Elder Law

LaSalle County Nursing Home Angers Ombudsman

By Levin & Perconti

On June 4, the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) issued a report faulting the nursing home for failing to protect female residents from the molestations of a male resident between January and May. The day after report was released the resident was moved from the home to the mental unit at an Illinois hospital. Following a inspection of the home, the nursing home?s administrator claimed that staff had asked the home?s ombudsman to help develop ?interventions? for the male resident. He noted that the ombudsman has a duty to report abuse and neglect and said the ombudsman did not consider the male resident?s behavior to be nursing home abuse and neglect. The ombudsman states that these accusations are false. She states that the home?s staff never asked the ombudsman to help develop interventions and that an ombudsman is prohibited from reporting or sharing information about elder neglect and abuse without permission from the resident in question. The LaSalle County Nursing Home is facing a $20,000 fine from the state and at least a possible $20,000 fine from the federal government for the elderly abuse committed by the male resident. To read more about the nursing home abuse, please click the link.

Full post as published by Illinois Nursing Home Abuse Blog on August 20, 2009 (boomark / email).