Elder Law

One Woman?s Daughter Tries to Document Nursing Home Negligence and Gets Banned from Nursing Home

By Levin & Perconti

After a fire broke out in her mother?s room, a woman decided to take pictures in order to document the nursing home abuse. She had received a call from the nursing home that there had been a fire, and that her mother would be moved to another floor. The daughter immediately went to check on her mother and to retrieve her mom?s smoky-smelling clothes for washing. She then pulled out her camera and took six photos of the fire-damaged room. An administrator saw her with the camera and asked her to come into the main office where they accused her of trespassing. They told her to delete the photos or they?d have her arrested. Scared and stunned the daughter handed over the camera so that the photos could be deleted. She was later told that she would be banned from the nursing home for an ?indefinite? period. A Department of Health investigation revealed that the mother had no problems and was described as ?congenial.? However, hours later the home called the daughter to say that the woman had a ?change in mental status? and was being hospitalized. She was not allowed to go back to the nursing home. This case highlights a nursing home?s ability to try everything to cover up nursing home negligence. To read more about the nursing home fire, please click the link.

Full post as published by Illinois Nursing Home Abuse Blog on September 10, 2009 (boomark / email).