Keating Law Wins $743,500.00 Settlement for Nursing Home Resident

In 2016 a Chicago woman was admitted into a Chicago nursing home after she had to undergo emergency brain surgery to remove a tumor. Soon after she was admitted to the nursing home she experienced pain in her left leg and told the nursing staff at the nursing home about it. For two weeks the staff at the nursing home heard her complaints but did not notify her doctor about the problems with her leg. Finally, her doctor was called and an exam of her leg was ordered that found that she had severe vascular issues that led to the leg contracting gangrene. Due to this, surgeons had to perform an above-the-knee amputation of her left leg to stop the spread of the gangrene.

Keating Law filed a lawsuit on behalf of the nursing home resident and after five years of litigation recently secured a $743,500.00 settlement for the nursing home resident. The team at Keating Law Offices claimed that the delayed response to complaints of pain and a failure to notify our client’s physician led her losing any chance of saving the leg due to the two week delay. 

The Nursing Home's Defense

The case was vigorously defended by the nursing home who hired multiple experts to testify against the plaintiff and try to argue that the plaintiff was already too sick to ever recover. The nursing home attorneys and hired doctors said that the situation was very sad, but that the leg was already too injured from the pre-existing vascular disease to do anything about it. The nursing home claimed that the problems with her leg were inevitable given her medical history. 

Keating Law Offices did not give up in the face of such a strong defense.  Instead, part of the success of this recovery for our client was Keating Law Office’s application of the web of rules and regulation that nursing homes in Illinois must follow. Under the Illinois Nursing Home Care Act, for instance, nursing homes are prohibited by law from neglecting their residents. “Neglect” means a facility’s failure to provide adequate medical care, psychiatric rehabilitation, personal care, or assistance with activities of daily living necessary to avoid physical harm and mental anguish of a resident.

Nursing Home Laws

Other laws, like the Illinois Administrative Code, are also important. Under the Code, nursing homes are required to provide necessary care and services to maintain the highest practicable physical, mental, and psychosocial well-being of a resident. In doing so, the nursing home must conduct comprehensive assessments of the resident, develop an appropriate plan of care, and follow that plan.

Even federal regulations impact nursing homes when that nursing home accepts federal benefits like Medicare. The Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (OBRA), also known as the Nursing Home Reform Act of 1987, is a prime example. OBRA requires nursing homes to provide comprehensive assessments of a particular resident’s needs and to notify a resident’s physician of significant changes in medical conditions.

Nursing Home Negligence Settlement

In obtaining Keating Law’s recent settlement of $743,500.00, attorneys Tom Reuland and Mike Keating used these and other laws to hold the nursing home accountable for ignoring our client’s symptoms and not notifying her physician in time to help her. We will continue to advocate for our clients who have been abused or neglected by nursing homes throughout Illinois. We will also continue to advocate and support laws and regulation that help keep nursing homes accountable and safe for their residents

What is a Power of Attorney for a Nursing Home Resident?

Family members of nursing home residents or hospital patients are often asked about who has "Power of Attorney" for the family member. Many people feel that because the resident or patient is their spouse or a member of their own family that they automatically have Power of Attorney. But that is not always the case. 

What is a Power of Attorney?

A Power of Attorney (“POA”) is a legal document that enables someone else to act on the family member's behalf over important decisions when they are unable to act on their own. The person appointed to handle the legal affairs or make decisions is called an “Agent.” There are few restrictions on who can become the Agent, but you typically want to choose a competent and trustworthy adult you know will always keep the loved one's best interests at heart. Often, people appoint a backup Agent—called a “Successor Agent”—in case the Agent is unable to carryout his or her duties.

The power granted to the Agent can start right away or start only when other conditions are met, such as mental or physical incapacitation. For example, some people decide to establish a POA when they show early signs of an illness that could lead to incapacitation. The POA could specify that the Agent’s powers only begin once a medical doctor has deemed you unable to make decisions on their own.

What Kind of Decisions Can the Person with Power of Attorney Make?

The "power" of the agent with power of attorneys depends on the type of power of attorney that is created. One of the most common types is a POA over healthcare decisions. This type of POA facilitates important medical decisions, often in emergency situations and towards the end of someone’s life. Another type of POA can limit an Agent’s role to managing property and financial affairs. For example, you can appoint someone to handle real estate, taxes, or business operations in the event that you suffer a devastating personal injury that renders you unable to handle those affairs yourself. There is also a type of POA where the Agent has the power to handle both healthcare decisions and financial matters.

Does Illinois Allow for Power of Attorney?

