Flanagan Rehabilitation and Health Care Center Ratings & Violations

Any use of a physical restraint in a nursing facility in Illinois is strictly prohibited without authorization and a signed informed consent by the resident or the resident’s responsible party (i.e. Power of Attorney (POA)). Even so, many nursing facilities fail to follow these laws and use physical restraints without authorization. In some cases, the restraint is used as a convenient device to minimize the level of monitoring in providing care to residents that have special requirements for ongoing supervision. Rosenfeld Injury Lawyers LLC provide legal representation to abused residents of Illinois skilled nursing homes like Flanagan Rehabilitation and Health Care Center who have been physically restrained without legal authorization.

According to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), the nursing home must establish a direct link “between the restraint use and how it benefits the resident by a dressing a medical symptom.” However, the medical symptoms that the facility warrants the use of a physical restraint “must be documented in the resident’s medical records, ongoing assessment and care plans." The CMS also states that because the physical restraint is used only as an intervention and does not treat the resident’s underlying medical symptoms or their causes, they cannot be used “without seeking to identify and address the physical or psychosocial condition causing the medical symptom.”

Flanagan Rehabilitation and Health Care Center

This facility is a ‘for profit’ 43-certified-bed Medicaid/Medicare-accepted Nursing Center providing services and cares for residents of Flanagan and Livingston County, Illinois. The Home is located at:

201 East Falcon Highway
Flanagan, Il 61740
(815) 796-2267

As a part of the Peterson Health Care System, Flanagan Rehabilitation and Health Care Center provides around-the-clock nursing care along with memory care, Alzheimer’s care and the Peterson Pathways Rehabilitation Program.

Flanagan Nursing Home Resident Safety Concerns

The Federal government and Illinois nursing home regulatory agencies routinely update the nursing home database system containing the complete list of all opened investigations, filed complaints, safety concerns, and health violations. This information can be found on numerous websites including Medicare.gov.

Currently, Flanagan Rehabilitation and Health Care Center maintains an overall four out of five available star rating in the nationwide Medicare summary comparison analysis system. This includes four out of five stars for staffing concerns, three out of five stars for health inspections in two out of five stars for quality measures. The Livingston County nursing home neglect attorneys at Rosenfeld Injury Lawyers LLC have located numerous deficiencies and safety concerns at this nursing home that include:

• Failure to Provide an Environment Free of Unauthorized Physical Restraints

  In a summary statement of deficiencies dated 07/28/2015, a state investigator noted a deficient practice during an annual licensure and certification survey concerning the facility's failure to "assess, consent and follow physician’s orders for physical restraints."

  The deficient practice was first noted in the state investigator’s findings after reviewing a resident’s July 2015 Physician Order Sheet (POS) of a resident diagnosed with bipolar, abdominal wound and bowel obstruction. The physician’s orders included “07/01/2015… Staff to apply hand mitts only when [the resident] is in bed until the abdominal wound heals.”

  However, the state investigator observed the resident reclining “back in a reclining chair with hand mitts on both hands at numerous times on 07/26/2015 including at 3:00 PM, 3:15 PM and 3:30 PM. The investigator noted that “the facility did not provide any assessments or consent for the hand mitts.”

  An interview was conducted by the state surveyor with the facility MDS Coordinator at 10:50 AM on 07/27/2015 who stated “I did not assess [the resident] for the mitts, or get consent because I did not consider the mitts a restraint… we are using them only temporarily until his abdominal wound is healed… he picks at the wound and dressing if they aren’t on him when he is in his room… he doesn’t seem to mess with the area when he is out in the common areas because he is pre-occupied.”

  An interview with the facility's Director of Nursing was conducted that same day at 2:30 PM whenr the Director stated “I did not consider the mitts for [the resident] a restraint… we need to discuss if we are still going to use them and get an assessment completed and consent if we are….”

  The state investigator noted that the actions of the nursing staff at the facility failed to follow their Physical Restraint/Enabler Policy that reads in part:

  “Physical restraints… which the individual cannot easily remove and which restricts freedom of movement or normal access to one’s body… include… hand mitts.

Flanagan Illinois Nursing Home Abuse Lawyers

If you believe your parent, grandparent or spouse has been harmed or injured while residing at Flanagan Rehabilitation and Health Care Center, call Rosenfeld Injury Lawyers LLC now. Our Flanagan respected attorneys have represented clients who have been abused, mistreated or neglected by caregivers and other residents at their nursing facility.

We encourage you and your family to contact our Livingston elder abuse law office today by calling (888) 424-5757 to schedule your appointment for a full case review. You do not need to make any upfront payment for our legal services because we accept all nursing home abuse/neglect cases through contingency fee agreements. This means our legal fees are paid only after we have successfully resolved your claim for compensation by negotiating an acceptable out of court settlement or have won your case at trial.

Sources:

http://www.idph.state.il.us/ltc/docs/SurveyResult/6000939FI07282015.PDF

https://www.cms.gov/Medicare/Provider-Enrollment-and-Certification/SurveyCertificationGenInfo/downloads/SCLetter07-22.pdf

http://www.petersenhealthcare.net/flanagan/

http://bit.do/RILnursing-Flanagan-Rehabilitation-and-Healthcare