CHICAGO, IL – Two new laws went into effect at the start of the year requiring nursing homes to provide more oversight in order to prevent abuse and neglect.
One law guarantees older adults more rights if they reside in a nursing home including clarifying that it’s illegal for nursing home residents to perform labor or services unless stated otherwise in the resident’s medical records that it’s therapeutic and the nursing home has a grievance procedure in place.
The other law establishes the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) guidelines requiring staff to spend a minimum of 10 hours annually and includes the IDPH’s yearly summaries of nursing homes in the state.
Experts predict these laws will help end the plague of nursing home abuse.
According to the National Center for Elder Abuse, one out of 10 elder adults are abused or neglected, but only one in five instances of abuse are reported.
Illinois nursing home abuse
Illinois ranks last in terms of nursing home staffing levels resulting in employees being overworked, stressed and burnt out (nursinghomeabuse.org). It should be no surprise that many Illinois nursing home abuse cases have been in the news recently.
To illustrate a disturbing trend, the Dinizulu Law Group team has compiled various account of recent Illinois nursing home abuse cases:
- In December 2022, IDPH fined 25 nursing homes in central Illinois for violating the Nursing Home Care Act. Of these facilities, fourteen were fined $25,000 for Type A violations, the second-most serious type of violation. Under the Nursing Home Care Act, these are violations in which there is a substantial probability that death or serious mental or physical harm will result or has occurred. Those facilities are:
- Alvin Eaders Center (Jacksonville)
- Arcadia Care of Danville
- Avenues at Springfield
- Brother James Court (Springfield)
- Champaign Urbana Nursing and Rehab (Savoy)
- Colonial Manor (Danville)
- Fair Havens Senior Living (Decatur)
- Heritage Health Hoopeston
- Illini Heritage Rehab & Healthcare (Champaign)
- Loft Rehab of Rock Springs (Decatur)(two Type-A violations)
- Shelbyville Manor
- Taylor House (Springfield)
- Taylorville Care Center
- Twin Lakes Rehab & Health Care (Paris)
- In September 2022, 11 residents filed a lawsuit against Alden Village North located in Chicago’s northside Rogers Park neighborhood claiming the lack of staffing has led to numerous injuries and illnesses.
- In August 2022, a family filed a lawsuit against Gurnee Place Memory Care after an 82-year-old man with dementia went missing from the facility and drowned.
- In 2019, the family of an Illinois woman with dementia sued Abington of Glenview Nursing & Rehab Center, its parent company and two certified nurse assistants (CNAs) after taunting Margaret Collins on Snapchat – violating the Nursing Home Care Act.
- In 2011, Dolores Trendel’s family sued Assisi at Clare Oaks Senior Living in Bartlett, Illinois for stopping a medication that caused Trendel to have a stroke and ultimately ended her life.
View IDPH’s quarterly reports of nursing home violators here.
Contact a nursing home abuse lawyer
Have you or your loved one experienced neglect or abuse at their nursing home facility? It’s crucial to contact a skilled nursing home abuse attorney immediately as the statue of limitations in Illinois requires you to file a lawsuit within 2 years of the abuse or neglect. Our team of experience attorneys can help you! Call our office now at (312) 384-1920 to receive a complimentary consultation.
