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Nursing home residents who have certain health conditions, disabilities, or need help with eating face a higher risk of choking incidents that may lead to severe injuries, suffocation, or death.
When people are suddenly denied access to a loved one in a nursing home, this may be a sign of abuse. Nursing home residents have the right to deny visitation if they choose to do so, but facilities are required to ensure all visitors have full and equal visitation privileges.
In early 2019, nurses began lobbying for support of a mandated minimum nurse-to-patient ratio in Illinois to ensure patient safety.
Many suspicious deaths in nursing homes are never investigated because facilities commonly pass them off as the result of natural causes like age or medical conditions. In many cases, nursing homes conceal the cause of death to hide abuse and neglect. Cook County law requires that all accidental deaths be reported to the coroner.
Vulnerable seniors in nursing homes are getting raped and sexually abused by facility staff members and caregivers who are paid to take care of them. In the United States, thousands of cases of nursing home sexual abuse are reported every year.
A criminal case is not required to achieve a successful verdict in a civil lawsuit when a nursing home resident suffers intentional neglect or abuse. A criminal conviction often results in prison time and fines for those responsible for the abuse, and it may help support a civil suit. A civil lawsuit can provide monetary damages for the victim.
When elderly adults fall, the possibility of serious injuries, even death, is much greater because of existing medical conditions that increase injury risks. In 2014, there were 29 million reported falls by elderly nursing home residents over the age of 65, resulting in more than 7 million serious injuries and 1,800 fatalities.
Nursing homes that are found guilty of numerous health code and misconduct violations are placed on a special list for special focus facilities, but once they are cleared from the program, many return to their old ways. These facilities put residents at greater risk of harm from health conditions, neglect, and abuse.
Frail, elderly residents in nursing homes, long-term care facilities, and assisted living homes are getting evicted at alarming rates because facilities state they can no longer provide care.
In Illinois, approximately 6,000 nursing home residents are hospitalized with sepsis infections each year, and one in five of those residents do not survive. Sepsis infections have become an epidemic in nursing homes, costing Medicare millions of dollars each year.