Elder Law

Number of Assisted Living Lawsuits Growing

By Levin & Perconti

There are a growing number of lawsuits alleging assisted living nursing home abuse and neglect in the fast-growing industry. One such lawsuit resulted in an $11 million verdict after a jury determined that an assisted living facility was responsible for a man?s wrongful death. The autopsy of the man revealed a number of foreign objects such as plastic bags, catsup packets and candy wrappers in the man?s stomach. Since 1998, the number of assisted living facilities in the US has grown to 38,000 and 1 million seniors live in some sort of facility. Since these are not designated as medical care facilities, assisted living communities are not as regulated as the nursing home industry. The lack of regulation in this community has opened the door to elder abuse and neglect. Attorney Steven Levin of Levin & Perconti was quoted in the article stating that his firm reached a $2.5 million settlement with an assisted living facility in Chicago last year after a resident suffered from 20 pressure sores. He said, ?[o]ftentimes, assisted living facilities are keeping residents that they don?t have the capacity to care for, but the family goes along because they prey upon families.? Assisted living centers have the same responsibility as nursing homes to take care of their residents. To read more about the assisted living home crisis, please click the link.

Full post as published by Illinois Nursing Home Abuse Blog on April 02, 2009 (boomark / email).