Nursing home patients in Chicago and throughout the entire state of Illinois need very specific medical treatment based on their needs and conditions. When they do not receive this care or when staff does not make sure that residents are safe in nursing homes, these patients are at risk of suffering further health complications.
Nursing homes can ensure patient safety by hiring trained nurses, making sure buildings have proper security and implementing policies and procedures to detect and address incidents of nursing home abuse or neglect. However, greed can get in the way of patient safety and prevent nursing home patients from receiving the quality care and attention they deserve.
Elderly residents of three nursing homes were recent victims of nursing negligence due to lack of food, leaky roofs, little to no air conditioning or heat, and mold and mildew that had built-up at the facilities they were living in. You might be wondering how these conditions became so awful, especially since the owner of the facilities had received nearly $33 million in payments from Medicare and Medicaid to go toward patient care. According to government officials, the owner pocketed most of the money for himself.
The owner of the facilities, which were all located in Georgia, had agreed to provide a safe and healthy environment for nursing home patients in exchange for Medicare and Medicaid payments. However, residents and family members began to complain about poor care and unsanitary conditions. Staff members even filed complaints about the conditions at the facilities.
The FBI along with the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Inspector General and the Internal Revenue Service’s Criminal Investigation carefully looked into the claims of nursing home neglect. After investigating the claims, it was determined that the facilities’ patients were not receiving the medical care they should have been receiving.
Instead of using the funds to care for those who sought treatment at the facilities, the owner and his wife were using Medicare and Medicaid payments for their own personal expenses. Earlier this month, the man was convicted for defrauding Medicare and Medicaid.
This is certainly an extreme example of nursing home abuse and neglect, but these types of horrible things do happen. If you believe that your loved one is a victim of nursing home abuse or neglect, you may want to consider speaking with an attorney in order to make sure that the abuse and neglect does not continue.
Source: FBI.gov, “Nursing Home Abuse: Owner Cheats Government and Neglects Residents,” May 8, 2012