Elder Law

Advocates Call Attention to Poor Care At Chicago-Area Nursing Home

By Levin & Perconti

The Illinois Nursing Home Care Act is the guiding law that sets standards of care for residents in nursing homes in the state. The law is intended to ensure that the vulnerable patients in these facilities receive a certain quality of care at all times. However, as our Chicago nursing home attorneys at Levin & Perconti have experienced first-hand, many homes fall far short of the standard obligated by law.

Recently, a group that advocates for the rights of Illinois nursing home residents protested in front a facility that has repeatedly failed to provide the basic care to its residents demanded by the law. As Chicago?s Breaking News Center reported, the group, Progress Center for Independent Living, demonstrated in front of the Crestwood Terrace Nursing Home. The facility, located southwest of Chicago, is claimed to have been particularly negligent in meeting its obligation to ensure that resides retain a sense of dignity in their living conditions.

Complaints at the facility include a wide-range of breaches of care. Some resident are not given their medication on time (or at all), some are denied visitors, and personal mail is often opened by staff members. Even the ability the walk around the grounds is often denied. One resident reports that other residents were allowed to steal his belongings?his dentures, hand brace and clothing?and nothing was done to replace them for months. A spokesman for the group organizing the protest claimed, ?There are so many violations regarding basic rights of the patients at this home, it is beyond comprehension.?

As CiteHealth notes, even the self-reported care given to residents at Crestwood is failing. The amount of daily care time that a resident receives from certified nursing assistants, vocational nurses, and regular staff members are all much lower than the average at Crestwood.

The advocacy group also notes that the facility makes it virtually impossible for a resident to save up enough money to live on their own. With Social Security checks going directly to the facility, each patient is ultimately given only $30 out of that check for their own purposes. This extreme limiting of personal income creates a dependency on the facility that a resident is unlikely ever to break.

If you know of any similar abuses at a facility near you, please contact a nursing home attorney to help put an end to the negligent treatment.

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