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Any incident or allegation of abuse occurring in Illinois nursing homes must be immediately investigated by the facility administrator and reported to the State Agency. These requirements ensure that the victim is not subjected to repeated harm by the alleged perpetrator of the crime. Unfortunately, not all nursing homes provide adequate training to the nursing staff on how to identify the crime of abuse or the action required to safeguard the victim. Rosenfeld Injury Lawyers have provided legal representation to Illinois nursing home residents who have been abused by their caregivers while residing at skilled nursing homes like Heritage Health – Dwight.
Heritage Health – Dwight
This facility is a 92-certified-bed ‘for-profit’ Medicaid/Medicare-participating Nursing Home providing cares and services to residents of Dwight and Livingston County, Illinois. The Center is located at:
300 East Mazon Avenue
Dwight, IL 60420
(815) 584-1240
The facility provides long-term skilled nursing care along with hospice care, respite care, Restore-to-Home options, occupational/physical and speech therapies and respiratory therapy
Dwight 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, safety concerns, health violations and opened investigations of every facility in the United States.
Currently, Heritage Health – Dwight maintains an overall four out of five available star rating in the Medicare national comparison analysis rating system. This includes four out of five stars for health inspections and two out of five stars for staffing concerns and quality measures. The Livingston County nursing home neglect attorneys at Rosenfeld Injury Lawyers have found many deficiencies, safety concerns and health violations at this nursing home that include:
- Failure to Investigate or Report an Allegation or Incident Involving Abuse
In a summary statement of deficiencies dated 04/15/2016, a state investigator noted when performing an annual licensure and certification survey that the facility failed to “report an injury of an unknown source to the State Survey and Certification Agency and complete a thorough investigation of an injury of unknown source.” The failure by the nursing staff involved one resident whose April 2016 Physician Order Sheet (POS) reveals diagnoses of multiple conditions including hemiplegia and hemiparesis, muscle weakness, unspecified macular degeneration, Major Depression, unspecified glaucoma, muscle wasting and atrophy.
The deficient practice was first noted in the state investigator’s findings involving a resident who stated at 1:00 PM on 04/13/2016 “I was handled the rough in October 2015. The night nurse aide came in that night to clean me up. I was wet with my back turned away from [the night nurse, who] grabbed my right arm and tore it up pretty bad with her fingernails when she turned me over. My spouse talked to the Administrator… [and the Night Nurse] can’t care for me now.”
The investigator interviewed the facility Administrator on 04/13/2016 who stated that “she was aware of [the resident’s] October 2015 skin cares and would get the incident report.” However, “no incident report was found.” In addition, the facility’s “Occurrence Report” for the Dwight facility dated October 2015 had “no incidences of skin tears or behaviors for [the resident].”
As a part of the investigation, a review was conducted of the resident’s 10/14/2015 Nursing Note that revealed the resident had a “skin tear which measured 1.0 centimeters by 0.1 centimeters to [the resident’s] anterior forearm.” In addition, the “Wound Care Plan – Treatment Plan confirmed the information.” The investigator noted that the actions of the facility and the Administrator failed to follow the nursing home’s October 2007 policy titled: Abuse Risk that reads in part:
“All residents admitted to the facility are considered at risk for abuse due to the nature of their physical and/or cognitive disability, potential loss of autonomy and the nature of congregate living. Individual occurrences will be investigated, and actions taken based on the facility’s abuse prohibition policy and procedures.”
- The facility’s 04/23/2014 Abuse Prohibition Policy and Procedure reads in part:
“Reporting: If an incident involves alleged abuse, neglect or an injury of unknown origin, the incident will be immediately reported to the Administrator and the administrator shall provide the State Agency with initial notice of the alleged abuse, neglect or incident of unknown origin.”
- Failure to Develop, Implement and Enforce Policies on Abuse and Neglect
In a summary statement of deficiencies dated 04/15/2016, the state investigator noted the facility’s failure to “educate staff on when and how to report a reasonable suspicion of a crime to law enforcement. This failure has the potential to affect all 85 residents in the facility.”
The state investigator noted that Certified Nursing Assistants in the facility stated that “they were not aware that the federal law required them to report a reasonable suspicion of a crime to law enforcement.” The facility Administrator stated “she does not educate staff on reporting a reasonable suspicion of a crime the law enforcement [...and] instructs her staff to report to her and she makes the determination on whether or not law enforcement should be called.”
Dwight Illinois Nursing Home Abuse Lawyers
If your loved one was the victim of abuse, mistreatment or neglect while a patient at Heritage Health – Dwight, contact the Rosenfeld Injury Lawyers law firm now. Our reputable Dwight attorneys can successfully resolve your abused victim case against the Illinois nursing facility that caused your loved one harm.
We urge you to contact our Livingston County elder abuse law office today at (888) 424-5757 to schedule your free, no obligation full case review. You are not required to make any upfront payment or retainer to receive immediate legal services.
Sources:
http://www.heritageofcare.com/dwight
http://bit.do/RILnursing-Heritage-Health-Dwight
http://www.idph.state.il.us/ltc/docs/SurveyResult/6002083FIK04152016.PDF
