Articles Posted in Nursing Home Negligence

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The Illinois Appellate Court for the 1st District reversed and remanded a decision from a Cook County dismissal order.

Barbara Mickiewicz suffered from dementia and was a resident of the Glenbridge Nursing & Rehabilitation Centre Ltd. in northwest suburban Niles from April 2013 until Feb. 17, 2016.

Although she was never adjudicated disabled, she was considered legally disabled because of her dementia. Mickiewicz suffered several falls while at the nursing home, including the final one on Jan. 27, 2016. After that fall, she was transferred to a hospital emergency room. About 4 months later, she died of complications related to her injury.

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Superior Care Homes resident Regina Tallent was 84 years old and suffered from Parkinson’s Disease, macular degeneration, hand contractures and cognitive deficits.

Her condition required one-to-one care and a mechanical soft diet to prevent choking. Over the course of one month, she experienced two choking incidents while eating a strawberry and a cherry tomato.

The second incident caused Tallent to turn blue and lose consciousness. While she was choking, a Heimlich maneuver was applied.

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Ann Jones, 63, was admitted to Fairlane Senior Care & Rehab Center for rehabilitation after she suffered a stroke. A care plan was established. The plan included Jones’s medical background as an insulin-dependent Type 2 diabetic who was prone to blood sugar fluctuations.

For approximately two months, she received no blood sugar checks or sliding scale insulin adjustments. Worse yet, for several months, Jones rarely received a nighttime snack, which is essential for diabetics.

A doctor revised Jones’s orders and noted that she had uncontrolled diabetes. Despite this late recognition and treatment, the nursing home’s nursing staff chose not to check Jones’s blood sugar for a number of months.

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Muriel Eastwick was in her 90s and suffered from dementia. She lived at Statesman Health and Rehabilitation Services, a skilled nursing facility owned by Extendicare and other entities.

During the years that she lived at this facility, she suffered from malnutrition, dehydration, chronic urinary tract infections, broken teeth, skin problems and bruising, an infected hip wound, an abscess on her buttock, and a Stage III pressure sore on her left heel.

Eastwick eventually died from these health issues. She was survived by her two adult children.  Her daughter, on behalf of her mother’s estate, sued Extendicare Inc., alleging negligent hiring and staffing, choosing not to provide adequate hygiene and nutrition, and deciding not to prevent and treat the pressure sore that Eastwick had developed.

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Joe Gutierrez was admitted to Mira Vista Court Nursing Home. At the time of his admission, he required help with daily living activities, and the facility allegedly represented to his daughter that it could meet his needs.

During Gutierrez’s stay at the Mira Vista Court Nursing Home, he suffered multiple falls, including a traumatic fall that necessitated transfer to a hospital where he was diagnosed as having broken three facial bones. This led to facial swelling, and it necessitated intubation and mechanical ventilation.

Gutierrez’s daughter, on his behalf, sued the nursing home’s owners and managers alleging improper staffing and supervision and choosing not to provide medical and nursing care in an appropriate and needed fashion.

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Kathleen Menard, 97, was a resident in an assisted living facility. While she was in an outside courtyard at her assisted living facility on an extremely hot day, she fell off her motorized scooter and landed behind some trees.

She was found unconscious about four hours later and transferred to a hospital for treatment of heat-related illness, including a third-degree sunburn. Menard died within two months. She was survived by her adult son and daughter.

Menard’s children, on behalf of her estate, sued the assisted living facility and its owner alleging that it chose not to ensure her safety by, among other things, checking on her while she was outside, installing security cameras in the courtyard and trimming the trees in the courtyard to ensure staff members had a full view of residents who were outside of the facility.

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Doe, 62, suffered from developmental delays and schizophrenia and lived at Roe Residential Care Facility. While Doe was there, he suffered a vicious beating from his roommate, resulting in a fractured left femur, four broken bones, a broken left clavicle and a collapsed lung. There were other injuries as well.

Doe remained in the hospital’s intensive care unit for two weeks after this occurrence. He was later transferred to a skilled nursing facility for two months.

Doe sued the residential care facility alleging that it knew or should have known that Doe’s roommate was not an appropriate candidate for admission due to the roommate’s tendencies toward violence. Doe further claimed that the defendant residential care facility, Roe Facility, chose not to follow the applicable regulations for its admission and retention of the roommate.

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Opal Moore, 92, suffered from dementia with agitation. After a hospital stay, she was admitted to the memory care unit at Superior Care Home for rehabilitation.

When she was admitted, her family instructed various nursing home personnel and its owner that she had aggressive behaviors, such as spitting and cursing. A care plan was established, which included a psychological consultation.

However, the consultation was not done and her aggressive behaviors increased. Several months after her admission, she spat on another resident in the dining room. A nurse then contacted her attorney-in-fact and requested that the family provide sitters.

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Rae Hemingway was admitted to the Crestview Center Nursing Home. At the time of the admission, Hemingway’s risk factors were falling, which were documented; they included her history of falls, contractures, decreased circulatory function, and use of assisted ambulatory devices. She was considered a fall risk. By order she was not permitted to walk or remain unattended as a resident of this nursing home because of her fall risks.

Nonetheless, Hemingway was allowed to walk from the facility’s lobby down a hallway. She fell and struck her head and face resulting in a traumatic subarachnoid hematoma and multiple fractures to her face and arms.

Hemingway died several weeks later from complications of her injuries. She was survived by her adult son and daughter.

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Dolores Trendell, 85, was admitted to Clare Oaks for rehabilitation following a fractured ankle.  She suffered from atrial fibrillation, which put her at risk for developing blood clots and suffering strokes and had been taking Coumadin as a blood thinner for years. Trendell was admitted to this nursing home facility on Feb. 23, 2011. Less than a month later, a nurse at Clare Oaks documents that Dr. Percival Bigol, the doctor responsible for managing her medication, spoke to the nurse by phone and ordered the Coumadin discontinued.

The nurse, Christina Martinez, did so and documented the change twice, but chose not to include it in the “physician orders” section of Trendell’s medical chart.

Dr. Bigol denied ever giving the order or being aware of the change at the time. Trendell ceased receiving Coumadin on March 16 and suffered a stroke two weeks later.

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