Nursing homes, they aren’t just for the elderly any more. The popular perception of a nursing home, a long term care facility filled with frail seniors of various maladies, is enough to fill most people with dread. Study after study shows that seniors do not want to be in nursing homes. Little do they know, as regular readers of this blog or nursing home news in general knows, that the reality is much, much worse.
Nursing homes have become the go-to repository for anyone with a long term disability. Small children, mentally disabled adults, and psychotic persons of all ages are now placed in nursing homes where they live side-by-side with our elderly parents and other relatives.
Nursing homes, eager for the funding the state provides to care for these individuals, are happy to take them in. In order to qualify as a nursing home, a facility only needs to have 50% of their residents be over the age of 65.
Unfortunately, many of these individuals require much more observation and care than the average 80-year-old. When they don’t get that care, people get hurt.
Two residents at the Heartland of Decatur nursing home in Decatur, Illinois were severely injured when staff were unable to properly supervise them. The first victim was confused, and wandering the hallways. When she was not permitted to enter another resident’s room, she became aggressive. She attacked a family member of another resident and caught her finger in a door and she violently shoved it. The incident resulted in the partial amputation of the finger.
Another resident was being transferred to her bed using a mechanical lift. The two Heartland of Decatur staff did not properly use the mechanical lift, and the resident suffered a broken tibia as a result of the nursing home neglect.
If you have a loved one who has been injured in an Illinois nursing home, and you feel that nursing home neglect was the cause, contact the Law Offices of Barry G. Doyle. At my law firm, our Chicago nursing home lawyers have the experience and expertise to manage all aspects of your nursing home neglect case.
Other blog posts on resident-on-resident assaults in nursing homes:
Assault yields broken hip at Stephenson Nursing Center
Sexual assault by fellow resident at Swansea Rehab