory appeal seeking to reinstate its right to claim punitive damages under a survivor action. However, the Appellate Court agreed with the lower court and held that punitive damages cannot be claimed under a survival action under the Nursing Home Care Act.

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A recent Illinois nursing home negligence settlement highlights one of the biggest problems plaguing nursing home residents – inadequate skin care. Many nursing home residents are bedridden and require careful monitoring and stringent skin care plans in order to avoid developing skin ulcers, which if untreated can lead to infection or even death.
This case involved an Illinois nursing home resident at Provena Senior Services Nursing Home in Kane County, Illinois. In this Illinois nursing home abuse lawsuit, the nursing home resident was a diabetic patient, which left him even more at risk for potential skin breakdown if inadequate nursing care was provided. A diabetic patient is also more at risk for having a poor outcome if skin ulcers develop, which is also shown in this case where the skin ulcer worsened to the point that the nursing home resident required a below the knee amputation.
The Illinois nursing home negligence lawsuit alleged that the nursing staff had failed to maintain adequate skin care, which resulted in the development of a skin ulcer. However, the defendant nursing home denied that it had caused the skin ulcer to develop.

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In an age when reports of nursing home abuse are becoming all too common, picking a nursing home for an elderly relative is never an easy task. A recent book, Taking Charge: Good Medical Care for the Elderly and How To Get It, makes the process a little easier by creating a checklist to facilitate the search for a suitable nursing home.
Investigate deficiencies. There are standards that are established by the federal government and state and local health departments in order to monitor nursing home neglect. A nursing home that fails to comply with a standard or regulation is issued a deficiency citation. Information about these deficiencies can be found on Nursing Home Compare website, sponsored by Medicare.
Chose quality over location. The primary reason for selecting a nursing home facility is high quality of care, not location. The quality of care is measured in the staffing levels and the direct connection with the hospital. Again, the Medicare website is a good place to start your search.
Monitor the care. Relatives and loved ones of a nursing home resident should visit often and at various times, including nights, weekends, and holidays when the staff members on duty may not be the most experienced. Make sure medications are given at the right times and check on the amount of fluids the patient is actually consuming. Malnutrition and dehydration are common hazards in nursing homes and can be fatal.
Assist at meals. For those nursing home residents and patients not able to feed themselves, make sure that arrangements are made to assist the person with eating. This assistance is most important at lunch, which is the main meal in nursing homes.
Hire a geriatric care manager. If a relative or loved one is not near enough to make personally assisting the nursing home patient reasonable, consider hiring a professional who can serve as a family liaison. A geriatric care manager is trained in gerontology and can visit the patient, evaluate and monitor the situation for any signs of nursing home abuse or neglect. The National Association of Professional Geriatric Care Manager website maintains a directory searchable by ZIP code.

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