Elder Law

Illinois Task Force Proposes Sweeping Reforms to End Violence in Chicago?s Troubled Homes

By Levin & Perconti

A panel appointed by Illinois governor Quinn proposed a great deal of reforms that are designed to end the chronic violence and elderly abuse that plague many Illinois nursing homes. Also, the panel is brainstorming ways to foster better treatment for people with serious mental illness living in nursing homes. One of the proposals is to have tightened criminal background checks of new nursing home residents. They are also recommending that the state police start searching Illinois nursing homes for residents with outstanding warrants. Illinois nursing homes should be brought up to the standards spelled out in federal government studies on nursing home care. An important way to achieve this goal is to divert the mentally ill people from nursing homes into more appropriate treatment settings in their communities. Finally, Illinois has recognized that mixing the elderly and mentally ill in understaffed nursing homes creates a great deal of nursing home abuse. To read further into the new panel, please click the link.

Full post as published by Illinois Nursing Home Abuse Blog on January 18, 2010 (boomark / email).