Elder Law

Family Sues Nursing Home for Wrongful Death

By Levin & Perconti

A family filed a federal wrongful-death lawsuit against a nursing home for the death of their loved one. The man was admitted to the nursing home and within 20 days had lost more than 20 pounds and became agitated and combative. The man died in the hospital of dehydration, kidney failure and pneumonia. An investigation by the state found that the home was negligent in the man?s care for not preventing his dehydration, not maintaining his weight and not notifying his doctor of the weight loss. While his wife continuously asked about how he was eating, the nursing home staff told her he was doing fine. However, the staff noted that the man often refused to eat or take medications, and ate nothing at 15 or 25 meals at that time. Despite the nursing home?s dietary manager?s recommendation that the man be given a nutritional supplement every day, the nursing home never followed the orders. The also did not inform the man?s doctor that he had such a drastic weight loss. The nursing home has been cited for elderly abuse in the past. To read the full story, click here.

Full post as published by Illinois Nursing Home Abuse Blog on January 02, 2009 (boomark / email).