Rosenfeld Injury Lawyers Home
Many Illinois nursing home residents rely on the nursing staff to ensure that their health and well-being is maintained. This often requires ongoing skin care to ensure the resident does not develop open wounds caused by pressure. Any bedsore (decubitus ulcer; pressure ulcers; pressure wound; pressure sore) could develop into a life-threatening medical condition causing significant damage to infection of an open wound. Sadly, the Crystal Lake elder abuse attorneys at Rosenfeld Injury Lawyers have handled many cases were residents of suffered serious injury that could have been prevented had the nursing staff taken appropriate measures to provide an acceptable standard of care.
The Springs at Crystal Lake is a 97-certified bed for-profit Medicare/Medicaid-approved nursing facility providing services to residents of Crystal Lake and McHenry County, Illinois. The facility is located at:
1000 E. Brighton Ln.
Crystal Lake, Illinois 60012
(815) 477-6569
In addition to providing skilled nursing care, The Springs at Crystal Lake also offers:
- Physical, occupational and speech therapies
- Cardiac care
- Wound care
- Respiratory care
- Joint replacement care
- IV therapy
- Medication management
- Pain management
Many families turned to state and national nursing home databases to collect as much information as possible before placing a loved one in a nursing facility in their community. Because of that, the state of Illinois and the federal government routinely update their databases to reflect an accurate history of all opened investigations, filed complaints, safety concerns and health violations. The information can be found on numerous sites including Medicare.gov.
Currently, The Springs at Crystal Lake maintains an overall four out of five available star rating in the Medicare star rating summary system. This includes four out of five stars for staffing issues and three out of five stars for both health inspections and quality measures. However, our Crystal Lake nursing home neglect lawyers have found numerous safety concerns involving this facility that include:
- Failure to Provide Care to Ensure That Residents Do Not Develop a Newly Acquired Bedsore or Allow an Existing Bedsore to Heal
In a summary statement of deficiencies dated 06/30/2015, a notation was made by a state investigator during an annual licensure and certification survey concerning the facility's failure to "implement resident specific interventions to prevent unstageable/deep tissue injury pressure sores.” The deficient practice by the nursing staff at The Springs at Crystal Lake affected one resident at the facility.
The state investigator noted that the failure “resulted in [the resident] obtaining a deep tissue injury to unstageable pressure sore to her left heel on 05/06/2015 measuring 2.9 centimeters by 1.3 centimeters and an unstageable wound on the left ischium [pelvic bone] measuring 8.7 centimeters by 9.3 centimeters on 05/30/2015.”
As a part of the investigation, the state surveyor reviewed the resident’s 04/22/2015 Admission Assessment documenting that “other than some bruising to extremities” the resident had “no known history of pressure sores.” On 06/25/2015, the Licensed Practical Nurse/Wound Nurse at the facility stated that the resident “was admitted to the facility on 04/22/2015 with no pressure sores.”
The resident’s 05/06/2015 medical records show that the resident “develop deep tissue injury (DTI) to [her] left heel.” While the Wound Nurse used a foam dressing, no other interventions were added to the resident’s care. Again on 05/13/2015, the resident “began to develop a reddened area to [her] coccyx.” At that time, “barrier cream was already in use”, however, “no new interventions” were initiated. Additional notations of changes to the resident’s wounds were noted on 05/24/2015 and 05/29/2015, however, no new interventions were added to the resident’s care.
The Wound Nurse was interviewed at 10:45 AM on 06/25/2015 and stated that she “is the Wound Nurse of the facility in is not currently wound certified [...and] stated there was not a wound physician follows the wounds in the facility and directs wound care.” The Wound Nurse also stated that “the physicians usually defer to the Wound Nurse [...and] stated that [the resident] had developed redness and excoriated areas to the coccyx area but [the wound nurse] had not been following that area on [the resident] as part of her wound care, even though [the resident] was documented and assessed to be high risk [for pressure sores].”
The investigator noted that the actions by the nursing staff at The Springs at Crystal Lake failed to follow established procedures and protocols enforced by nursing home regulatory agencies and the facility’s revised December 2013 policy titled: Skin Management that reads in part:
“The facility will assess residents for risks of pressure sores by identifying the specific factors and initiate interventions based on those factors.”
If your loved one has suffered injury or harm through abuse, mistreatment or negligence while residing at any nursing home in Illinois, including The Springs at Crystal Lake, Rosenfeld Injury Lawyers can help. Our McHenry County elder abuse attorneys can handle your case for compensation to ensure you receive financial recovery for your damages.
Contact our Crystal Lake Illinois nursing home abuse law firm at (888) 424-5757 today to speak with one of our attorneys through a free, no-obligation case review. No upfront fees are required because we accept every personal injury case on contingency.
