Nursing home caregivers are responsible for protecting the health, care, and safety of the resident while they live out their final years, rehabilitate, or improve their health to return home. However, abuse of the disabled, elderly, infirm and rehabilitating living in nursing facilities often involves neglect, mistreatment, sexual assault, emotional pain, and physical harm. In some incidents, the signs of mistreatment are challenging to identify because the resident has decreasing physical health or declining mental status.
Many families undergo tremendous emotional distress after realizing that caregivers or other residents have significantly harmed their child, spouse, parent, grandparent or sibling. If your loved one was the victim of mistreatment while residing in a Wayne County nursing home, the Illinois Nursing Home Law Center attorneys can provide immediate legal intervention. Our team of lawyers have assisted many victims in Illinois and can help your family too.
Let us begin working on your case today to ensure your family receives monetary compensation for your damages the law to hold those responsible for their injuries and legally accountable.
If your loved one has been mistreated at Aperion Care Fairfield, contact our Chicago nursing home abuse lawyers.
This Medicare and Medicaid long-term care (LTC) center is a "for profit" 104-certified bed home providing cares to residents of Fairfield and Wayne County, Illinois. The facility is located at:
305 N.W. 11Th Street
Fairfield, Illinois, 62837
(618) 847-8284
In addition to providing around the clock skilled nursing care, Aperion Care Fairfield also offers:
Illinois and federal government agencies have the legal responsibility of monitoring every nursing home and imposing monetary fines or denying reimbursement payments through Medicare if investigators identify serious violations and deficiencies. These penalties are typically imposed when the violation is severe and harmed or could have harmed a resident.
Within the last three years, state and federal regulators imposed substantial penalties against Aperion Care Fairfield on two occasions including a $7150 fine on August 10, 2017, and a $30,745 fine on July 11, 2016, for a total of $37,895.
Also, Medicare denied payment for services on July 11, 2016, due to substandard care. The facility also received six formally filed complaints and self-reported two serious issues that all resulted in citations. Additional documentation about fines and penalties can be found on the Illinois Department of Public Health Nursing Home Reporting Website concerning this nursing facility.
To ensure families are fully informed of the level of care every nursing home provides, the state of Illinois routinely updates their long-term care home database system. This information reflects a complete list of safety concerns, opened investigations, incident inquiries, health violations, dangerous hazards, and filed complaints that can be found online on Medicare.gov and the IL Department of Public Health website.
According to Medicare, this facility maintains an overall rating of one out of five stars, including one out of five stars concerning health inspections, two out of five stars for staffing issues and three out of five stars for quality measures. The Wayne County neglect attorneys at Nursing Home Law Center have found serious deficiencies and safety concerns at Aperion Care Fairfield that include:
In a summary statement of deficiencies dated June 25, 2018, the state investigators documented that the facility had failed to “provide treatment” for the resident’s pressure ulcers. On the afternoon of June 19, 2018, a Registered Nurse (RN) stated that the resident “had pressure areas on the elbow. At that time, [the resident’s] computerized medical treatment record did not include treatment for [pressure ulcers].”
A Computerized Medical Record Readmission Assessment dated five days earlier on June 14, 2018, concerning the resident, documents “two staged pressure ulcer areas on the [resident’s] right elbow. Two noted unstageable areas to the right elbow. Both covered in yellow layer slough.” A further notation of the assessment states ‘will pass off the report to the Wound Nurse for correct measurements and suggested treatment.’ The computerized medical record skin and wound assessment identify a pressure area to [the resident’s] right elbow measuring 0.6 cm x 1.1 cm x 0.9 cm, with slough.”
The investigators reviewed the Resident Census and Condition of a Resident Form dated June 18, 2018, that revealed “the number of residents with pressure ulcers as five with none of the pressure areas being present upon admission” identifying the sores as facility-acquired bedsores. The surveyors say that “the list of residents provided by the Administrator on June 19, 2018, noted five residents that were identified with pressure areas. The list did not include [the resident noted above with serious bedsores].”
In a summary statement of deficiencies dated June 25, 2018, the state investigators documented that the facility had failed to “maintain storage of medications in areas which are inaccessible to residents, prevent and monitor for hazards and implement interventions for fall prevention.” The deficient practice by the nursing staff involved three residents “reviewed for fall interventions and safe environment.”
Observations were made of a resident’s bathroom medication cabinet on the afternoon of June 18, 2018, that “contained a bottle of Tums, a tube of cortisone cream, two tubes of Preparation H, a tube of triple antibiotic ointment, a 16-ounce bottle of hydrogen peroxide, and a bottle of 250 [medication] tablets. On the bedside table next to [the resident’s] bed were a bottle of VapoRub and a partially filled bottle of vitamin C in 500 mg tablets.”
The investigators interviewed a Registered Nurse (RN) providing the resident care who stated that “she did not realize medications were in the resident’s medicine cabinet. She went on to say that the family brings in medications and the staff often do not realize what the family brings in or when they bring it in.”