Every state recognizes some form of POA agreements. However, states sometimes have particular rules regarding the form, content, and validity of the agreements in certain situations. In Illinois it easy to obtain basic POAs through the Illinois Power of Attorney Act. This Act has basic forms for a POA over healthcare and a POA over property that are presumed valid when filled out properly.

If you or a loved one have been severely injured and need to invoke a Power of Attorney, the nursing home negligence and abuse attorneys at Keating Law Offices are here to help. Contact us today. 

Keating Law Offices Files Lawsuit Against South Side Nursing Home For Fall After Resident Unnecessarily Drugged

The daughter of a former resident of a Chicago’s South Side nursing home has retained Keating Law Offices to investigate the negligence of the facility's medical and nursing staff. The former resident suffered a non-displaced left superior orbital wall fracture in her face after falling out of bed, despite nurses knowing the resident was a “fall risk.”

On September 10, 2013, the nursing home allegedly failed to respond to the resident’s bed alarm in a timely manner, allowing her to walk all the way to the opposite side of her room, where she then struck her head on a roommate’s bedrail. The resident was found lying unresponsive on the floor, away from her own bed. All of this took place before the nursing staff responded to the resident’s bed alarm.

Upon arrival of Chicago Fire Department paramedics that day in September 2013, it was discovered that the nursing home resident had been heavily sedated - unnecessarily - by the staff. The resident’s unresponsiveness was due to sedatives or pain killers allegedly administered by the nurses. As soon as the CFD paramedics administered two doses of an opioid antagonist, the resident became responsive and aware of her surroundings. An opioid antagonist is used by medical professionals to combat the effects of opiates, such as morphine.

According to Federal laws (Section 483.25 of the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (OBRA) Regulations), which changed federal standards for nursing home care, every nursing home must provide the appropriate care and services to maintain resident physical, mental, and psychological well-being at the highest practicable level.

Nursing homes must also train nursing staff to identify and assist with residents who are at “high risk” for falling within the facility. If a resident’s chart indicates that he or she is a “fall risk,” a properly trained nurse can assist the resident with transfers to prevent falls and injury.

Section 45/2-106.1 of the Illinois Nursing Home Care Act also states that “a resident shall not be given unnecessary drugs.” Under this Illinois law, “an ‘unnecessary drug’ is any drug used in an excessive dose, including in duplicative therapy; for excessive duration; without adequate monitoring; without adequate indications for its use; or in the presence of adverse consequences that indicate the drugs should be reduced or discontinued.”

All nursing homes have a duty to ensure that their residents do not receive unnecessary or excessive amounts of prescription drugs, particularly sedatives or opiates. The failure of a nursing home and its staff to prevent unnecessary sedation of residents may result in serious bodily injury or death.

If you believe that you or a loved one have been the victim of neglect due to improper or inadequate medical care by a nursing home, please contact an experienced Chicago nursing home neglect attorney to evaluate your case.

Is A Hip Fracture a Sign of Nursing Home Neglect?

It is a tragic reality that it does not become clear that a loved one was neglected in an Illinois nursing home until after they are seriously injured. All too frequently nursing home residents are transferred to the hospital for treatment of a fractured hip. Hip fractures in a nursing home are almost always the result of some form of neglect.

Falls are common in nursing homes, with devastating consequences for residents and their loved ones. In particular, fall-related injuries including hip fractures are among the most serious health issues facing facilities and their patients. Hip fractures may result in hospitalizations, pneumonia, and sometimes death.

Hip fractures represent 40% of all serious fall-related injuries in nursing homes. On average each nursing home resident falls between 1 and 4 times per year. Patients with dementia experience falls at nearly double the rate of patients without cognitive impairment, averaging more than four falls per year. Furthermore, nearly 35% of fall related injuries occur in residents who are bed or wheelchair-bound.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, between 16 to 27% of nursing home falls are a result on environmental hazards. Environmental hazards include poor lighting, slippery or wet floors, debris in walkways, and improper exit signs. Faulty bed rails and incorrect bed height accounts for close to 30 percent of nursing home falls nationwide.

A well-run and effective nursing home should be able to prevent the majority of these incidents. It is of the utmost importance for nursing home staff to be attentive at all times and respond to call lights, especially to patients who suffer from cognitive impairments. The nursing home had a duty to protect your loved one from falls.

If your loved suffered a fractured hip in an Illinois nursing home contact an experienced Chicago nursing home neglect attorney to evaluate your case.

If you have a question about this post, or any other issue related to Illinois personal injury law, please contact Illinois Nursing Home Abuse and Neglect Attorneys at Keating Law Offices. You can contact Mike Keating directly by calling 312-208-7702 or emailing MKeating@KeatingLegal.com, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. All phone calls and emails are returned promptly. All initial consultations are free and confidential.