Elder Law

Nursing Home Draws a Maximum Fine

By Levin & Perconti

A nursing home has been hit with a severe citation and the maximum fine of $100,000 in connection with a patient who wrongfully died from a preventable fall. The patient was recovering from hip surgery when she wrongfully died. He had been admitted for physical therapy and he fell twice within 24 hours. After the first fall the staff put an alarm on the patient?s gown. Despite the alarm, no staff member responded when the patient got out of bed and walked into the hallway. The man was stumbling out of bed and he pulled a mechanical device on his head. The device hit the man in the head and he died from blunt-force trauma. The facility?s decision to store a large peace of equipment that is easy to be overturned posed a hazard to the patients. After the nursing home negligence, the home was fined. It was also fined because it failed to closely monitor a patient who wandered away from the facility three times within nine hours. To read more about the elderly negligence, please click the link.

Full post as published by Illinois Nursing Home Abuse Blog on June 24, 2009 (boomark / email).