Neglect and abuse occur in many nursing homes nationwide where residents become the victims of mistreatment by caregivers, visitors, family members, and other patients. Many times, the nursing staff is overworked, underpaid or lacks sufficient training that is required to ensure that the needs of every patient are met. For some family members, identifying the common signs associated with mistreatment can be challenging.
If you believe that your loved one was harmed while living in a Macon County nursing center, contact the Illinois Nursing Home Law Center attorneys now for immediate legal intervention. Our team of Chicago nursing home lawyers has successfully resolved many cases just like yours. Let us begin working on your case today to ensure your family’s rights are protected to obtain substantial financial compensation to recover your monetary damages.
This long-term care (LTC) home is a "not for profit" 154-certified bed center providing cares and services to residents of Decatur and Macon County, Illinois. The Medicare/Medicaid-participating facility is located at:
1790 South Fairview Ave
Decatur, Illinois, 62521
(217) 429-2551
In addition to providing short-term and long-term skilled nursing care, Fair Havens Christian Village also offers:
When investigators working for the federal government identify severe violations of nursing home rules and regulations, they can penalize the facility by a denial of payment for Medicare services or impose monetary fines.
Within the last three years, the government levied a monetary fine of $9750 against Fair Havens Christian Village on August 24, 2017. Also, the facility received twenty formally filed complaints and self-reported four 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 and federal government routinely update their long-term care home database system. This information reflects a complete list of filed complaints, opened investigations, safety concerns, incident inquiries, health violations, and dangerous hazards that can be found on numerous sites including Medicare.gov and the IL Department of Public Health website. Many families review this information before selecting the nursing home that best meets their loved one's requirements.
According to Medicare, this facility maintains an overall rating of one out of five stars, including one out of five stars concerning health inspections, three out of five stars for staffing issues and four out of five stars for quality measures. The Macon County neglect attorneys at Nursing Home Law Center have found serious deficiencies and safety concerns at Fair Havens Christian Village that include:
In a summary statement of deficiencies dated August 24, 2017, the state investigators noted that the facility failed to “have a functional system in place to identify medical symptoms for the use of restraints, complete quarterly restraint assessments, plan reduction attempts and the implementation of the latest restrictive alternatives.” The deficient practice by the nursing staff involved to residents “reviewed for physical restraints.”
The investigators reviewed the facility’s policy titled: Physical Restraint revised on November 4, 2013, that reads in part:
“It is the policy of the facility to provide an environment that prohibits the use of restraints for discipline or convenience, [that is] not required to treat the resident’s medical symptoms.”
“Medical symptoms that warrant the use of restraint or other devices will be documented in the resident’s medical record, ongoing assessments, and care plans.”
“The staff shall assess the resident in a systematic and gradual process toward reducing restraints (e.g. (example), gradually increasing the time for ambulation and muscle strengthening activities.)”
The investigators reviewed the resident’s Order Summary Report, and Care Plan revised on August 20, 2017, that shows a resident “has a restraint of a lap cushion, per the family’s request, that is used when [the resident] is up in a wheelchair. This [restraint] is used as a positioning device, the family again concerned with safety and once a lap cushion to stay, aware of the risks and benefits, diagnosis for the use of cognitive deficit, abnormal gait, muscle weakness, will keep the lap cushion. Continue to monitor quarterly, reevaluate for lap cushion continue power of attorney agrees.”
This Care Plan also documents “the resident can remove the lap cushion upon command, the lap cushion is applied daily and released at every meal, every two hours and as needed for repositioning and toileting.”
The resident’s revised May 24, 2017, Care Plan revealed the patient “has the potential for skin integrity impairments with an intervention [that includes the removal of the] lap cushion for circulation, checks every two hours.”
The resident’s last two restraint assessments occurring on August 15, 2017, to August 20, 2017, shows that a “regional clinical nurse said that “there should have been a quarterly restraint assessment completed when the Quarterly MDS (Minimum Data Set) was completed.” The Regional Clinical Nurse also confirmed that “there are no other assessments available.”
The investigators reviewed the moderately, cognitively impaired resident’s MDS (Minimum Data Set) Assessment dated May 19, 2017. The document reveals that the patient has “limited assistance of one staff member for ambulation and extensive assistance of one staff for transfers and toilet use.”
However, the same MDS “does not document that [the patient] has a restraint. There are no physical restraints documented on the MDS or any other previous MDS. The dates of the last MDS with no restraint documented are May 19, 2017, for a quarterly assessment, to February 21, 2017, for a quarterly assessment, November 28, 2016, for an annual assessment hand and August 29, 2016, for a quarterly assessment.”
The survey team interviewed the MDS Coordinator on the morning of August 23, 2017, who said that the patient “is currently in the assessment.” The Coordinator said that they had “assessed the lap cushion as a restraint now, so there are no reduction attempts.” The Regional Clinical Nurse confirmed, “there are no restraint reduction attempts.”
The resident was observed just before noon on August 23, 2017 “in the wheelchair by the nurse’s station outside [the patient’s] room with a lap cushion on [their] lap backward.” A few minutes later, the resident was observed in their “room being assisted with lunch by [a family member of the resident. The resident’s] lap cushion was still in place on [their] lap during the meal.”
