Do you have a loved one that is residing in a nursing home? Do you trust that the facility is taking the utmost of care with your loved one? What happens when they break that trust? How can you expose what you believe to be untruths? Let’s take a look at the steps involved.
When you search for a nursing facility for your loved one, you are looking for a home that you trust will follow through with their promises of care. This is usually one of the statements that nursing administrators promise when you tour their facilities. They promise that they will take special care to meet all of your loved one’s medical and dietary needs. When they don’t deliver on the promise, it is a cause for action.
Let’s look at a previous case of mine. I had a woman come to me whose father had been staying in a nursing facility. She had found a home that she liked, and had moved her father to that home. She alerted the staff that he was at a higher risk for developing bed sores, and they assured her that they would take all of the precautions necessary. Within three weeks, he had developed bed sores.
The first thing that I did was to investigate his medical records. When searching through his files, I noticed that there was a lack of re-positioning notes. A re-positioning note is one that states the date and time a resident is re-positioned. This is important because if a resident is not re-positioned frequently, they are likely to develop bed sores. These are caused by too much pressure being put on the bony extrusions of the body. The client’s father developed bed sores that developed into sepsis, a blood infection.
After noting that there were no re-positioning notes, we took sworn statements from the nurses and staff. The nurse in charge of the patient’s care assured us that she did re-position him and that she didn’t make any errors. We took that statement, along with the lack of re-positioning records, to the nursing home administrator. We also took a look at the nurse’s files and saw that she had previously been reprimanded for not re-positioning patients. With all of this information at her feet, the nursing home administrator knew she was at an impasse. She had been caught lying, and she decided to settle the case. Watch the video to learn more.
If you have questions about what to do when you suspect a nursing home of neglecting your loved one or lying about the care they have been given, please contact us at 1-312-384-1920 or 1-800-693-1LAW. Our experienced Chicago nursing home abuse lawyers are here for you. You may also find more videos about nursing home neglect laws on our media page.
