CILA Abuse

Adults with developmental disabilities may be placed into a Community Integrated Living Arrangement (CILA) to receive the personalized care and assistance they need.

It is the mission of the Chicago, Illinois, CILA attorneys of Rosenfeld Injury Lawyers, LLC to improve the services offered to these individuals. We aggressively pursue justice on behalf of those who are mistreated or neglected by caregivers who are supposed to tend to their needs.

Was your loved one injured or abused while living in one of the Illinois Community Integrated Living Arrangements? Our personal injury attorneys can help an injured nursing home resident file a CILA abuse case or wrongful death lawsuit against the facility.

Contact our nursing home abuse lawyers at (888) 424-5757 or complete the intake form to schedule a free case review. We accept cases throughout the entire state of Illinois and the United States.

What is a Community Integrated Living Arrangement (CILA)?

Community Integrated Living Arrangements and adult group homes are unique living arrangements between a group of no more than eight adults. These individuals typically suffer from developmental disabilities.

The residents live in an apartment, group home, or family home under the supervision of care staff that provides personal support services and individualized treatment for their conditions.

Homes must receive a license from the state of Illinois Department of Human Services (IDHS) after providing documentation proving that its staff has the qualifications and training needed to work with these cherished individuals.

However, our Illinois Community Integrated Living Arrangement lawyers have noticed that many of the caregivers offering care lack the training or resources to protect the best interests of residents.

How the Illinois Department of Human Services Regulates Community Integrated Living Arrangements (CILAs)

The Illinois Department of Human Services (DHS) helps to ensure the health and safety of those living in CILAs through its regulatory standards. The DHS performs regular inspections to monitor compliance with these regulations, such as ensuring that the facility is adequately staffed and following proper sanitation protocols.

In addition, every CILA provider must keep detailed records of any medications, treatments, or rehabilitative services provided to residents. All CILAs must also have an effective resident-care plan that outlines the procedures for addressing any health-related concerns and allegations.

Finally, for a CILA to be certified by the state, it must meet a set of requirements regarding the quality of care and have an acceptable physical environment designed specifically for individuals with disabilities.

By adhering to these regulations, CILAs can provide safe and healthy living environments for all children and adults they serve.

Causes of CILA Injuries

When residents are not appropriately supervised, the lack of care can result in accidents that cause severe bodily harm or mental health problems. In other instances, the caregivers may subject the residents to verbal or emotional abuse.

According to the Illinois DHS, adults with developmental disabilities must live in a positive, safe, and encouraging environment. Some residents at group homes have a developmental disability code of F73 (profound intellectual disabilities with an IQ level below 20-25).

Ongoing Care is Essential to Safety

The Illinois state institution developmental services agency offers Group Home guidance to ensure the monitoring of all residents with mental health challenges. The agency deems it unacceptable for staff members to abuse or neglect the residents under their care.

The staff must offer each person support and specialized habilitation necessary for productive living. Some of the causes of injury include the following.

• Trips, slips, and falls. Adults with developmental disabilities may have difficulty getting around, requiring individual supervision and assistance. Injuries often occur when residents attempt to walk without supervision or facilities fail to clean floors.
• Medication errors. Providing the wrong medications or administering the wrong dosages can result in severe side effects and overdose symptoms that require immediate medical attention. Medication errors can also involve neglect when the nursing staff administers residents prescribed drugs belonging to other patients.
• Verbal or emotional abuse. Residents with developmental disorders may be ridiculed or taken advantage of by others. These problems are even more unacceptable when the abuse comes from the people who have promised to provide the residents with optimal care.
• Inadequately trained staff. When staff members are not appropriately trained to deal with patients with disabilities and mental illness issues, the failure can result in diminished care and an increased risk of an accident.
• Physical abuse or neglect. Unfortunately, many Illinois Community Integrated Living Arrangement residents suffer from physical disabilities and mental health problems, which make them vulnerable to abuse perpetrated by staff and other residents.

The Illinois DHS claims these group home instances may involve sexual abuse, physical abuse, medical malpractice, mental health abuse, neglect, or other serious physical injuries.

Anyone can report abuse to the Office of Inspector General (OIG) to conduct an investigation. the Inspector General's investigative results will list all allegations and substantiated signs of abuse, neglect, and mistreatment found during the administrative process.