As part of the investigation, the surveyors reviewed the resident’s Care Plan dated June 7, 2018, that reveals “Focus: I have impaired cognitive function related to Alzheimer’s, delusions, and hallucinations. The interventions for this focus are: Administer medications as ordered. There is no care planning for self-administration of medications.”
In a summary statement of deficiency dated June 25, 2018, the surveyors noted that the nursing home had failed to “maintain a full-time Director of Nursing. This [lack of management] has the potential to affect all fifty-seven resident’s living in the facility.” The surveyors interviewed a Registered Nurse (RN) at the facility on the morning of June 18, 2018, who stated that “she is unaware if there is an appointed or acting Director of Nursing in the facility.” The RN also said that “a new Director of Nursing starts tomorrow.”
The investigators interviewed the facility Administrator the same day who said that “the facility at the present time does not have an acting Director of Nursing and has not had one since the last Director of Nursing left.” The Administrator also said that “a new Director of Nursing does start tomorrow” saying that “the previous Director of Nursing’s last day was about a month ago.”
In a summary statement of deficiencies dated June 25, 2018, a state investigator noted the nursing home's failure to “follow hand hygiene practices after perineal care for two of seventeen residents reviewed for perineal care.”
The survey team observed a resident receiving perineal care on the morning of June 18, 2018. At that time, a Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) “was observed placing the used washcloth on the back of the toilet with no barrier in place.” The CNA “also failed to wash her hands after removing her gloves and then proceeded to go to [the resident’s] closet for a clean incontinence brief and assist [the resident] with putting the brief on.”
The CNA grabbed the resident’s walker and handed it to the resident before “washing her hands.” The surveyors reviewed the resident’s Electronic Medical Records that show that the resident “had a urinary tract infection on May 9, 2018.” Later that day, the resident “was observed for perineal care” when a CNA “was observed straightening the gown and sheet [before] removing dirty gloves.”
The investigators reviewed the facility’s policy titled: Incontinence Care that was last revised on January 16, 2018. It reads in part: “Remove gloves or perform hand hygiene. Do not touch clean surfaces while wearing soiled gloves.”
In a summary statement of deficiencies dated June 25, 2018, the state surveyors noted that the nursing home had failed to “ensure that four of five residents reviewed for pneumococcal immunizations receive the education addressing the benefits and risks or had the opportunity to receive the 13-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine.”
The nursing home also “failed to develop policies and procedures to include current standards of practice to ensure residents who were eligible were offered the 13-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine, which would minimize the risk of residents acquiring, transmitting, or experiencing complications from pneumococcal pneumonia. This [deficiency] had the potential to affect all fifty-seven residents residing in the facility.”
The investigators reviewed one resident’s Electronic Medical Record involving immunizations that show that the resident “refused the influenza vaccine.” However, there was “no documentation that [the resident] was offered or given the pneumococcal vaccination.” Additionally, there was “no documentation regarding a consent to receive or to refuse an influenza or pneumococcal vaccination.”
In a summary statement of deficiencies dated August 10, 2017, the nursing home was cited for their failure to “provide a pest free environment. This [deficiency] has the potential to affect all sixty-five residents in the facility.” The surveyors conducted an initial tour of the nursing home on August 7, 2017, at 10:00 AM and saw two flies on a resident’s drink straw and one fly on her blanket.
Less than two hours later, the surveyors were in the same room and saw “five flies on her lunch tray, two on her mash potatoes, one on her red juice cup, and two on her straw.” The surveyors spoke with a resident who stated that “she does not like the flies in her room.”
At 10:00 AM the following day on August 8, 2017 “there were several flies seen in the Daisy and Tulip Halls as well as three flies on the Nurse’s Station desk.” The following day on August 9, 2017, there were “three flies seen in the Rose Hall as well as one at the Nurse’s Station desk.”
Later that afternoon, two flies were seen on a resident “walking on her upper arm and neck” while the resident’s “eyes were closed.” The resident “did not brush the flies away.” The investigators reviewed the facility’s Pest Control Contract dated August 10, 2017, that documents “that the facility is treated once a month and as needed.”
Do you suspect your loved one was the victim of abuse, mistreatment or neglect while a resident at Aperion Care Fairfield? If so, contact Illinois nursing home abuse and neglect lawyers at Nursing Home Law Center at (800) 926-7565 today. Our network of attorneys fights aggressively on behalf of Wayne County victims of mistreatment living in long-term facilities including nursing homes in Fairfield. Contact us now to schedule a free case review to discuss how to obtain justice and resolve a financial compensation claim.
Our dedicated attorneys represent clients with victim cases involving nursing home mistreatment. With our years of success, our attorneys can assist your family in resolving your financial recompense case against all those who caused your loved harm. We accept all cases of wrongful death, nursing home abuse, and personal injury through a contingency fee agreement. This arrangement postpones the need to pay for legal services until after we have resolved your case through a negotiated out of court settlement or jury trial award.
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Attorney Jonathan Rosenfeld
Licensed in Illinois
Chicago Nursing Home Injury Lawyer Nursing Home Law Center LLC Home