Personal Injury Law

Chicago Nursing Home Loses Federal Funding?Wincrest Nursing Home

The Chicago Tribune provided an update this weekend on the likely closure of the a north side nursing home, the Wincrest Nursing Center. On Sunday federal authorities officially stopped funding the negligent Chicago nursing home.

The home has an 80-resident capacity that is typically filled with adult suffering from mental illness. The facility has long been seen as a dangerous bastion of inadequate care and systematic negligence. Nearby community members?including officials connected with Loyola University?have complained of residents leaving the facility and engaging in drug use and crime in surrounding neighborhoods.

Inspections by federal and state regulators have repeatedly found examples of the poor treatment and dangerous living conditions long noticed by local advocates. In late 2010, a state investigation revealed that a resident was prostituting herself to earn drug money. The same authorities learned of a resident who threatened another with a foot-long knife?and was allowed to keep a similar weapon in his room after the threat.

In the past Wincrest was shown to have violated Illinois nursing home law by failing to disclose the fact that certain convicted felons were living at the facility.

According to reports, because of these and similar violations (and the facility?s failure to make improvements), federal funding to Wincrest was stopped on Sunday. Technically, the location can attempt to reapply for entry into the Medicaid system or seek to be sold to new ownership. However, considering that 99% of the facility?s funding comes from those federal sources, it is unlikely that the nursing home will have any means of staying open in the interim.

Current residents will receive some support until a new location is found for their transfer.

Full post as published by Illinois Injury Lawyer Blog on March 21, 2011 (boomark / email).