Surveyors observed the resident at 2:00 PM that day standing up “in between the lap cushion in the wheelchair, with a lap cushion, still attached to the wheelchair, while [a Registered Nurse] was sitting at the nurse’s station within view.” Thirty minutes later, surveyors observed the resident “sitting in a wheelchair outside [their] room next to the nurse’s station with a lap cushion attached to the wheelchair.” At that time, the resident “stood up (in between the lap cushion in the wheelchair) with a lap cushion still attached to the wheelchair. There was no staff present.”
The surveyors observed the resident with a lap cushion at numerous times throughout the next few days. On August 23, 2017, a Registered Nurse said that the resident “cannot remove the lap cushion” and that the resident “has not removed it in a very long time.” The RN then asked the resident “to try and remove the lap cushion.” The resident responded that they were “trying to remove the lap cushion although [the resident] was not moving [their] arms.
The surveyors asked the Registered Nurse “why the lap cushion is in place backward?” The RN responded that the resident’s son “likes it that way” saying that the son “was the one that wanted the lap cushion [back when his parent] was more mobile.”
In a summary statement of deficiency dated August 24, 2017, the state investigative team noted that the nursing home had “failed to investigate an injury of unknown origin.” The deficient practice by the nursing staff involved one resident “reviewed for an injury of unknown origin.”
The investigative team reviewed the resident’s Care Plan dated May 8, 2017, that revealed the resident “is at risk for falls. One fall on February 2, 2017, without injury. On May 6, 2017, legs gave him out while ambulating.”
The resident’s Report to the Illinois Department of Public Health dated May 11, 2017, revealed that on May 6, 2017, the resident was ambulating with their wheeled walker while going to dinner. At that time, the resident “just fell. This document also states the resident complained of left shoulder pain with decreased range of motion. The document also states the resident was sent to the local hospital” and has “a sling in place.”
The report sent to the Illinois Department of Public Health revealed that the resident “began complaining of pain to the left shoulder. The nurse notified the nurse practitioner” who then sent the injured resident to the emergency room.
The documentation shows that the resident told the nurse that when they were “repositioning [the patient] bed the night before, [they] heard a crunching noise. The resident also stated that [they had] experienced a fall but was confused and described the previous fall from eight weeks [before] that, [the resident] did fracture her humerus. X-rays obtained in the ER revealed a complex displaced humerus.”
In a summary statement of deficiencies dated August 24, 2017, the state investigators documented that the facility had failed to “provide adequate supervision and ensure equipment was functioning effectively.” The investigators reviewed a resident’s Care Plan dated June 26, 2017, that shows that the resident “is at risk for falls, uses a physical restraint related to poor trunk control and leans in the wheelchair with the following interventions: August 16, 2014 -- lap cushion to wheelchair for positioning in lap cushion released/removed during meals.”
The state investigators observed the resident at 9:55 AM on August 20, 2017, while “in a wheelchair leaning forward on a lap cushion.” At approximately noon, the resident “was in the wheelchair with a lap cushion in place, with her head resting on the dining room table.” Two days later on August 22, 2017, at 9:05 AM, the patient “was in the wheelchair with a lap cushion in place, leaning forward.”
The investigators reviewed the electronic Progress Note dated August 20, 2017, by a Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN) who documents that the patient “was found on the floor in the dining room, with a laceration to the right side of the forehead. The note documents the lap cushion was not on [the resident’s] wheelchair, since [the patient] was sitting at the dining room table. When [the resident] was found, one wheel of the wheelchair was locked, but the left wheel was not locked.”
The survey team reviewed the Post-Fall Management Form dated August 5, 2017, that revealed the root cause of the resident’s fall. The document shows that the resident had “leaned forward in the lap cushion was not in place on the wheelchair. The form documents [that the resident] was sitting in the wheelchair without a lap cushion or staff supervision, leaned forward and fell out of the wheelchair. The staff is now to ensure the lap cushion is in place until a staff [member] is seated next to [the resident] and ready to feed her.”
Was your loved one injured or died prematurely while living at Fair Havens Christian Village? If so, call the Illinois nursing home abuse and neglect lawyers at Nursing Home Law Center at (800) 926-7565 now for legal help. Our network of attorneys fights aggressively on behalf of Macon County victims of mistreatment living in long-term facilities including nursing homes in Decatur. 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 harm, injury, or premature death. We accept every case involving nursing home neglect, wrongful death, or personal injury through a contingency fee agreement. This arrangement will postpone payment of our legal services until after our lawyers have resolved your case through a negotiated settlement or jury trial award.
We provide every client a “No Win/No-Fee” Guarantee, meaning if we are unable to obtain compensation on your behalf, you owe our legal team nothing. Let our attorneys begin working on your behalf today to ensure your family receives adequate compensation from those who caused your harm. All information you share with our law offices will remain confidential.
Attorney Jonathan Rosenfeld
Licensed in Illinois
Chicago Nursing Home Injury Attorney Nursing Home Law Center LLC Home