In just a few weeks, he uncovered evidence that four members of the staff at the Canadian nursing home were committing acts of abuse. I won’t bother going over the details of the abuse. You can find the details here.

This week, Canadian authorities have determined that they will not be pressing criminal charges against the four people caught on video committing the disgusting acts. This news should come as no surprise to anyone following this blog or nursing home news in general. The fact of the matter is, it takes a fairly egregious act to rise to the level of attack or assault.

There is no way that the only abuse occurring in that nursing home was being inflicted on a single resident. Likewise, the abuse went on (and probably continues to go on) for far longer than the three week period captured in the video.

Nursing home abusers are very much like any other criminal in one respect: they can never keep their mouths shut. It’s highly unlikely that those four abusers, and the others who may be employed in the home, kept their actions secret.

My guess is that the nursing home owners and administrators knew the abuse was happening, and took no action to stop it. And for that, they are also guilty.

If you have a loved one in an Illinois nursing home, and you feel they have been abused or neglected, contact our Chicago nursing home lawyers for a free and confidential evaluation of your case. At the Law Offices of Barry G. Doyle we never charge a fee unless we earn a recovery for you.

The Governor of Iowa, Terry Branstad, vetoed legislation earlier this year that would have added two long-term care ombudsman to the state’s programs. The state of Iowa is over 20 ombudsman short of the recommended amount for a state with a long term care population its size.

This isn’t the first time Iowa’s Governor took a personal interest in reducing the quality of care Iowa seniors can expect in the state’s nursing homes. One of his first acts in office was to reduce the number of nursing home inspectors working for the state.

$5,000 fines, or even the initial $10,000 fines, are merely drops in the bucket for large nursing home. Medicaid reimburses nursing homes around $100 for a single day of nursing home care. So one resident brings in over $3,000 every month. Some nursing homes have hundreds of residents.

For the families of residents who suffer wrongful deaths due to nursing home neglect and nursing home abuse, there’s often only one place to turn for justice.

Nursing home lawyers will fight to hold the nursing homes accountable that allow neglect and abuse in their facilities. Successful nursing home neglect lawsuits send a message that allowing nursing home neglect and abuse will not be a profitable business strategy.

If you live in Illinois, and you have a loved one who has been the victim of nursing home neglect or nursing home abuse, contact our Chicago nursing home lawyers for a free and confidential evaluation of your case.

At the Law Offices of Barry G. Doyle, we have the experience and expertise to manage all aspects of your Chicago nursing home neglect or nursing home abuse lawsuit, and we never charge a fee unless we earn a recovery for you.

Wish to file an Illinois nursing home complaint?

File an Illinois nursing home complaint here

When a drug is given for a reason that is not the primary use of the drug, it’s called off-label drug administration. Sometimes, it can have positive outcomes. Aspirin, for instance, was never intended to be a drug that could stave off heart attacks. Enterprising doctors noticed that their patients who took aspirin on a regular basis experienced less heart attacks. That off-label drug use became the standard of care.

Aspirin is an off-label success story. But there are many other off-label stories without such happy endings. The use of antipsychotics in nursing homes is an example of an unsuccessful off-label story.

Alzheimer’s disease is a condition far more debilitating and complicated than most people understand. In addition to the loss of memory which can be terrifying to the victim, the condition can cause dramatic personality changes. Normally calm people can suddenly become prone to violent outbursts.

Antipsychotics can calm Alzheimer’s residents, but at what cost? Antipsychotics have been linked to increases in nursing home falls, hip fractures, and an increase in nursing home fatalities.

The recent reports show that antipsychotic use fell over 21% this year, but the amount of antipsychotics still being used is still far too high.

If you have a loved one who has experienced a nursing home fall in an Illinois nursing home, and you feel that medication errors were to blame, contact our Chicago nursing home lawyers for a free and confidential evaluation of your case. At my law offices we have the experience and expertise to manage every aspect of your Chicago nursing home fall or medication error lawsuit, and we would welcome the opportunity to speak to you.

Wish to file an Illinois nursing home complaint?

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For nursing home administrators, these investigations are a significant upheaval because the staff member under investigation is supposed to be immediately removed from all contact with residents until the investigation is concluded. Since many nursing homes operate on a skeleton crew under the best of circumstances, it benefits the nursing home to conclude the investigation as quickly as possible.

In addition, as a Chicago nursing home lawyer, it has been my experience that anytime an incident in a nursing home involves a resident that shows (or has ever shown) any signs of dementia, the first response from nursing home administration is to assume that the resident is confused or mistaken.

No nursing home wants to have a serial abuser on staff. But the desire to conclude any investigation quickly combined with a strong tendency to disbelieve testimony from nursing home residents often creates a situation where that happens.

