Any fall occurring to an Illinois nursing home resident has the potential of causing serious injury and a decline in their medical health. Unfortunately, not all nursing facilities provide adequate staffing, monitoring or training to their nurses and certified nursing aides. This deficit in providing quality care is often highly detrimental to the patient. Rosenfeld Injury Lawyers LLC provides legal representation to Illinois nursing home residents who have suffered serious harm while residing at skilled nursing homes like Randolph County Care Center.
Randolph County Care Center
This Medicaid/Medicare-participating Center is a Nursing Facility providing cares and services to residents of Sparta and Randolph County, Illinois. The 100-certified-bed Home is located at:
312 West Belmont
Sparta, IL 62286
(618) 443-4351
The Government owned and operated facility provides short-term rehabilitation and long-term skilled nursing care with 24-hour Registered Nurses and Licensed Practical Nurses providing diverse programs and social activities.
Sparta Nursing Home Resident Safety Concerns
To ensure families are fully informed of the level of care every nursing home provides, the federal government and the state of Illinois routinely update their nursing home database system. This information reflects a complete list of safety concerns, health violations, filed complaints and opened investigations that can be reviewed on numerous sites including Medicare.gov.
Currently, Randolph County Care Center maintains an overall four out of five available federal star rating in the nationwide Medicare rating system. This includes five out of five stars for quality measures, four out of five stars for health inspections and one out of five stars for staffing issues. The Randolph County nursing home neglect attorneys at Rosenfeld Injury Lawyers LLC uncovered deficiencies, violations, hazards and safety concerns at this nursing home including:
- Failure to Provide Every Resident an Environment Free of Accident Hazards and Provide Adequate Supervision to Avoid Harm
In a summary statement of deficiencies dated 04/15/2016, an Illinois state surveyor performed an annual licensure and certification survey, noting the facility’s failure to “implement working fall interventions and provide supervision to prevent falls for two residents.” The deficient practice by the nursing staff involved a resident whose April 2016 Physician Order Sheet (POS) revealed diagnoses including Severe Dementia, Alzheimer’s, Organic Mental Syndrome and Arthritis.”
The resident’s 02/11/2016 and 04/11/2016 Fall Risk Evaluations revealed that the resident “is at high risk for falls.” The resident’s 02/19/2016 MDS (Minimum Data Set) documents that the resident “is severely impaired with cognition, requires assistance with transfers and has an unsteady balance that requires stabilization from staff when toileting.”
An observation was made of two Certified Nursing Aides (CNA) just after noon on 04/13/2016 while transferring a resident “from the wheelchair to the toilet using a gait belt.” The resident “was very confused and unsteady during the transfer [...and] had difficulty following directions and tried to drag her feet.” The resident “tried to put toilet paper on her head.”
The resident’s 04/10/2016, 5:30 PM Nurses Notes documents that the resident “was being toileted by a CNA [who] answered another resident’s call bell after placing [the call bell] cord in [this resident’s] hand and reminding [tise resident] to request assistance when finished.” Instead, the resident “stood without assist after removing non-skid socks and slid to the floor.” The Certified Nursing Assistant found the resident “lying on their right side [with] no apparent injuries.”
The state investigator reviewed another resident’s April 2016 Physician Order Sheet (POS) that documents the resident has diagnoses of spinal stenosis and close dislocation of the second cervical vertebra.” There 01/27/2016 MDS (Minimum Data Set) documents that the resident “is severely impaired with cognition and requires the extensive assistance of one staff for transfers and ambulation, with no limitations for a range of motion to all extremities.” The document also reveals that the resident “has unsteady balance for walking, standing, turning and surface to surface transfer.”
A review of the resident’s 01/06/2016, 9:00 PM Accident/Incident report documents that the resident “was found on the floor with her head against the heater, with a 4.0 centimeter by 4.0-centimeter hematoma to the mid-forehead.” The Accident Report and the Nurse Notes do not document that “a safety alarm was sounding at the time of the fall”. However, the resident’s 01/07/2016 Care Plan documents that the “alarm batteries are dead.”
The investigator noted that the actions of the nursing staff failed to follow the facility’s policy and procedure titled: Accidents in Long-Term Care Setting that reads in part:
“The facility is to provide an environment that is free of accident hazards over which the facility has control and provide supervision and assistive devices to each resident to prevent avoidable accidents.”
Sparta Illinois Nursing Home Abuse Lawyers
If you suspect your loved one has suffered a serious injury to their health and well-being while residing at Randolph County Care Center, call the Rosenfeld Injury Lawyers LLC law offices now. Our qualified Sparta attorneys have years of experience in handling cases that involve mistreatment and neglect occurring in nursing homes throughout Illinois.
We encourage you to contact our Illinois elder abuse law office today by calling (888) 424-5757 to schedule your no-obligation, free comprehensive case review. No upfront fees or retainers are necessary because our personal injury law firm accepts every nursing home abuse/neglect claim for compensation through a contingency fee agreement.
Sources:
http://am.randolphco.org/index.php/gov-menu/appointed-officials/2015-12-04-02-49-46
http://bit.do/RILnursing-Randolph-County-Care-Center
http://www.idph.state.il.us/ltc/docs/SurveyResult/6007702FIK04152016.PDF
http://www.idph.state.il.us/ltc/docs/SurveyResult/6007702FIK05122015.PDF
http://www.idph.state.il.us/ltc/docs/SurveyResult/6007702FA05222014.PDF