Elder Law

More Illinois Nursing Home Deaths Identified at Alden Village North

By Levin & Perconti

The saga involving negligent Illinois nursing home Alden Village North appeared to be drawing to an end as the state moved to close the facility earlier this year. Blog readers will be well aware of the continued, drawn-out, tragic examples of abuse and neglect at the home.
Alden Village North made many headlines in the last few months for negligent care leading to the deaths of several of its young disabled residents. 14 children have died at the facility under questionable circumstances at the facility over the last 10 years.

Many of the facilities? problems stem from its drive for profits, leading to staffing shortages and loose internal regulations. For example, two 4-year olds died in a three week period after suffering breathing problems. Alden Village staff members were supposed to have heard the nursing alert sounds that were activated throughout the facility to warn of the breathing problem, but they didn?t hear anything. Some of the alarms were incorrectly installed; other had the volume turned down so low that they were virtually worthless.

Now the Chicago Tribune is reporting that a federal watchdog group has identified at least five more deaths at the facility likely attributable to poor nursing home care by staff members. The independent inquiry uncovered more examples of improper treatment of residents, doctor carelessness, ignorance of lab results, and inadequate internal investigations.

The watchdog group which authored the latest report explained, ?What we?re seeing here is a culture within a nursing home that tolerated lackadaisical, substandard care for years.?

Full post as published by Illinois Nursing Home Abuse Blog on March 30, 2011 (boomark / email).