The Illinois Nursing Home Law Center attorneys investigate, handle and resolve cases involving nursing home abuse, mistreatment or neglect when loved ones have been injured or died unexpectedly. Our dedicated team of lawyers works on behalf of our clients to ensure that those that are responsible for the harm are held legally and financially accountable.
We use the law to ensure that families receive the monetary compensation they deserve for their damages. If your loved one was mistreated or died unexpectedly while residing in a Cook County nursing home, contact our Chicago nursing home abuse lawyers let us help you beginning today. We can build your case for financial compensation to take your case to trial or negotiate an acceptable out of court settlement. It is what we do best.
This nursing home is a "for profit" center providing services to residents of Oak Park and Cook County, Illinois. The Medicare/Medicaid-participating 204-certified bed nursing facility is located at:
625 North Harlem
Oak Park, Illinois, 60302
(708) 848-5966
In addition to providing around-the-clock skilled nursing care, Oak Park Oasis Health Care Center – Paramount of Oak Park offers other services that include:
The state of Illinois and federal nursing home regulatory agencies are authorized to impose monetary fines and deny payment for Medicare services for any nursing facility cited for serious violations of regulations and rules. Within the last three years, the nursing home regulatory agencies imposed a $3000 fine against Oak Park Oasis Healthcare Center on August 19, 2016, due to substandard care.
Also, the facility received twenty formally filed complaints that resulted in citations. Additional information about penalties and fines can be reviewed on the Illinois Department of Public Health Nursing Home Reporting Website concerning this nursing facility.
Information on every intermediate and long-term care home in the state can be reviewed on government-owned and operated database websites including the Illinois Department of Public Health and Medicare.gov. These regulatory agencies routinely update the comprehensive list of incident inquiries, dangerous hazards, opened investigations, health violations, filed complaints, and safety concerns on facilities statewide.
According to Medicare, this facility maintains an overall rating of one out of five stars, including one 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 Oak Park Oasis Healthcare Center that include:
In a summary statement of deficiencies dated November 16, 2017, the state investigator documented the facility’s failure to “notify the physician of a change in condition for one of three residents.”
The investigation involved a nursing staff member “at a bedside performing a blood glucose check on [a resident]” with the result of 211. Though the measured level results required insulin, the nursing staff member said that the resident “has no insulin in the cart, let me check the medication room.” This nursing staff member “entered the medication room and checked in the refrigerator, and the emergency medication cart for [the patient’s] insulin without finding it.”
The nursing staff member notified the nurse practitioner “that the insulin for [the patient] was not available in the facility and that a new one-time order is received to administer [another form of insulin at two units subcutaneously].”
The documentation revealed that the Director of Nursing was on the unit “and asked why isn’t the insulin available for [the resident].” The Director responded, “it was not reordered?” The Director requested from the “pharmacy of all medications received for [a resident].”
The Director stated at 3:25 PM that day that “the pharmacy never sent the insulin for [the patient] because of insurance issues.” So, “the nurses have been using other resident’s insulin on the unit, and I in-serviced them on not using other residents’ insulin.”
The investigators reviewed the resident’s Progress Notes from admission on October 30, 2017, to the current date. The documentation shows that the physician was never notified that the resident’s insulin was not available in the facility.
The investigators also reviewed the facility’s policy titled: Administration of Drugs that reads in part:
“Medications ordered for a particular resident may not be administered to another resident. When the medication is not in the facility … the pharmacy is to be notified immediately followed by documentation of actions to obtain the medication.”
In a summary statement of deficiencies dated November 16, 2017, a state investigator noted the nursing facility’s failure to “maintain a clean field and prevent cross-contamination of a resident’s wound during wound treatment and failed sanitary practices during wound care.” The nursing home also “failed to practice handwashing and proper use of gloves while checking resident’s blood sugar. This failure applies to two of three residents reviewed during wound care and a blood glucose check.”
“An observation was made of a Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN) on the morning of October 14, 2017, while “preparing to provide wound care to [a resident. The LPN removed] the tray from the treatment cart that contains gauze on the tray.” The LPN continued the care “without sanitation or a barrier being applied to the table.” The LPN then placed gloves on their hands that were taken from the uniform pocket and applied “a handful of gloves directly on top of the overbed table during the set-up process.”
While cleaning the resident’s wound, the LPN “repeatedly rubbed backward and forward over the wound with the same gauze.” The resident’s “incontinent brief is in contact with the wound past cleansing.” The surveyors asked the LPN “if it is okay to dress the wound after contact with the brief?” The LPN replied, “I guess I will have to start over.” The surveyors continued to observe the LPN who failed to wash hands properly.
Another staff member performed a blood glucose check on a different resident “without hand hygiene, applying gloves from the uniform pocket. After completing the blood glucose check on [the resident, the nursing staff member] removed the gloves and walked to the nurse’s station to use the phone without hand hygiene.”
In a summary statement of deficiencies dated August 2, 2018, the state survey team noted a failure. The home “failed to follow their Abuse Policy and ensure residents were free from abuse.” The facility failed “to identify, develop and implement an individualized intervention addressing [a resident’s] increased risk for abuse of aggressive behaviors. These failures applied to two of six residents reviewed for abuse.”
The deficient practice by the nursing staff resulted in the resident “experiencing shame, humiliation, and feelings of helplessness and [another resident] sustaining bruising and an abrasion.”
