Elder Law

When Nursing Homes Fail to Investigate

By Levin & Perconti

It seems that all too often we hear of tragic incidents occurring at Nursing Homes. Today, the Chicago Tribune published an article regarding Alden Village North noting that over the past ten years, Alden has been cited thirteen times for violations in connection to the deaths of its patients.

It is unreasonable to believe that any facility can be perfect in their care, but the types of neglect that Alden has shown is, in our opinion, inexcusable. The law firm of Levin & Perconti has handled a significant number of cases against Alden for their negligent treatment and care of patients. When negligence occurs it is important for a facility to investigate the source and correct any problems to mitigate these types of incidents. Alden has been neglecting this part of their duty.

A one-year-old Down syndrome patient at Alden was found in his room ?unresponsive and blue? about forty-five minutes after having been fed. There was no one in the room when the child died, and as such Alden was responsible to investigate the cause of the child?s death. In a state investigation, it was found that there was no evidence that the facility reviewed whether proper supervision was provided. The facility was also cited for being understaffed and for not reporting Gabriel?s death to the state health department.

This occurrence was by no means an isolated event. As the Tribune reported, Alden has had several other similar situations occur with similar results. Litigation is often a strong way to persuade a facility to change its ways. The medical malpractice attorneys at Levin & Perconti have been attempting to ?persuade? Alden for years and will continue to do so until they are forced to abandon negligently caring for their patients. Hopefully, by making Alden pay for the negligent treatment of their patients, they will be forced to reform their ways and limit the abuse and neglect seemingly rampant at their facilities.

Full post as published by Illinois Nursing Home Abuse Blog on October 08, 2010 (boomark / email).