Nursing Home Abuse Lawyers
Serving Chicago, Surrounding Suburbs and all Surrounding Counties of DuPage, Will & Lake.
When you check your loved one into a Chicago-area nursing home facility, you expect your loved ones to be treated with care and respect. Nursing homes have obligations to their residents, chief among them keeping their residents safe.
Many nursing home staffers are caring, committed individuals who work hard for their elderly charges. However, negligence and abuse are constants in too many nursing homes, as even a cursory look at the news will reveal.
Our nursing home abuse lawyers will fight for your loved ones if they've suffered a personal injury as the result of negligence or outright violence in their nursing home. Such abuse is never acceptable.
If your loved one has experienced nursing home abuse in the Chicago, Illinois area, please call the Sklare Law Group today at (312) 759-1616 for a free consultation.
What Rights Do Residents Of Nursing Homes Have?
The exact rights depend on what type of facility it is, and whether it is bound by federal regulations. There will also be state laws protecting the resident, and possibly municipal and insurance-based nursing home regulations.
In Medicare and/or Medicaid-certified nursing homes, residents have a right to:
- Be informed
- Make their own decisions
- Have their personal information kept private
- Be treated with dignity and respect
- Be free from discrimination
- Be free from abuse and neglect
- Be free from physical or chemical restraints that are used as discipline or for the convenience of the staff
- Make a complaint without fear of retribution
- Get proper medical care
- Be informed of services and fees
- Have their representative notified
- Manage their money
- Have a right to their privacy and property
- Spend time with visitors
- Receive social services
- Leave the nursing home
- Involve their friends and family in their lives
Our attorneys can determine if a nursing home resident’s rights were violated or if negligence led to their injuries.
Abuse And Negligence
When we think about nursing home residents suffering injuries in their facilities, we tend to talk in terms of "abuse." And there's no doubt that outright physical abuse is depressingly common in these facilities.
However, negligence is almost as big a problem. Nursing homes are for-profit facilities, and many of them are part of massive, multi-state empires run by far-flung corporations. The profit motive is a powerful thing, and facility administrators are often incentivized to cut costs to the bone in a way that leaves residents paying the price.
In these situations, nursing home staffers aren't explicitly abusive, but they're under-paid, under-trained and lack the resources to properly care for their residents.
Specific examples of such negligence and abuse include:
- Bed Sores
- Falls Due to Lack of Supervision
- Medical malpractice
- Physical Violence
- Sexual Abuse
- Dehydration and Malnutrition
- Abuse of Restraints and Other Medical Tools
- Financial Exploitation
None of these situations are acceptable. Nursing homes must invest the resources necessary to provide their residents with the safe, comfortable environment they deserve.
Accountability is a crucial element of this, and our nursing home abuse lawyers further the cause of accountability by holding to account those facilities that, through abuse or negligence, hurt their residents.
Why Are Neglect And Abuse Common In The Nursing Home Setting?
Nursing home abuse is fairly common. Some estimates say several million elders are victims of abuse and neglect each year. There are reasons why abuse tends to be overrepresented in the industry:
- Understaffing
- Burned out and overworked staff
- Unaddressed employee stress and frustration
- Lack of training
- Hiring inexperienced or poorly trained staff
- Lack of employee resources and support
- Low employee pay
- Inadequate management and supervision
- The elderly tend to be a vulnerable population
- Residents with physical or mental impairments aren’t always able to advocate for themselves
The quality of care varies by individual nursing home. Unfortunately, some of them simply do not provide the staffing, training, supervision, and employee resources that are needed to ensure quality care, and the elderly residents suffer the consequences.
Other examples of abuse within a nursing home
In general, neglect is the intentional or unintentional failure to meet the resident’s basic needs and medical needs. Neglect includes:
- Failure to change bedding
- Failure to change clothes
- Failure to assist with personal hygiene and bathing
- Failure to provide food and water, which may lead to malnourishment and dehydration
- Failure to provide necessary medical care
- Failure to supervise a resident prone to wandering
- Abandonment and isolation
Serious physical harm is often the result when the services, goods, and healthcare necessary to ensure health and safety are not provided.
If A Resident Of A Nursing Home Has No Contract With The Home, Can He Or She Still Sue The Home For Improper Care?
It depends on the specifics of the situation, but generally yes, you can most likely sue a nursing home even if there isn’t a contract or agreement. It depends on the circumstances and our state laws, as well as other regulations. It takes an experienced attorney to determine if the nursing home provider is liable for you or your loved one’s injuries, trauma, or worsened condition.
Getting injured while visiting a resident at a nursing home
If you are injured on nursing home grounds, and are not a resident, you may have a premises liability claim. In these cases, a serious injury is caused by an unsafe, hazardous, or defective condition on someone’s property. Examples include:
- Slipping and falling on a wet surface
- Tripping on uneven or damaged floors
- Lack of building and property maintenance
- Unrepaired water leaks
- Chemical spills or chemical exposure
- Flooding
- Elevator accidents
- Swimming pool accidents
A premises liability claim requires more than an injury occurring at a nursing home. You must also show that someone is liable for the condition or hazard that caused your injury.
Client Review
"Words cannot express how it warmed my heart and family heart, that through our trails and tribulations Ron and Kelly and especially the entire staff worked, so Hard and kept us abreast about everything that was going on. I and my family will always keep you all in our prayers, and May GOD continue to bless you and your families and give you all the desires of your heart. Mentally knowing you all truly cared about me and my well being, felt great Ron you made me feel that I didn’t have to worry because you had my back. You all are truly GOD sent. ( Much love to you all) Sincerely Tara G DeRamus"
Schedule a Client Consultation
If you need an experienced nursing home abuse lawyer in the Chicagoland area of Illinois, please call the Sklare Law Group today at (312) 759-1616 for a free consultation.
