In late July of this year, a vehicle from the Lebanon Care Center pulled up to a truck stop off Rt. 15 in Alorton, Illinois. There they left a nursing home resident and two bags of his clothing. They left no identification, no food, and none of his medications.
As with many things, the situation is not nearly as black and white as it first appears. Still, there is no denying that the nursing home willfully put that man’s life in danger.
Illinois requires that all residents submit to a name-based background check upon admission. In this case, the man had a criminal history including burglary and domestic battery. As a person with felony convictions, the nursing home was then required to follow up witeh a fingrprint check.
There are reasons for this. Names are common. Even people with “rare” names probably share their names with hundreds of people across the country. Fingerprints, however, are unique. A fingerprint check is a national check.
The resident lived in the facility for a month before the nursing home requested a fingerprint check. The resident refused to consent to one. At that point, the nursing home tried to contact the resident’s relatives without success.
The nursing home claims that it’s illegal to house a resident who refuses a background check, which is true. But it is illegal to wait a month before requesting a fingerprint check.
According to the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH), the nursing home committed improper nursing care and violated the resident’s rights when they left him at the truck stop.
The nursing home clearly violated state regulations when they waited a month to ask the resident to submit to a fingerprint check. To take the unilateral action of abandoning the man at a truck stop (even at the resident’s request) is reckless to say the least.
If you have a loved one who has been the victim of nursing home neglect, contact the Law Offices of Barry G. Doyle for a free and confidential evaluation of your case. At my law offices, we never charge a fee unless we earn a recovery for you.