Elder Law

Illinois Nursing Home Violation: University Nursing and Rehabilitation Center

By Levin & Perconti

We continue looking at the latest report of Illinois nursing homes that have been found to have violated basic laws concerning resident health, care, and safety. The University Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Edwardsville, recently received several Type ?A? Violations from the Illinois Department of Public Health and fined $20,000. The violations resulted in part from inadequate supervision of residents known to pose unique risks for falls and injury.

One resident of the facility, a dementia patient, was considered ?high risk? for falls following an assessment made by nursing home employees. As a result she was placed on a specialized plan that sought to minimize the chance of injury due to his unsteady gait, osteoporosis, and decreased safety awareness.

However, several months ago, the certified nursing aide provided supervision to the resident admitted leaving the vulnerable resident on the side of her bed unattended, sliding one side of the bed rails down. Not long after being left in that position unattended, the resident fell off the bed hitting her head in the process?a large wound was present. But instead of calling emergency personal immediately, the resident was simply put back in bed. Hours later a supervising nurse checked on the resident, noticed that she was suffering problems and called for an ambulance.

At the hospital, doctors discovered that the woman had multiple fractures in the head and spine areas. In addition, she was suffering from a hematoma, or bleeding on the brain.

Our Chicago nursing home lawyers at Levin & Perconti have experience fighting for victims of negligent nursing home care. It is imperative that these facilities protect residents from basic falls like this, because even a single accident can have deadly consequence for many fragile residents. Be sure to contact a similar nursing home attorney if you know of violations like the one here.

The Illinois Department of Health produces quarterly reports on nursing home violators. To access the IDPH report on this violation, please click the link.

Full post as published by Illinois Nursing Home Abuse Blog on October 21, 2010 (boomark / email).