A certified nurse’s aide employed at the Broomfield Skilled Nursing facility in Broomfield, CO was arrested after a second nursing home resident came forward with accusations of abuse.

The entire investigation after the first allegation of abuse took less than a month before the nursing home determined that the allegation was “unfounded” and they returned the abuser to work. The abused nursing home resident had a history of “confusion” according to the affidavit.

After just a few weeks on the job, a second accusation surfaced, and the police became involved. The nursing home has had no comment since then.

If you have a loved one in an Illinois nursing home, and you feel they may have been the victim of nursing home abuse, contact the Law Offices of Barry G. Doyle for a free and confidential evaluation of your case. At my law offices we have the experience and expertise to manage all aspects of your nursing home abuse lawsuit, and we would welcome the opportunity to speak to you.

Wish to file an Illinois nursing home complaint?

File an Illinois nursing home complaint here

A staff member pushed the wheelchair bound man, a former Marine, outside the facility to smoke a cigarette and then left him there along. Staff later found him on the ground with his pants on fire. The main required intensive care for his injuries that included second and third-degree burns to his legs. Medical expenses were greater than $600,000.

The nursing home has a strict no-smoking policy and the victim was an addicted smoker. Instead of enforcing their policy, staff members began pushing him outside the facility and leaving him to smoke alone.

The victim’s medical history is a litany of injury and disability that includes back problems, strokes, paralysis, numbness, depression and mental health problems.

The nursing home argued that the man may have deliberately tried to set himself on fire with the cigarette lighter. It’s unclear how leaving a man with depression and mental illness alone with a cigarette lighter is a viable defense.

Nursing homes have an obligation to protect the people in their care from all potential injuries, including those that are self inflicted. As a society we have little tolerance for people who smoke cigarettes, but they have exactly the same rights to protection and safety in their nursing homes as anyone else.

If you have a loved one who has been injured in an Illinois nursing home, and you feel their injuries were the result of nursing home neglect, contact the Law Offices of Barry G. Doyle for a free and confidential evaluation of your case. At my law offices we have Chicago nursing home lawyers who are ready to listen to you.

Wish to file an Illinois nursing home complaint?

File an Illinois nursing home complaint here

Nursing home malnutrition is, at its core, a denial of the most basic care. A nursing home where a resident has died from malnutrition has allowed a person in its care to literally starve to death while countless staff members merely walked by. There is no greater example of nursing home neglect.

While malnutrition isn’t rare in nursing homes, it is rare to hear of malnutrition being a cause of death. One of the most insidious aspects of nursing home malnutrition is that if frequently is hidden as the cause of harm.

Nursing home residents who are suffering from malnutrition become much more susceptible to injury and illnesses. Malnutrition causes muscle wasting that can lead directly to nursing home falls.

Lesser known is the fact that malnutrition can damage a person’s immune system, a condition that leads to more illnesses and infections.

Nursing home residents frequently lose weight when they are in a facility. The difficulty is in determining whether or not the weight loss is harmless or dangerous. If you have a loved one who appears to be losing significant weight in a nursing home, there are symptoms that you should be looking for.

Fatigue, tooth loss or tooth decay, inflamed or swollen eyelids and depression are all symptoms of malnutrition.

If you have a loved one in an Illinois nursing home, and you feel they may be malnourished as a result of nursing home neglect, contact the Law Offices of Barry G. Doyle as soon as possible. At my law offices, you can speak to me or one of my colleagues for no fee and no obligation. We would welcome the opportunity to speak to you.

Wish to file an Illinois nursing home complaint?

File an Illinois nursing home complaint here

The owner of the home was sentenced to three to twenty four months, one aide was sentenced to one to twenty four months, and a third aide, who cooperated fully with the investigation, was given probation and a $400 fine.

The victim died after bed sores that he acquired while in the care of the nursing home became infected. The aide who was in charge of caring for the man was never trained in the care of bed sores and was responsible for providing care (bathing, dressing, feeding) for thirteen residents during her shift.

Bedsores, or pressure ulcers, are some of the most dangerous injuries that a person can suffer for several different reasons. Because one of the conditions necessary for the development of bed sores is constant pressure, bed sores almost always develop on the heels, or the buttocks, or another part of the body that is almost constantly under pressure.

That makes bed sores almost impossible to cure without competent and constant attention. Nursing homes capable of providing constant and competent attention don’t allow their residents to develop bed sores in the first place.

It’s rare for nursing home staff members to be tried in a criminal court for nursing home neglect. Usually, a fine paid by the facility is the most that a family can hope for.

Bed sores are frequently fatal, as they were in this case, so if you discover a bed sore on your loved one, it’s essential that you contact one of our Chicago bed sore lawyers immediately for a free and confidential evaluation of your case. At the Law Offices of Barry G.  Doyle we have the experience to manage all aspects of your Chicago bed sore lawsuit, and we would welcome the opportunity to speak to you.

