A resident of the Forest View Rehab and Nursing Center in Itasca, Illinois nearly died after the nursing home failed to provide the medications ordered by the resident’s physician. Days passed while the nursing home administration failed to take even the most basic actions to fix the situation. The resident is now on hospice care.
The resident initially acquired an infection in the nursing home. Nursing homes are supposed to be places where extra emphasis is placed on infection prevention, but, as regular readers of this blog are aware, all too often expedience takes precedence over competence. Facility acquired infections are the unfortunate result.
As the infection worsened, the resident was admitted to a local hospital, where the infection was brought under control. The resident was then readmitted to the Forest View Rehab and Nursing Center.
The trouble began when the resident was supposed to receive his first dose of antibiotics. There were none. For three days the resident’s illness got worse and worse. Eventually, his fever hit 108 degrees and he was admitted to the hospital. Even though antibiotics were eventually able to get the fever down in the hospital, the damage was already done.
An adult human cannot survive a temperature of 108 intact. According to a neurologist, the fever caused significant brain damage. The resident has been placed on hospice care. Essentially, hospice, or comfort care, is end of life care; it is designed to make you as comfortable as possible during your final days.
The medication that was supposed to be provided at the nursing home was not there because the pharmacy needed a written authorization from the Director of Nursing before sending the antibiotics, yet the staff at the nursing home were unable to get the signature for days. In the meantime, the fever spiked too high and irreparable damage was done.
If you have a loved one in an Illinois nursing home who has been the victim of nursing home neglect or nursing home abuse, contact my law offices for a free and confidential evaluation of your case. At my law offices we have the experience and expertise to manage every aspect of your nursing home medication error or nursing home neglect lawsuit, and we would welcome the opportunity to speak to you.
Other blog posts of interest:
Failure to give medications leads to hospital admission at Arista Healthcare
Hospitalization from medication error at Bloomington Rehab