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While many incidences of abuse and mistreatment in nursing facilities are difficult to detect, some are blatantly obvious, including physical assault on a nursing home resident. Elder abuse can happen anytime an individual allows or causes the resident to suffer unjustifiable physical or mental suffering. Unfortunately, the Canton elder abuse attorneys at Rosenfeld Injury Lawyers have represented many residents who have been victimized by their caregivers and other residents at the facility.
Many residents are the victim of an assault in a nursing facility by their own family members, another resident or the nursing staff in charge of providing them care. Many behavioral indicators of physical assault involve anxiety, anger, agitation, depression, defensiveness, disorientation, confusion, fear and withdrawal. Without ongoing protection by the nursing staff, administration and employees at the nursing facility, the resident can suffer ongoing abuse and mistreatment.
Graham HospitalGraham Hospital is a 47-certified bed Medicare/Medicaid-accepting facility providing nursing services to residents of Canton and Fulton County, Illinois. The nonprofit center is located at:
210 W. Walnut St.
Canton, Illinois 61520
(309) 647-5240
Graham Hospital offers:
- Rehabilitation therapy: physical, occupational, and speech
- Skilled nursing care with a holistic care model
- Extended long term care
- Hospice
- Oncology care
- Respiratory therapy
To provide the most recent information on nursing facilities throughout the United States, both the federal government and the state of Illinois routinely update their databases to reflect current safety concerns, health violations, opened investigations and filed complaints on every nursing home nationwide. The updated information can be found numerous websites including Medicare.gov.
Currently, Graham Hospital maintains an overall three out of five available star rating in the Medicare.gov star rating summary system. This includes four out of five stars for both health inspections and quality measures. Our Canton Illinois nursing home neglect attorneys have located numerous deficiencies, complaints and safety concerns involving this facility that include:
- Failure to Report and Investigate Any Act or Allegation of Abuse and Treatment of Residents
In a summary statement of deficiencies dated 10/15/2015, the state investigator noted the facility’s failure “to report an allegation of abuse to the State Agency.” The deficient practice by the nursing staff at Graham Hospital affected one resident at the facility.
The failure was first noted in a 07/15/2015 email sent by a Registered Nurse at the facility to the Administrator that documents on 07/12/2015 “a visitor reported that [a resident] had been pushed by another family member.”
During an interview on 10/14/2015 at 10:20 AM, the Administrator stated that the Registered Nurse “reported an allegation of physical abuse [for the resident] involving a family member on 07/12/2015.” The Administrator also stated that “the investigation was conducted, there was not an initial report made to the State Agency, only a final report (which was reported to the State agency) on 07/20/2015.”
- Failure to Develop, Implement and Enforce Policies to Prevent Neglect, Abuse or Mistreatment
In a summary statement of deficiencies dated 10/15/2015, the investigator noted that the facility failed “to send the final report of an allegation of abuse within five working days as required by its abuse policy” and state/federal nursing home regulatory laws. The investigator also noted the facility’s failure “to follow their policy regarding the background screening of newly admitted resident.”
The facility Administrator verified 11:30 AM on 10/14/2015 that the resident had been admitted to the facility months previously but the UCIA Background Check Form was not initiated until 09/21/2015” instead of being initiated within 24 hours of the resident’s admission.
The investigator noted that the actions and inaction of the facility, Administrator nursing staff failed to follow the facility’s May 2015 policy titled Patient/Resident Abuse Reporting that reads in part:
“Any staff or individual suspects a family member/legal representative is abusing, neglecting or misappropriating a patient’s/resident’s property shall report the incident to the Abuse Prevention Coordinator/Clinical Supervisor or their designee. If the events that caused reasonable suspicion do not result in serious bodily injury to a patient/resident, the Abuse Prevention Coordinator/Clinical Supervisor or their designee shall report the suspicion no later than 24 hours after forming the suspicion. The result of the investigation must be reported to the Administrator or designated representative and to other officials in accordance with the State Law (including the State Surveyor Agency) within five working days of the incident.”
If your loved one has suffered serious harm from physical, mental or verbal assault while residing at any Illinois nursing facility, including Graham Hospital, Rosenfeld Injury Lawyers can provide legal intervention immediately. Our Fulton County elder abuse attorneys can investigate your claim and build a solid case to ensure your family receives the financial recompense they deserve for your loved one’s harm.
To ensure your financial compensation claim has a successful result, we encourage you to contact our Canton Illinois nursing home abuse law offices today at (888) 424-5757. We provide every potential client a no-obligation, free case evaluation to discuss the merits of the case and provide numerous legal options on how to proceed. Our firm accepts all personal injury cases and wrongful death lawsuits through contingency fee arrangements. This means we are only paid for our legal services once we have negotiated an acceptable out of court settlement or have won your lawsuit case in front of a judge and jury.
https://www.grahamhealthsystem.org/