One resident was interviewed just before noon on July 31, 2018, who said, “I just woke up from a nap, and I heard someone in my room.” Another resident “exposed himself. He came into my room and was asking me, baby, baby, come on, touch me here. I was scared, felt helpless and feel that it was an act of molestation. I told him, I am not your lady, I have a husband at home, and I ran out of the door to ask for help, but I could not find any staff at the desk right away. My family filed a police report and wanted to file charges. This has never happened to me before, and I have been in other nursing homes.”
The resident’s family member stated just after noon on July 30, 2018, that “we called the police [because the resident] was upset and startled by the situation.” The investigators reviewed the initial Notification Report submitted to the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH/State Agency)” that reads “this resident went into a female resident’s room and was masturbating himself.”
“A follow-up report submitted to the IDPH with facsimile confirmation dated July 26, 2018, at 10:23 AM reads: Brief description of the incident/accident: this resident wandered into another resident’s room and was masturbating in front of her. Outcome/Findings: this resident is alert and ambulate but is not cognitively intact. He was placed on 1:1, Medical Doctor [was] notified and order received to send the resident to a local hospital for psychiatric evaluation.” The nursing home “called the police.”
The sexually abusive resident’s Progress Note dated 2:57 AM on January 30, 2018, reads “Resident noted grabbing co-resident by the shirt at the time [when the other resident hit the sexually abusive resident] with a closed fist two times. The staff intervenes separating the residents.”
The sexually abusive resident was “noted with the redness to the midforehead, had an abrasion to the nose, area cleaned, first-aid administered, a small amount of bright red blood noted to the nose bridge.”
The investigators reviewed the resident’s Criminal History Analysis Report that shows that the patient “has a history including but not limited to criminal trespassing to state land, reckless conduct, assault, battery, and knowingly damaged property.”
The resident’s Identify Offenders Program report indicates that the patient is a moderate risk and “requires closer supervision and more frequent observation than standard or routine for most residents in an open facility. Regular monitoring should be attentive to behavioral changes that may signal a need for closer observation or sustain visual monitoring on a limited basis. Periodic assessments should ascertain whether the level of supervision is sufficient.”
The investigative team interviewed the facility Social Services Director on August 1, 2018, who said that the patient “was not Care Plan for being an identified offender with moderate risk or history of assault, battery, and trespassing.” The sexually abusive resident “was also not Care Planned on how to manage [their] behaviors of urinating in garbage cans aside from being told to use the toilet or wear a diaper and was not Care Planned for increased sexual desire.”
The Director said “if I knew about [the sexually abusive resident’s] aggressive behavior and sexually explicit desires, I would have added interventions such as an increase in monitoring for those behaviors. I did not know that the [resident] was getting an injection to decrease his sexual desires and I updated the Care Plan after the incident that [the sexually abusive resident had with another resident].”
The Social Services Director said that the patient “was not on any programs because we just started implementing outside programs to come in and for residents to go out.” The Director said that they conducted “talk sessions with [the sexually abusive resident], but none of that is documented. I have been working here for a year, but still transitioning in my role and there was another Social Worker in charge of [that resident].
The Director “confirmed that there was no documentation from social services from January 31, 2018, through July 19, 2018.”
In a summary statement of deficiencies dated November 16, 2017, the state investigators documented that the facility had failed to “verbalize all seven types of abuse. This failure has the potential to affect all 137 residents residing in the facility.”
During an interview with the Assistant Director of Nursing, the staff member “was not able to verbalize all types of abuse and stated, mental, physical, sexual, financial/misappropriation of funds. I know them, I just cannot remember them right now.”
The investigative team interviewed the Nursing Supervisor who “was not able to verbalize all types of abuse and stated, verbal, neglect, financial, physical, mental, emotional/psychological and discriminatory.”
The surveyors then interviewed a Certified Nursing Aide who also was “not able to verbalize all types of abuse and stated verbal, physical, financial, mental and privacy.” The CNA stated that “I know it is five types of abuse.”
The Registered Nurse “was not able to verbalize all types of abuse and stated verbal, financial, physical, sexual, emotional, self-neglect and abandonment.”
Additional staff members at the facility were not able to verbalize all the forms of abuse. The investigators reviewed the facility’s policy titled: Abuse Prevention Program – Facility Procedures that reads in part:
“Physical abuse, sexual abuse, verbal abuse, mental abuse, misappropriation of resident property, involuntary seclusion and neglect.”
Do you have suspicions that your loved one is being neglected or abused while living at Oak Park Oasis Healthcare Center? If so, call the Illinois nursing home abuse and neglect attorneys at Nursing Home Law Center at (800) 926-7565 to stop the mistreatment now. Our network of attorneys fights aggressively on behalf of Cook County victims of mistreatment living in long-term facilities including nursing homes in Oak Park. Contact us now to schedule a free case review to discuss how to obtain justice and resolve a financial compensation claim.
Our lawyers accept all cases involving wrongful death, nursing home neglect, or personal injury through a contingency fee arrangement. This agreement postpones the need to pay for our legal services until after our legal team has resolved your claim for compensation through a jury trial award or negotiated settlement out of court.
Our network of attorneys offers every client a “No Win/No-Fee” Guarantee, meaning if we are unable to resolve your case successfully, you owe us nothing. Let us begin working on your case today to ensure your family is adequately compensated for the damages that caused your harm. All information you share with our law offices will remain confidential.
Attorney Jonathan Rosenfeld
Licensed in Illinois
Chicago Nursing Home Injury Lawyer Nursing Home Law Center LLC Home