Sample Illinois CILA Lawsuits: Jury Verdicts and Settlement Awards

$1,500,000 Settlement; CILA Choking Accident; Chicago, Illinois (Cook County)

A man in his early sixties had difficulty eating his lunch, resulting in deadly consequences. He lived in a Community Integrated Living Arrangement group home because he suffered from mental health handicaps, including mental retardation and schizoaffective disorder.

His health conditions required him to eat only soft foods. The Community Integrated Living Arrangement staff were required to watch him eat during all meals to avoid choking on his food.

One day, his community home left the facility for an outing to get hamburgers. The man sat at the back of the van while it returned to the facility. He got into his food and started eating. No staff, residents, or other people noticed that he was eating hard foods.

He began choking on the hamburger. Still, nobody heard or saw the problem until they returned to the facility. By then, the staff could not revive him when they found him unresponsive and not breathing.

The staff transported the victim to the emergency room. The hospital patient later died. His family members filed a claim on his behalf, charging the facility with negligence and preventable death.

The Chicagoland Community Integrated Living Arrangement group home gave the plaintiff $1.5 million to settle.

$275,000 Settlement; CILA Choking Accident; Will County, Illinois

In this controversy, a thirty-eight-year-old mentally disabled man choked on a treat and suffered severe side effects.

His condition made it difficult to eat and swallow. Because of that, the Community Integrated Living Arrangement staff put him on a liquid diet and enforced monitoring during all meals. However, at some point, he found a donut in a trash can and began eating it.

Immediately afterward, he started to choke and lose oxygen, sustaining a hypoxic brain injury and encephalopathy. His brain functionality was also critically reduced.

Personal injury lawyers brought a case, arguing that the Community Integrated Living Arrangement staff members should not have left him unattended and that he suffered these CILA injuries as a result.

They sought compensation for his injuries, new handicaps, and long-term harm and costs. The insurance company for the Community Integrated Living Arrangement facility paid the man a $275,000 settlement.

$350,000 Settlement; CILA Sexual Abuse Case; Chicago, Illinois

The twenty-eight-year-old mentally disabled victim suffered from Prader-Willi syndrome. He lived in a Community Integrated Living Arrangement facility with one other person.

The group home's lack of supervision of the home's adults left the man alone in a bedroom with the other resident with the door closed shut. The other resident assaulted and sexually abused him.

The claim was filed on the victim's behalf to recover compensation for the trauma, pain, and toll it took on his life. Lawyers for the group home said no abuse report was submitted before the investigation and lawsuit filing.

However, their lack of adequate defense could not dismiss the seriousness of the allegations or the validity of the evidence proffered. Faced with this reality, the defendant sought to settle. The plaintiff obtained a reported settlement of $350,000 to resolve the lawsuit.

Case Filed in McHenry County, Illinois After Man Chokes and Dies in CILA Home

This dispute involved a 56-year-old man who snuck into the kitchen of the group home where other residents live with him. The victim swallowed bread, choked, and died. Before his death, he had been diagnosed with mental illness and developmental disabilities.

The resident was a high risk for choking because he tended to overfeed himself. Thus, the staff strictly monitored him, mainly when he ate. However, that system broke down, and he evaded detection on the tragic day of his death.

Attorneys for his family members filed the wrongful death case in McHenry County, Illinois, to recover their damages. The plaintiffs' legal counsel based the case on his wrongful death on the facility's negligence. This claim for compensation remains unsettled.

Hiring an Illinois CILA Negligence or Abuse Attorney

Rosenfeld Injury Lawyers, LLC is an award-winning personal injury law firm in Chicago that has successfully represented thousands of individuals across Illinois. Other people's negligent actions injured our clients.

Do you suspect abuse or neglect led to your loved one being treated poorly? Our Community Integrated Living Arrangement attorneys can help.

We have specialized training and experience working with group home abuse cases. With our years of experience, we will investigate your CILA wrongful death lawsuit or medical malpractice case to uncover evidence of abuse or neglect.

Should we discover sufficient proof of misconduct, we can file a lawsuit against the caregivers and facility responsible for the harm on your behalf. Contact us or fill in the intake form to arrange a free case review with one of our Chicago CILA homes abuse law firm at (888) 424-5757.

Let us answer any questions you have about your legal options and collect the information we need to get to work on your behalf.

Should we be unable to assist you in recovering compensation, you are assured that our time and services will be free of charge.

Resources:

• CILA Abuse | IDHS
• Community Integrated Living Arrangements | SSA