$590,000 Nursing Home Neglect Settlement
Neglect After Transfer From Hospital to Nursing Home
After carotid artery surgery and quadruple cardiac bypass surgery, this woman required a tracheostomy to help with her breathing. After spending considerable time in the hospital, she was transferred to a well-known nursing home so the facility could care for her daily needs and address the special requirements of a tracheostomy patient.
Unfortunately, the trust her family placed in the nursing home was misplaced. During visits, her children repeatedly saw evidence that their mother was not receiving the care she needed. The alleged failure to properly and promptly address her needs contributed to dehydration, pneumonia, sepsis, and eventually her untimely wrongful death.
Her children were left searching for answers and hired our attorneys to help investigate what happened. After lengthy negotiations with representatives for the nursing home, Sexner Injury Lawyers LLC secured a settlement exceeding $590,000 on behalf of the family.
Tracheostomy Patients Need Careful Nursing Home Attention
A tracheostomy is a surgical procedure that creates an opening through the neck into the trachea, or windpipe. A tube is often placed through that opening to provide an airway and help remove secretions from the lungs. When a resident has a tracheostomy, nursing home staff must understand the resident’s airway needs, infection risk, breathing concerns, hygiene needs, and signs of distress.
Tracheostomy residents may need close monitoring, timely response to respiratory changes, careful attention to secretions, proper positioning, appropriate equipment, and communication with physicians or emergency providers when problems arise. When a nursing home accepts a resident with complex medical needs, the facility should have the staff, training, systems, and care planning necessary to protect that resident.
In a neglect case involving a tracheostomy patient, important questions may include whether staff followed the care plan, monitored the resident’s breathing and hydration, responded to symptoms, recognized infection, communicated with doctors, and transferred the resident for emergency care when necessary.
Dehydration, Pneumonia, Sepsis, and Wrongful Death
The original facts of this case involved dehydration, pneumonia, and sepsis. Each condition can be serious on its own. Together, they may indicate that a vulnerable nursing home resident was declining and needed prompt medical attention.
MedlinePlus explains that pneumonia is an infection in one or both lungs that causes the air sacs to fill with fluid or pus. Pneumonia can range from mild to severe depending on the cause, the person’s age, and overall health. In a nursing home resident recovering from major surgery and living with a tracheostomy, pneumonia concerns should be taken seriously.
The CDC explains that sepsis is the body’s extreme response to an infection and is a life-threatening medical emergency. Sepsis can happen when an infection a person already has triggers a chain reaction throughout the body. Without timely treatment, sepsis can rapidly lead to tissue damage, organ failure, and death.
When dehydration, pneumonia, sepsis, or another serious condition contributes to a resident’s death, the case may also involve a wrongful death claim.
When Nursing Homes Fail Residents and Families
Families often place a loved one in a nursing home after careful thought and emotional difficulty. They may rely on the facility’s promises, reputation, staffing, medical capabilities, and assurances that the resident will receive safe care. But even a well-known facility can fail if staff members are overworked, poorly trained, inattentive, or unable to meet a resident’s needs.
Nursing home neglect may involve missed symptoms, poor hydration, missed meals, delayed medical care, failure to respond to call lights, improper wound care, medication errors, unsafe transfers, poor hygiene, failure to monitor breathing, or failure to escalate a resident’s decline to a physician or hospital.
Not every bad outcome proves neglect. Some residents are medically fragile and may decline despite appropriate care. But when the records, family observations, photographs, hospital records, and facility documents show a pattern of missed care, the family may have a valid nursing home abuse or neglect claim.
Illinois Nursing Home Responsibility
The Illinois Nursing Home Care Act provides that the owner and licensee of a facility may be liable to a resident for intentional or negligent acts or omissions by their agents or employees that injure the resident. The law also includes reporting obligations when facility employees or administrators become aware of abuse or neglect.
In a serious nursing home neglect case, the legal investigation often focuses on what the facility knew, what the resident’s care plan required, whether staff followed that care plan, whether changes in condition were documented, and whether the facility responded reasonably when warning signs appeared.
Warning Signs of Possible Nursing Home Neglect
The National Council on Aging identifies neglect warning signs that may include bedsores, unattended medical needs, poor hygiene, and unusual weight loss. Families should also pay attention to changes in mood, cleanliness, appetite, hydration, breathing, alertness, and the facility’s explanations for any sudden decline.
Warning signs of possible nursing home neglect may include:
- Dehydration, dry mouth, confusion, weakness, or reduced alertness
- Pneumonia, repeated infections, fever, coughing, or breathing problems
- Sepsis, sudden deterioration, low blood pressure, or emergency hospitalization
- Unexplained weight loss, malnutrition, or missed meals
- Bedsores, infected wounds, poor skin care, or untreated redness
- Dirty clothing, soiled bedding, strong odors, or poor hygiene
- Unanswered call lights or delays in basic care
- Staff members who avoid questions or give inconsistent explanations
- Sudden behavior changes, fearfulness, withdrawal, or reluctance to speak near staff
- Unexplained death or a decline that the facility cannot clearly explain
Evidence That May Matter in a Nursing Home Neglect Case
Nursing home neglect cases often depend on careful review of records and patterns. The facility may claim that the resident’s decline was unavoidable, caused by age, caused by preexisting illness, or unrelated to care. Those explanations should be compared with the evidence.
Important evidence may include:
- Hospital and nursing home medical records
- Care plans, nursing notes, physician orders, and progress notes
- Medication records and hydration or nutrition documentation
- Respiratory records, tracheostomy-care notes, and emergency-transfer records
- Infection records, lab results, pneumonia documentation, and sepsis records
- Staffing schedules, call-light logs, and shift notes
- Photographs, videos, family notes, and witness statements
- Incident reports, complaints, inspection history, and communications with the family
Family observations can be especially important. Dates, times, staff names, symptoms, statements, photographs, and changes in condition may help show whether the facility ignored warning signs or failed to provide appropriate care.
Legal Help After Nursing Home Neglect or Wrongful Death
When nursing home neglect contributes to dehydration, pneumonia, sepsis, infection, preventable injury, or death, families deserve answers. A facility responsible for daily care should not ignore a vulnerable resident’s medical needs or leave family members wondering whether their loved one’s decline could have been prevented.
Since 1990, Sexner Injury Lawyers LLC has represented nursing home residents and families in Chicago and throughout Illinois. If you believe a loved one suffered serious harm or died because of neglect in a nursing home, rehabilitation center, memory-care unit, or long-term care facility, contact us for a free case evaluation at (312) 243-9922 or contact us online.
