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If your loved one has been mistreated at Aperion Care Plum Grove, contact our Chicago nursing home lawyers.
This long-term care (LTC) home is a "for profit" 69-certified bed center providing cares and services to residents of Palantine and Cook County, Illinois. The Medicare/Medicaid-approved facility is located at:
24 South Plum Grove Road
Palatine, Illinois, 60067
(847) 358-0311
In addition to providing around the clock skilled nursing care, Aperion Care Plum Grove also offers psychiatric rehabilitation, long-term care, short-term rehab, and other care options.
Federal agencies and the State of Illinois have a legal responsibility to monitor every nursing facility. If serious violations are identified, the government can impose monetary fines or deny payments through Medicare if the resident was harmed or could have been harmed by the deficiency.
Over the last thirty-six months, Aperion Care Plum Grove received one formally filed complaint and self-reported five 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.
The state of Illinois regularly updates their long-term care home database system with complete details of all safety concerns, health violations, opened investigations, incident inquiries, dangerous hazards, and filed complaints. The search results can be found online at Medicare.gov and the Illinois Department of Public Health website.
According to Medicare, this facility maintains an overall rating of one out of five stars, including two out of five stars concerning health inspections, one out of five stars for staffing issues and three out of five stars for quality measures. The Cook County neglect attorneys at Nursing Home Law Center have found serious deficiencies and safety concerns at Aperion Care Plum Grove that include:
In a summary statement of deficiencies dated June 14, 2018, the state investigative team documented that the facility failed to “ensure residents were free from the use of restraints.” This failure applies to two residents “reviewed for restraints.”
The investigators reviewed a resident’s Physician Order Sheet and MDS (Minimum Data Set) that shows that a severely cognitively impaired resident “requires extensive assistance of one staff for bed mobility and extensive assistance of two staff for toileting and transfers.” However, the resident’s Care Plan “does not include an approach for [the resident] to use side rails or bed bolsters for transfer or bed mobility.”
The resident’s Restorative Observation revealed that the individual “does not require an assistive device to turn/reposition in bed.” The resident’s Fall Risk Assessment reveals that the resident “was at risk for falls and experiences a balance problem while standing and walking.”
The resident’s Incident Investigation Form revealed that the individual “experienced a fall in his room and [the resident] was lowered from his bed to the floor mat.” The resident had “experience an unwitnessed fall [at a different time when the resident] was found sitting on the floor next to his bed. The facility implemented an intervention by implying bolsters to [the resident’s] bed.”
The resident’s Fall Care Plan shows that the individual “has a history of falls, decreased mobility… unfamiliar environment, weakness, incontinence, and confusion. The Care Plan shows [the resident’s] fall approaches include the use of bed bolsters for safety, bedpan alarm, and a low bed with mats on the floor.”
In one incident the resident “was sitting at the foot of his bed [when his] buttocks was on the edge of the bed and [the resident’s] feet were on the floor.” The resident’s “bed was in the lowest position and [the resident] was attempting to stand up independently.” The resident was “unable to stand up out of the squatting position due to the low bed [and] was very agitated and was yelling, ‘I want to get out of here! I want to get out of here!’”
At that time, the resident’s “bed had bilateral one-fourth rails in place, and bilateral blue bolsters were on each side of the bed extending down the side of the bed an additional three feet from each of the side rails. The bolsters were firm and dense.”
The resident “was sitting on the edge of the bed in the space unoccupied by the side rails and the bolster.” The resident’s “right arm was resting in the blue bolster, and his left arm was near the foot of the bed.” There were no floor mats on the floor alongside his bed and “no bed alarm was in place. A personal alarm was laying in bed but was not attached to the bed [for the resident].”
The facility’s MDS Coordinator and Restorative Nurse said that the resident “is using the bolsters for safety precautions and as a space reminder, to remind the resident not to get out of bed, and not for bed mobility.” The Restorative Nurse said that the resident’s “bolsters are used for space reminders that he is in the edge of the bed” saying that “they can go over the bolster to get out of bed” and that the resident “can crawl over it.”
The MDS Coordinator said that “the expectation of the use of the bolsters is that the resident is not unsafe when they get out of bed.” The nurse stated that “physicians only give orders for restraints and that the use of side rails do not require Physician Orders.” The coordinator also said that she heard “the resident also crawls around the bolsters when in bed.”
The MDS Coordinator said that “no restraint assessments were conducted at the time the bolster interventions were implemented for the residents utilizing bolsters in their bed.” The Coordinator said, “there were no assessments performed on any of the residents to determine if residents were able to safely exit their beds with the bolsters in place.”