Wish to file an Illinois nursing home complaint?

File an Illinois nursing home complaint here

The reports are making a few headlines, mostly local Florida news but also some national news organizations as well. The general response has been fairly benign. As a Chicago nursing home lawyer, however, the results leave me feeling rather skeptical.

For example, the state of Florida, where the organization is based, was given a grade of B despite some serious issues. Florida is ranked 44th in Resident Nursing hours. In addition, earlier this year, the Justice Department sued the state over the reprehensible practice of housing hundreds of disabled children in nursing homes for years.  Finally, the state’s Long-Term Care Ombudsman was recently placed under house arrest and is the subject of an internal investigation.

The state of Illinois is ranked 42nd out of 50 states. Despite my skepticism of some of the grades doled out by the “Families for Better Care,” the truth is that Illinois is far from the best place to be in nursing home care.

Direct Care Staffing is the backbone of any nursing home. They are the people who feed residents, clothe them, and help them with any of the other Activities of Daily Living. According to the report card, Illinois residents receive less than two hour of personal care on a daily basis. That is a recipe for nursing home neglect.

If you have a loved one in an Illinois nursing home, and you feel they have been the victim of nursing home neglect, contact the Law Offices of Barry G. Doyle for a free and confidential evaluation of your case. At my law offices our Chicago nursing home lawyers have the experience and expertise to manage every aspect of your nursing home neglect lawsuit, and we would welcome the opportunity to speak to you.

Wish to file an Illinois nursing home complaint?

File an Illinois nursing home complaint here

For anyone who has spent time in a nursing home, the prospect of a fire is terrifying. Nursing homes in the United States as well as around the world are almost always understaffed, especially during the overnight shifts. I’ve seen nursing homes where a single staff member was responsible for over a dozen nursing home residents during the nighttime shift.

Many nursing home residents require two or more staff members to transfer them to their wheelchairs. Others can’t walk without being supported. Many suffer from dementia, and would react to an emergency evacuation with fear and aggression.

The idea that a single staff member could effectively manage an evacuation in the event of a fire is laughable, and everyone knows it. Nursing homes have no intention of maintaining the staffing necessary to manage an emergency evacuation. Instead, they rely on fire prevention. The problem with that strategy is (as any firefighter will tell you) there is no such thing as a fire-proof building.

If you have a loved one in an Illinois nursing home, it’s important to know how prepared they are for fire prevention. Nursing homes are carefully regulated for fire prevention.

The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) website Nursing Home Compare allows you to view inspection reports for nursing homes by name or by geographic area. Part of every nursing home inspection includes Fire Safety Deficiencies.

Currently, the average number of Fire Safety Deficiencies in Illinois is just over six. The national average is 3.5. The range of Fire Safety Deficiencies ranges from 0 to 29.

If you have a loved one who has been injured in a nursing home, contact my law offices for a free and confidential evaluation of your case. Our Chicago nursing home lawyers have the experience and expertise to manage all aspects of your Chicago nursing home neglect lawsuit.

Wish to file an Illinois nursing home complaint?

File an Illinois nursing home complaint here

The state of Kentucky averages almost two serious deficiencies in every nursing home. Serious deficiencies would include violations that resulted in serious injury or the immediate likelihood of terrible harm.

New Mexico, Louisiana, and South Carolina join Kentucky as the four states with the greatest number of serious deficiencies in their nursing homes. Illinois averages one serious deficiency for every two nursing homes in the state.That’s near the middle of the pack, but far too high in my opinion. Pennsylvania only has one serious deficiency for every 50 nursing homes in the state.

A common refrain from people who resist strong nursing home regulation and is to allow the market to decide the fate of nursing homes. If residents or families are not satisfied with the care provided, they should move. What that theory fails to take into account is that not every family has the ability to be able to easily move their loved ones to another facility.

In many rural areas, there is often only a single nursing home within many miles. That might seem impossible to someone from a more populated area, but in the midwest and the west there are still many vast expanses of extremely sparsely populated area.

Even in more urban areas, moving loved ones out of substandard nursing homes can be very difficult. People own fewer cars in more urban areas. They rely on public transportation systems to visit nursing homes. Moving a short distance geographically can easily add an hour or more of travel time if it includes a train or bus transfer.

Nursing homes need to provide quality care to all residents. If you have a loved one who has been seriously injured in an Illinois nursing home, and you feel that he or she was a victim of nursing home neglect, contact our Chicago nursing home lawyers for a free and confidential evaluation of your case.

Wish to file an Illinois nursing home complaint?

File an Illinois nursing home complaint here