Elder Law

Wrongful Death Settlement in Nursing Home Lawsuit

By Levin & Perconti

A recent nursing home lawsuit has settled for $2.25 million reports Chanel 3000 News. The lawsuit was filed by the family of Cynthia Wims, following her tragic death several years ago.

Cynthia was a resident at the Willows Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in 2007. She briefly left the facility to undergo hip replacement surgery, but returned following the procedure to be given close care while she recovered. However, there was nothing careful or compassionate about what she received at the nursing home.

Instead of guiding her recovery, nurses at the facility virtually let Cynthia fend for herself. Eventually, the nurses let her surgical would to turn septic. Septic wounds, according to the Mayo Clinic, are essentially any open cut (like those after surgery) that become infected. The infection then leads to multiple other complications. Those complications are often especially risky for vulnerable individuals like infants and, in this case, the elderly. It is for that reason that it is particularly important that close, nursing care is provided to nursing home residents following operations to ensure that they are able to make a proper recovery.

Unfortunately, Cynthia never recovered from the infection, and she died shortly after arriving back at the negligent nursing home. That same year, the Federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid listed Willows Nursing and Rehabilitation Center as one of the worst in the country. The total number of patients harmed by inadequate care at this facility and others like it will probably never be fully known.

Our Chicago nursing home attorneys at Levin & Perconti seek justice for the families of nursing home residents who have died because of inadequate care. Unfortunately, many families never discover that the death of their loved one could have been prevented if the individuals charged with providing recovery treatment at nursing homes had acted properly. When a patient returns to a nursing home following a medical procedure and then suddenly finds their situation deteriorating, there is a chance that it was caused by negligent care from the staff members of the nursing home. Allowing the abuses to continue without challenge only puts more vulnerable seniors at risk.

Full post as published by Illinois Nursing Home Abuse Blog on September 22, 2010 (boomark / email).