Justia Lawyer Rating for Robert D. Kreisman

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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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Pura Figueroa, 93, suffered from Parkinson’s disease and dementia and lived at the Muskego Nursing Home. While she was in the nursing home’s activity room with approximately eleven other residents, she fell, suffering a subdural hematoma and a facial laceration.

Figueroa died a few days later.  She was survived by her adult daughter.

Figueroa’s daughter, on behalf of her estate, sued the nursing home alleging that it chose not to properly monitor her mother, failed to adequately train employees, and failed to provide adequate staff.

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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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A nursing home resident, Verna Kelley, suffered from dementia and other medical issues including incontinence. She required special care and was living at Edgewood Convalescent Home. While a nurse’s aide was taking care of her and while the nursing aide placed a pad underneath Kelley, the aide went around to the other side of the bed, where the bed rails were left opened. The aide grabbed the pad, which had become stuck, and this caused Kelley to roll out of bed.

Kelley suffered a broken right femur and underwent surgery.  She then suffered a stroke, which led to her death just two weeks later. She was survived by her six adult children.

The Kelley family sued the nursing home, alleging negligent hiring of the aide, who, the Kelley family claimed, had been fired from a previous job for performing an unsafe Hoyer lift.

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The Illinois Appellate Court reversed an order that dismissed the complaint of Itadil Zayed that was filed against Clark Manor Convalescent Center by the independent administrator of the estate of Said Mohammad Zayed.

Said Zayed was a resident of Clark Manor and was disabled due to dementia. He fell out of his bed and fractured his hip in March 2014, allegedly as a result of the nursing home’s negligence. Zayed died in September 2015 and the lawsuit was filed in July 2017.

Responding to Clark Manor’s motion to dismiss the complaint as too late under the two-year statute of limitations on a negligence claim, Itadil Zayed relied on Illinois Code of Civil Procedure Section 13-211, which says someone who is legally disabled, as was Zayed, when he is injured, is allowed two years to sue, running from the date the disability is removed and Section 13-209(a)(1).

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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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The Estate of Lucille Rigoli sued the owners and operators of a nursing home for negligently causing her wrongful death and suffering before her death. She died on May 10, 2016. The court appointed Michael Rigoli to serve as independent executor of her estate.

On March 13, 2018, Rigoli, as executor, filed a complaint against ManorCare of Oak Lawn (West) and Heartland Employment Services, alleging that they chose not to provide adequate medical care to Lucille Rigoli and thus their decisions led to her fall and the fracture of her hip on March 15, 2016. The lawsuit included separate counts against each defendant for wrongful death and for the pain she suffered before her death under the Probate Act of 1975 (755 ILCS 5/27-6, commonly known as the Survival Act).

The Survival Act of Illinois is found in the Probate Act. Section 27-6 (Actions which survive) states that  in addition to the actions which survive by the common law, the following also survive: …actions to recover damages for an injury to the person(except slander and libel), actions to recover damages for an injury to real or personal property.

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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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