Many Illinois nursing home residents experience ongoing pain due to their medical condition, rehabilitation or another factor including a decline in their health during their final stages of life. Unfortunately, not all nursing staff members are properly trained to follow Pain Management Care Plans to ensure that the resident is receiving pain medication as per their physician’s orders, which is often detrimental to the quality of life the patient experiences every day. The elder abuse attorneys at Rosenfeld Injury Lawyers LLC have represented many patients who suffered needlessly with severe pain while residing at Illinois nursing homes like Westside Rehabilitation and Care Center.
Westside Rehabilitation and Care Center
This Nursing Facility is a Medicaid/Medicare-approved ‘for profit’ Center providing services to residents of West Frankfort and Franklin County, Illinois. The 96-certified-bed Home is located at:
601 North Columbia Street
West Frankfort, Il 62896
(618) 932-2109
As a part of the Peterson Health Care System, Westside Rehab provides skilled nursing care, memory care, Alzheimer’s care and the Peterson’s Pathways Rehabilitation Program.
West Frankfort Nursing Home Resident Safety Concerns
The state of Illinois and the federal government nursing home regulatory agencies regularly update the national nursing facility database system. The Medicare.gov information contains a historical list of filed complaints, opened investigations, health violations and safety concerns of every facility in the US.
Currently, Westside Rehabilitation and Care Center maintains an overall three out of five available star rating in the Medicare rating system. This includes three out of five stars for quality measures and health inspections and two out of five stars for staffing issues. The Franklin County nursing home neglect attorneys at Rosenfeld Injury Lawyers LLC have located numerous violations, safety concerns and deficiencies at this nursing home including:
- Failure to Provide a Resident Pain Medication in Accordance with Their Plan Of Care and Physician’s Orders
In a summary statement of deficiencies dated 03/11/2016, a state investigator noted the nursing home’s failure to “assess and treat the pain of a resident.” The deficient practice involved a resident diagnosed with “deep vein thrombosis, restless leg syndrome and colorectal cancer.”
The resident’s Physician Order Sheet (POS) “listed a medication regimen including oxycodone five milligrams one tablet by mouth every four hours as needed for pain.” In addition, the state investigator reviewed the resident’s Current Care Plan that revealed the “resident needs to be monitored and/or treated for pain. Encourage resident to identify the location and rate pain severity using a 0-10 scale for consistent measuring.”
The state investigator noted that the facility’s January 2010 Pain Prevention and Treatment Policy stated “assessment of pain will be completed with changes in resident’s condition and self-reporting of pain.”
An observation was made of a Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN) on 03/08/2016 while “doing blood glucose monitoring.” The LPN “walked into [the resident’s] room to perform [the resident’s] blood glucose monitoring and [the resident] stated ‘I’m really hurting bad, it’s my knee’.”
During the observation, the resident “was stroking [their] right knee, which was enlarged.” The LPN stated, “well, you’ll be seen for your orthopedic consult soon.” At that point, the LPN “walked out of the room without assessing [the resident’s] pain.” Approximately thirty minutes later, the resident “was in his room owning and saying loudly ‘it hurts’.” Hearing the resident, the LPN stated “do you want some ice for your knee? Or a pain pill?”
On the morning of 03/08/2016, the LPN gave the resident “a tablet of oxycodone five milligrams by mouth and applied an ice pack to the right knee, thirty-five minutes after [the resident’s] initial complaint of pain.” The state investigator interviewed the LPN who stated “although she usually performs a pain assessment on the residents and asked them to rate their pain on a scale of 0-10, she didn’t ask [the resident] because ‘I just assumed it was a 10’.”
During an interview with the facility’s Director of Nurses on 03/09/2016 was revealed that “it is her expectation that nurses are to assess residents pain using a 0-10 scale.” Additionally, the Director stated that “nurses document on the back of the MAR (Medication Administration Record) pain assess when administering the pain medication.”
However, when the state investigator reviewed the resident’s MAR (Medication Administration Record) for the month of March 2016, there was “no documentation of pain assessment. Pain medication is regularly scheduled four times a day.” In addition, the resident’s 01/09/2016 Care Plan indicated “a 0-10 scale will be used to rate pain for consistent evaluation.
The Licensed Practical Nurse providing the resident care stated on 03/10/2016 that “she’s always in pain. We wrote it on the back of the MAR (Medication Administration Record) when pain medication was PRN (as needed).”
The state investigator noted that every nursing home must ensure that “each resident receives in the facility provides the necessary care and services to attain or maintain the highest practical physical, mental, and psychosocial well-being, in accordance with the comprehensive assessment and Plan of Care.”
West Frankfort Illinois Nursing Home Abuse Lawyers
If you suspect your loved one was the victim of abuse or neglect while residing at Westside Rehabilitation and Care Center, contact Rosenfeld Injury Lawyers LLC today. We urge you to contact our Franklin County elder abuse law office today at (888) 424-5757 to schedule your free, no obligation comprehensive case assessment. Our law firm does not require any upfront payment because we accept all nursing home neglect and abuse cases through contingency fee agreements.
Sources:
http://www.idph.state.il.us/ltc/docs/SurveyResult/6000194FIK03112016.PDF
http://www.idph.state.il.us/ltc/docs/SurveyResult/6000194FI04232015.PDF
http://www.idph.state.il.us/ltc/docs/SurveyResult/6000194FIK02282014.PDF
http://bit.do/RILnursingWestside-Rehab
