A few weeks ago I wrote about the horrific incident that took place in an Oak Park nursing home. To briefly summarize, an 80-year-old man was savagely beaten to death by a fellow resident in his mid-60s. He died the following day. The injuries were so severe that the victim’s skull was shattered and the brain itself was damaged. It was the kind of damage typical of a fatal automobile accident, not an assault.I wondered at the time about the lack of supervision that would have allowed such a dramatic beating to take place. Attacks like that are typically loud and long. A piece by Devin Rose,staff reporter for the Oak Park Wednesday Journal provides more detail, but seems to raise as many questions as it answers.The report claims that the nurses on duty were immediately responsive, but then why did the original report use the word “found”? Additionally, the new reports claim that the victim had the history of aggression, which also seems unlikely given the tremendous violence of the attack.According to the report, the facility only began to track aggressive behavior after the fatal assault. His care plan contained no mention of techniques to contain his aggression.Oak Park Healthcare received 1 out of 5 stars by Medicare.gov’s nursing home compare website. The only area where the nursing home received a positive report was in staffing, one of the areas the nursing homes self-report.They received 21 deficiencies over the past year from health inspections. The average number of deficiencies is 8. Their quality measures are also severely lacking.The nursing home compare website is an invaluable tool for anyone who is forced to place a loved one in a nursing home. It’s also important to ask your loved ones about their experiences in a nursing home.Resident on resident violence is a fact of life in many nursing homes. If you have a loved one who has shown signs of injury or has reported that they have been injured by another resident, it’s important that you contact a trained nursing home attorney to discuss your case.
Other blog posts on resident-on-resident assaults in nursing homes:
Resident sexually assaulted at Swansea Rehab