Rosenfeld Injury Lawyers Home
Many nursing home residents are victimized by nursing staff who verbally degrade, ridicule, threaten, and harass them with insults and sarcastic remarks. Verbal abuse in nursing facilities often leads to emotional manipulation where the staff will coerce and influence residents to do things that benefit the employees at the expense of the resident’s freedom and quality-of-life. The personal injury attorneys at Rosenfeld Injury Lawyers have witnessed the psychological damage that occurs to residents in nursing homes that have become the victims of verbal assault.
Not all forms of emotional abuse are expressed verbally. Every resident in a nursing facility remains dependent on care and support from others, especially the medical team and nursing teams. Understaffed facilities and overworked nurses can create the ideal recipe for a harmful environment where yelling, mocking, insulting, criticizing, threatening, blaming, accusing and disdainful speech becomes the norm.
Ashbury Gardens Nursing and Rehabilitation CenterAshbury Gardens Nursing and Rehabilitation Center is a for-profit facility that accommodates 75 beds, accepts Medicaid/Medicare and resides within a Continuing Care Retirement Community in Kane County. The facility provides round the clock supervised living and home health services, and is located at:
212 Airport Road
North Aurora, IL 60542
(630) 896-7778
In addition, the nursing facility provides various skilled therapies and individual medical care to ensure that the quality of life of every resident is enhanced.
Nursing Home Resident Safety ConcernsThroughout the year, federal agencies continuously update star rating summary releases that evaluate the current conditions of nursing facilities, assisted-living homes and rehabilitation centers throughout the United States. Currently, Ashbury Gardens Nursing and Rehabilitation Center maintains a three out of five available stars, which is considered average compared other nursing homes nationwide.
However, our North Aurora Illinois nursing home neglect attorneys know that even with Ashbury Gardens’ average overall rating, there are still specific nursing home safety with the facility that include:
- Failure to Report and Investigate Any Act or Report of Abuse, Neglect or Mistreatment of Residents
In a summary statement of deficiencies dated 09/24/2015, the state surveyor made a notation during an annual licensure and certification survey concerning the facility's failure to "interview the witnesses and/or include a witness in the investigation of an allegation of verbal abuse.”
The incident involved two Certified Nursing Assistants (CNAs) in a resident’s room when the resident indicated they “needed to go to the toilet [because they had wet their brief].” It was during that time that the resident “stated she was able to use the toilet but needed help from the staff to sit on the toilet and pull her brief down.” The resident stated that one of the Certified Nursing Assistant “was smart mouthed and the other CNA was a follower and did not initiate anything but went along with the loudmouth CNA.”
The resident stated that the Certified Nursing Assistant said, “you can do it, you just don’t want to.” The resident said they “began to cry” said they were sorry but “felt abused” but “needed to use the bathroom.” The resident reported the abusive behavior to family members and the facility’s Administrator. However, the Administrator and other medical staff failed to thoroughly investigate the incident by interviewing every party involved in the incident and anyone else at the facility that could have witnessed the event
- Failure to Immediately Notify the Resident, Resident’s Doctors and Family Members of a Change in the Resident Situation
In a summary statement of deficiencies dated 08/15/2015, a notation was made during an annual licensure and certification survey by a state investigator concerning the facility's failure to "inform the physician immediately of a resident’s fall.” An initial report dated 08/09/2015 revealed that the resident had “fallen out of bed on 08/07/2015.” At that time, Certified Nursing Assistant heard the bed alarm in the resident’s room and witnessed the resident “on the floor.” The initial report had a timestamp of 9:45 PM. While the Administrator was informed at 10:10 PM that same day, the resident’s “physician was not contacted at this time.”
The following morning at 9:20 AM, notations were made of the resident “had developed a black eye” as a result of the fall. It was only then that the nursing staff requested that the nurse call the resident’s physician. The resident was transferred to the hospital where the emergency room doctor noted the resident had suffered a C1 (cervical spine) and C2 fractures and would need to be transferred to another hospital for treatment. The resident’s doctor said that “the delay in notifying me could have been paralysis or [other serious condition]. They needed to immobilize her spine right away.”
The elder abuse attorneys at Rosenfeld Injury Lawyers have assisted residents in nursing facilities who have suffered injury due to nursing home abuse, neglect or verbal assault. Our team of attorneys provides numerous legal remedies to recover the damages our clients deserve.
Our success in obtaining financial compensation is due to our years of experience in handling cases involving Illinois tort law. If you, or your loved one, have suffered serious injuries, damages or harm while residing at Ashbury Gardens Nursing and Rehabilitation Center or any other nursing facility in Illinois, we encourage you to contact our law offices at (888) 424-5757 today to schedule your free, no obligation consultation. We accept all elder abuse injury cases through contingency fee arrangements.
