Elder Law

Nursing Home Accused of Wrongful Death

By Levin & Perconti

Northern Virginia Daily reported yesterday on a new nursing home lawsuit filed by the family of an elderly victim. The new suit filed against Evergreen Health and Rehabilitation Center accuses health care workers of negligent actions leading to the death of Mary Ellen Hillyard, a resident of the facility.

Two years ago in mid-June, Mary Ellen suffered a massive hemorrhage while she was at the nursing home. She was rushed to a nearby hospital where she was temporarily stabilized. However, she never fully recovered from that medical problem and passed away three months later.

When trying to piece together the actual cause of Mary Ellen?s death, it was discovered that nurses and assistants at the Evergreen nursing home had engaged in very questionable and, in fact, outright dangerous medication treatments with their elderly resident. Specifically, the medical employees gave Mary Ellen a troubling mix of medications at the same time---including anticoagulants that were duplicative and contraindicated. In other words, the medication had value when taken alone but became potentially lethal when given to one patient at the same time. The medications included aspirin, Coumadin, and Plavix.

The combination of the medications ultimately led to Mary Ellen suffering the hemorrhage from which she never recovered.

Evergreen nursing home failed in its duty to provide, competent, safe medical care to the residents who resided at the facility. Our Chicago nursing home attorneys at Levin & Perconti have witness similar abuse all across our city and its suburbs. As in this case, employees at these facilities often provide care that falls below the required standards. Medication is administered haphazardly, wounds are allowed to fester, residents are permitted to wander in dangerous locations, and countless other acts of negligence harm seniors on a daily basis. The unfortunate fact remains that our loved ones are never as safe as we expect they should be when under the care of professionals at a nursing home. That?s why it is imperative to pay close attention to all injuries suffered by our elderly friends and family, and seek nursing home legal advice when we suspect that the deaths or injuries could have been prevented.

Full post as published by Illinois Nursing Home Abuse Blog on September 24, 2010 (boomark / email).