Every allegation or suspicion of physical abuse or assault occurring to an Illinois nursing home patient must be immediately investigated and reported to law enforcement officers, Illinois Department of Public Health and their local ombudsman. The investigation and reporting of the incident help to protect the victim from further assault and provide notification to the proper authorities to hold those responsible legally accountable. Unfortunately, not all nursing homes follow these procedures and protocols. Rosenfeld Injury Lawyers LLC represent abused residents of nursing facilities like Stonebridge Senior Living Center to ensure their rights are protected.
Stonebridge Senior Living Center
This Nursing Center is an 80-certified-bed ‘for profit’ Home providing services to residents of Benton and Franklin County, Illinois. The Medicare/Medicaid-participating Nursing Facility is located at:
902 S. McLeansboro Street
Benton, IL 62812
(407) 287-6328
This facility provides compassionate skilled nursing care along with physical, occupational and speech therapies.
Benton Nursing Home Resident Safety Concerns
Families can visit Medicare.gov to review a complete list of all opened investigations, filed complaints, safety concerns and health violations that is regularly updated by the state of Illinois and the federal government. This data can be used to make a well-informed decision of which nursing facilities in the community offer the highest level of care.
Currently, Stonebridge Senior Living Center maintains an overall three out of five available star rating in the Medicare summary system compared to all other nursing homes nationwide. This includes four out of five stars for health inspections, three out of five stars for staffing concerns and one out of five stars for quality measures. The Franklin County nursing home neglect attorneys at Rosenfeld Injury Lawyers LLC have viewed the deficiencies, violations and safety concerns at this nursing home including:
- Failure to Develop, Implement, and Enforce Policies Involving Abuse and Neglect In a summary statement of deficiencies dated 12/10/2015, a state investigator noted a deficient practice concerning the facility’s failure to “follow their Abuse Prevention Program Facility Policy.” The failure by the nursing staff involved a resident who “was alert with increased confusion, verbal aggression with attempts to leave her home.”During an introduction with the resident by the Director of Nurses and the Administrator, there were inquiries the Administrator observed of the resident. At that time, the resident stated that “daughter of mine beat the ‘sh*t’ out of me.” The administrator asked the resident again “how she received the bruises and [the resident] stated ‘I just don’t know’.”
Documentation revealed that on 03/18/2015, the administrator heard the resident “yelling and when he went to investigate he noted [a family member] standing over [the resident] asking for a kiss goodbye.” The administrator asked the resident “if she was okay and [the resident] stated ‘no this is the one that beat me up’.”
Records indicate that the administrator “reported the allegation of abuse to the Ombudsman, the local police and the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) on 03/18/2015. However, a facsimile dated 03/19/2015 documents investigative details of [the resident’s allegations] with [a sheriff’s deputy who states that the Administrator] called the Sheriff’s office on 03/18/2015 to report [the resident] alleged the numerous bruises on her arms and face were caused by [a family member] while other residents.
The administrator stated at 10:00 AM on 12/09/2015 “that he did report the alleged abuse to the local police and Ombudsman on 03/16/2015 within the one-hour time frame, but he cannot find the documentation to prove it.” The investigator noted that the actions by the nursing staff an administrator at the facility failed to follow facility’s 2010 Abuse Prevention Program Facility Policy that reads in part:
“The facility shall immediately contact law enforcement authorities (i.e., telephoning 911 where available) in the following situations: physical abuse involving physical injury inflicted on a resident by a staff member or visitor.”
- Failure to Follow Procedures and Protocols That Prevent the Spread of Infection In a summary statement of deficiencies dated 12/10/2015, the state investigator noted the facility’s failure to “ensure that staff is knowledgeable on how to disinfect the glucometers between use, handle clean linens without cross contaminating, and prevent cross-contamination while providing nursing care. These failures have the potential to affect all 57 residents living in the facility.”One failure was observed in the laundry on 12/08/2015 when a laundry employee “removed a large bundle of clean linen from a clothing dryer with her hands and leaned the linen on her chest to remove items to the rolling laundry card. Several items including washcloths and other resident-used linen were noted to drop to the laundry room floor.” The laundry room employee “picked up the items from the floor, shook them off, and placed them on top of the clean linen in the cart.”
Benton Illinois Nursing Home Abuse Lawyers
If you suspect your loved one shows the signs of mistreatment, abuse or neglect while a patient at Stonebridge Senior Living Center, take quick action by calling Rosenfeld Injury Lawyers LLC. Our skillful Benton attorneys provide legal representation in victim cases that involve abuse, neglect, and mistreatment that occurs in Illinois nursing homes.
We encourage you to contact our Franklin County elder abuse law office today by calling (888) 424-5757 to schedule your appointment for a full case review. No upfront fees are necessary because our law firm accepts all nursing home abuse compensation claims through contingency fee agreements.
Sources:
https://stonebridgeseniorliving.com/
http://bit.do/RILnursing-Stonebridge-Senior-Living-Center
http://www.idph.state.il.us/ltc/docs/SurveyResult/6008494FIK12102015.PDF
http://www.idph.state.il.us/ltc/docs/SurveyResult/6008494FIAK10172014.PDF
http://www.idph.state.il.us/ltc/docs/SurveyResult/6008494FIK11012013.PDF
