Cook County Nursing Home Negligence and Wrongful Death Case Settled for Resident’s Death After Fall Leads To Bone Infection-Moffett v. Mercy Health Care

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.

Ms. Jones’ daughter on behalf of the estate filed a lawsuit in Cook County, Illinois against the nursing home’s licensee, owner and operator. It was alleged in the lawsuit that the defendants chose not implement a fall risk plan and to make sure that Ms. Jones was properly supervised. Further, the estate claimed that Mercy Health Care did little to prevent the skin break down after Ms. Jones received the leg brace. Before trial the case was settled for $690.000.

Kreisman Law Offices has been handling Illinois nursing home negligence lawsuits for over 30 years, serving those areas in and around Cook County, including Alsip, Westmont, Oak Park, and Glenview.