The facility Administrator stated, “there was no specific facility assessment for the use of bolsters with residents to determine if a bolster is a restraint when implemented for a resident.” The Administrator said, “the bolster should be considered a restraint if they prevented the resident from exiting the bed.”
The Administrator indicated that “the bolsters would not be an appropriate intervention for a resident who fell attempting to transfer out of bed.” It was noted that “he would not be able to conclude if a resident rolled out of bed or fell out of bed if the fall near the bed was unwitnessed.”
During an interview with the facility Director of Nursing, it was revealed that “staff needs to be re-educated regarding the use of these bolsters.” The Administrator said that “the facility examined the use of bolsters and discontinued all bolsters that night [before, over] the concern that the bolsters were not being used properly and the residents would attempt to climb over the bolsters, increasing their risk for falls/injuries.”
In a summary statement of deficiencies dated June 14, 2018, a state surveyor documented that the facility had failed to “implement skin protective interventions and prevent, identify and treat a facility-acquired pressure sore.” This failure applies to one of four residents “reviewed for pressure ulcers.”
The investigative team reviewed the resident’s MDS (Minimum Data Set) Assessment that shows the severely cognitively impaired resident requires “extensive assistance of two staff or transfers, hygiene, and toileting.” The resident’s Physician Order Sheet revealed that the nursing staff must provide medication dressing “every seventy-two hours in the open area on the right side of her buttock.”
The resident’s Wound Care Plan revealed the resident “had an open wound on the inner right buttock related to incontinence and impaired mobility. The interventions include: Keep incision site clean/dry. Treatment as ordered.” As a part of the treatment, the resident “was to be checked every two hours and as required for incontinence.”
A Nurse’s Note dated April 29, 2018, showed that the Registered Nurse had “identified a new skin concern [involving the resident]. The note shows the skin concern was identified as a laceration on the right buttock measuring 2.0 cm x 1.5 cm.” However, a follow-up Nurses Note does not describe the wound as “a laceration, but as a superficial open area on the inner right buttock close to the sacrum; wound bed pinkish in color.”
Observations were made of the resident while “sitting in the dining/activity room in her wheelchair after breakfast.” Two minutes later, the resident was “wheeled into a circle of residents for activities.” However, the resident “was not checked for the need of for incontinence care and [the resident] was not repositioned in her chair.”
The Activities Aide said the resident arrived, and remained, in the dining room at breakfast that morning approximately 8:00 AM” which is well over two hours and twenty-three minutes ago.
During a different observation on another day, the resident was observed at 11:09 AM when a Certified Nursing Assistant moved the resident “from the activity to her seat for lunch without checking for the need of incontinent care and without repositioning [the resident] in the wheelchair. At 12:20 PM, [the resident] was served lunch and [she] received no repositioning or incontinence care checks.”
By 1:06 PM, the resident “remained in the same position in the lunchroom with no staff checking for incontinence or repositioning [the resident].” The resident “remained in the dining without repositioning or incontinence care checks until 1:17 PM when she was wielded to her room.”
At 2:00 PM, the CNA placed the resident “in the bed and unfastened [her] incontinence pad which smelled of strong urine.” The CNA said the resident “was wet” and proceeded to clean the resident, turned her “to the left side, and there was dark pigmentation on the right buttock.”
The resident “had a nickel-sized open sore on the right buttocks near the coccyx fold. There was no dressing or barrier cream on the sore.” The CNA stated, “he thought there was no open area because during the previous incontinence care before 7:00 AM, [the CNA] saw a cream over the right buttock.”
The investigators interviewed the Director of Nursing who said the resident “was not placed in wound rounds [to be seen daily], however, should have been.” The Director said, “she should have been notified of [the resident’s] wound so that [they] could assess the area” saying “she was unsure why [the nursing staff assesses the resident’s] wound as a laceration.”
If your loved one is suffering from abuse, neglect or mistreatment while a resident at Aperion Care Plum Grove, Illinois nursing home abuse lawyers at Nursing Home Law Center at (800) 926-7565 can help. Our network of attorneys fights aggressively on behalf of Cook County victims of mistreatment living in long-term facilities including nursing homes in Palatine. Contact us now to schedule a free case review to discuss how to obtain justice and resolve a financial compensation claim.
Our dedicated lawyers can work on your behalf to file and resolve your claim for compensation against all those that caused your loved one’s harm, injury, or premature death. Our network of attorneys accepts all nursing home abuse lawsuits, personal injury claims, medical malpractice cases, and wrongful death suits through a contingency fee arrangement. This agreement postpones the requirement to make a payment to our network of attorneys until after we have successfully resolved your claim for compensation 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 Attorney Nursing Home Law Center LLC Home