Chicago Nursing Home Abuse Attorney Blog

The mother of a friend of ours is in a nursing home in a northern Chicago suburb. She's 95, and she doesn't always remember very well. She's reverted to her native Eastern European language for conversation but, all things considered, she's doing pretty well. Plus, she is blessed with caring and attentive sons who visit her regularly and look out for her well-being.

And that's a very good thing. It keeps her doctor and the nursing home alert.

While nothing serious is wrong, there are little problems and these offer some cautions about what to look for if you have a loved one in a nursing home.

Currently, this woman (let's call her Hannah) can't hear. The problem is ear wax, something easy enough to cure.

Hannah's son (let's call him Sam) says the problem has been building up for several weeks. He and his brother have asked the doctor several times to remove the wax. She's been reluctant, saying there wasn't a problem. She even told him recently that there's no problem. "I saw her yesterday and she heard me fine," Sam quotes the doctor as saying, "She even responded in English."

That would be fine, but Hannah hasn't responded to anything in English for more than a year.

And the day after the doctor says she talked with Hannah, Sam's brother called him to say her hearing was worse. "She can't hear at all," Sam's brother said. Perhaps the wax massed up overnight.

Finally, the doctor said she would remove the wax and set a date more than two weeks off for the sons to bring Hannah to her office. The brothers decided this was unacceptable and made arrangements with another doctor who would take care of the problem much sooner.

They're doing a good job of watching out for their mother.

As to the doctor, she was caring for Hannah before she went into the nursing home. In fact, though she is not employed by the home, she recommended it to the family and makes weekly rounds there to see her patients.

Now, however, she seems to have lost interest. In fact, Sam now realizes, there were signs of potential problems more than a year ago - red flags that might have suggested looking for a new doctor then.

Hannah developed bed sores - one on her heel and one on her back - and was hospitalized so they could be treated. They were relatively minor, healed and Hannah went back to the home.

The doctor, however, had a different idea; she suggested hospice.

"What was that all about?" Sam wonders. "Sure, my mom is 95, but the bed sores weren't serious. She wasn't ready to die, and here we are a year later and she's doing fine. The doctor is a nice woman, but she was willing to give up on her."

And now, over a simple matter of removing ear wax, the doctor still seems to be saying, "Why bother?"

That's not something we want to hear when it comes to someone we care about.

Michael Kosner, President
The Kosner Firm Chtd.

"We checked out the home and the rating on it when we put her in," Peggy Kennedy reportedly said after her mother, Sarah Wentworth, froze to death in February in the courtyard of her nursing home, The Arbor, in Itasca.

When the family originally checked, however, The Arbor didn't have the 22 violations uncovered in its last annual inspection by Illinois' Department of Public Health. It didn't have the two-star overall rating (five is the best, one the worst) rating that Medicare inspectors now give it. (There are private websites, like Member of the Family , which compile rankings for nursing homes across the country.)

Sarah's tragic story underlines the need to keep checking, but it doesn't solve the dilemma of what to do if a nursing home's conditions deteriorate. As the daughter of another Arbor resident noted in talking with the media, "It's difficult because at this stage my mom's 89 years old. It's very hard. It's hard to move them."

Hard but certainly not impossible - and sometimes necessary. IDPH regulates, licenses and - at least once a year - inspects the 1,200 long-term care facilities it's responsible for in the state. It reports conducting some 10,000 surveys annually, for licensing, complaints and reinspection. It also helps the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services certify the facilities for government payments. Every facility must meet the standards in the Illinois Nursing Home Care Act.

If a nursing home doesn't measure up, you can certainly find out.

Plus you can help improve a nursing home where your loved one lives by keeping track of conditions when you visit. Medicare's website provides a four-page checklist you can use to evaluate a nursing home - and to keep evaluating it. It guides you to be aware of the appearance of residents, their rooms and common spaces, how residents and staff get along with each other, the quality of food and activities, and the safeguards and medical care the home provides.

If the nursing home falls short, and won't listen to you when you raise issues, you can call the Department of Public Health's 24/7 Nursing Home Hotline (800-252-4343). It receives nearly 19,000 calls a year leading to more than 5,000 complaints

And then, if no-one listens, you can contact an attorney who specializes in nursing home law. We can go to bat for you with the nursing home. After all, preventing neglect and abuse is more important than punishing someone after it's too late to help your loved one.

Michael Kosner, President
The Kosner Firm Chtd.

Nursing homes. As the number of seniors grows, so does the need for reliable, caring places where they can get the care they need to live with dignity and comfort when their bodies no longer are able.

Certainly, there are competent nursing homes - and the website for my Chicago nursing home abuse law practice includes information on what to look for when you're choosing one. But there are plenty of nursing homes that cut corners and hire aides at minimum wage just so there are bodies around. There are plenty of homes where caregivers don't care. There are plenty where there is abuse, both physical and mental. And that is not right. That is not fair to the residents in the homes, to you - their families - or to God.

When we place a loved one in a nursing home, it is often because we have no other choice. We try to make sure they have responsive care; that the homes fulfill the guidelines in the Illinois and federal laws that set out requirements for such facilities. But our responsibility doesn't stop there. After they are in a home, we need to know what to do to make sure they are comfortable. We must actively participate to keep care at an appropriate level. And, sometimes, we need legal help to keep a nursing home honest or to punish them for failing.

I believe in keeping caregivers honest, and that information and the courts are the way to enforce our reasonable expectations that they care. That's why I've chosen to develop this blog. Other representatives of The Kosner Firm and I will be writing regularly about nursing home abuse - about cases that serve as examples of things to look for and about what you can do to safeguard your loved ones and maintain your own peace of mind.

This will provide information, and you can go to the frequently asked questions at KosnerLaw.com or use this site if you have questions. And if you think you need the courts, we can help with that, too.

Michael Kosner, President
The Kosner Firm Chtd.