Have you recently admitted your loved one into a skilled nursing facility and determined that they are not receiving the best care in a compassionate, safe environment? Was your loved one the victim of neglect, abuse or mistreatment at the hands of caregivers, visitors, or other residents? If so, the Illinois Nursing Home Law Center attorneys can provide immediate legal intervention.
Our team of lawyers has successfully resolved many cases in Cook and Kane counties and can help your family too. If your loved one has been mistreated at River View Rehabilitation Center, contact our Chicago nursing home abuse lawyers. Let us begin working on your case today to seek justice and obtain compensation on your behalf to ensure your family recovers their financial damages. Contact us now. We can begin working on your case today.
This facility is a 203-certified bed "for profit" long term care home providing services and cares to residents of Elgin and Cook and Kane counties, Illinois. The long-term care (LTC) Medicare/Medicaid-participating center is located at:
50 North Jane
Elgin, Illinois, 60123
(847) 697-3750
In addition to providing 24/7 skilled nursing care, River View Rehabilitation Center offers other services that include:
Federal and state investigators have a legal obligation to penalize any nursing home that violated a rule or regulation that harmed or could have harmed a resident. These penalties typically include an imposed monetary fines or denial of payment for Medicare services. Usually, the higher the violation, the higher the fine.
Within the last three years, state and federal regulators have imposed a monetary fine of $25,054 against River View Rehabilitation Center on January 11, 2017. Also, the facility received forty-two formally filed complaints and self-reported one serious issue that all resulted in citations. Additional documentation about penalties and fines can be reviewed on the Illinois Department of Public Health Nursing Home Reporting Website concerning this nursing facility.
To ensure families are fully informed of the services and care that every long-term care facility offers in their community, the state of Illinois routinely updates their database system. This system details their comprehensive list of opened investigations, incident inquiries, dangerous hazards, health violations, filed complaints, and safety concerns of homes statewide and posts the resulting data on Medicare.gov. This data can be used to make an informed decision before placing a loved one in a private or government-run facility.
According to Medicare, the 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 four out of five stars for quality measures. The Cook and Kane counties neglect attorneys at Nursing Home Law Center have found serious deficiencies and safety concerns at River View Rehabilitation Center that include:
In a summary statement of deficiencies dated July 19, 2018, the state surveyors documented that the facility failed to “conduct a comprehensive pain assessment, evaluate the effectiveness of the resident’s pain medication and provide alternatives to relieve the resident’s pain. This failure resulted in prolonged and unrelieved pain.”
The survey team interviewed the resident just before noon on July 16, 2018, who said, “I am here for rehab until my leg heals and I may go to assisted living. The pain is about a nine because my legs opened up again. I have [a medical condition] and nerve pain too. Between the two of them, it is pretty bad. The pain is about a nine right now, she just changed the wound bandages on my legs, so it hurts a lot.”
The investigators asked, “if pain medication had been given before changing the dressing.” The resident responded, “they did give me Tylenol before they changed it, but it does not help.”
The next morning at 9:03 AM, the resident was observed “grimacing, bent over the left arm of the wheelchair” saying “I got pain medication at 5:00 AM and cannot get it again until 11:00 AM. I told him it is not working, but the nurses say they cannot do anything about it. The pain is at a ten, in my legs and both hips. My legs are getting worse; they feel like they are burning off. They changed my medicine around and moved it from four to six hours, and I am never out of pain. I have never had pain like this before. They say that can only give me Tylenol and it does not help at all.”
The resident said “last night, my pain was a fifteen if the scale could go that high. Elevation makes it worse, laying down does not work, so I usually sleep in this wheelchair, which is very uncomfortable. They keep pushing [me] to go to sleep, but I can’t [sleep] because of the pain, so I hardly sleep.” The resident said that they ordered new medication “to try for my nerve pain, but that does not help my leg pain.”
Approximately fifteen minutes later, in the presence of a Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA), the resident “stated her pain was at a nine and had told the nurse this morning that the pain medication is working.” The resident said that “I feel like I am going backward instead of forward, I need to be out of pain [and cannot] move around like am supposed to, but I cannot because it hurt so bad.”
The surveyors interviewed the facility nurse who stated “I gave her two Tylenol this morning 8:30 AM. The surveyors asked [the nurse if] she was aware that the patient is experiencing pain on a scale of ten and complains the medication is given so far apart.” The nurse that “when [the resident] went to the hospital, [the resident’s] pain medications were changed. I can see she is in pain.”
The following morning on July 18, 2018, at 9:22 AM, the nurse said that the resident “looks much better, appears happier and is smiling because they changed the pain medication schedule back to every four hours instead of six hours and she is no longer in pain.”
The survey team reviewed the cognitively intact resident’s Physician Progress Notes that shows that the resident’s “legs are bilaterally extremely swollen, redness, bleeding, scaly, bleeding, weeping, discolored with different sizes of new blisters present” related to her medical conditions.” A review of the resident’s Progress Note with an encounter dated July 17, 2018, “failed to show a pain assessment.” The investigators reviewed the facility’s policy titled: pain Management Program that reads in part:
“Requirements of accurate and complete documentation of pain assessment and monitoring; an Immediate Care Plan will be initiated at the time of the admission for any reason with physician’s orders.” The doctor “will be notified of the resident’s complaints of pain are not relieved by comfort measures, including pain medication.”
In a summary statement of deficiencies dated August 24, 2017, the state investigators documented that the facility had failed to “implement fall interventions per plan of care for a resident who had experienced multiple falls.” The deficient practice by the nursing staff applies to one resident “reviewed for falls.”
Documentation shows of the moderately impaired resident “requires extensive assistance of two staff for transferring safely.” The resident’s Fall Care Plan revealed the “intervention to Gather Information on past falls and attempt to determine the root cause of the falls. Anticipate and intervene to prevent recurrence. The Fall Care Plan also shows [the resident’s] fall interventions include the use of a mobility alarm to let the staff know assistance is needed for [the patient].”
The investigators reviewed the facility Nursing Management Investigation Reports that shows of the resident “fell in the shower room as a result of the shower chair [giving out] while she was in the shower, causing her to slide from the chair to the floor. No root cause analysis shows by the shower chair gave out causing [the resident] to fall.”
Documentation also shows two additional falls occurring in the dining room on two separate occasions. Observations were made of the resident sitting “in the dining room chair at the table after lunch.” The resident “had no mobility alarm attached.” The Restorative Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) “entered the dining room and transferred [the resident] to her wheelchair.” At that time, the resident “propelled themselves out of the dining room as [the CNA attended to the resident’s] table mate.”
The surveyors asked the facility Rehabilitation Nurse and the CNA if the patient “requires a mobility alarm at all times.” Both nursing staff members said that “they were not sure.” Just after noon, the resident “sat in her wheelchair, alone in her room, and had no mobility alarm attached.”
The survey team interviewed the Director of Nursing who said that “after fall, the facility conducts a root cause analysis and implements interventions to prevent further falls.” The surveyors then re-interviewed the Rehabilitation Nurse who stated that the resident “is Care Planned to wear a mobility alarm because [the resident] is forgetful and the staff needs to be alerted when [the resident] may need assistance.”
In a summary statement of deficiencies dated August 24, 2017, a state surveyor noted the nursing home's failure to “follow standard infection control practices during provisions of care with regards to handwashing/hygiene and glove changing.” The deficient practice by the nursing staff involved three residents “observed during incontinence care.”
Observations were made of a CNA rendering incontinence care to a resident who’s “incontinence brief was heavily saturated with urine, which overflowed to the bedding underneath.”
The CNA cleaned the resident’s “buttocks first, then proceeded to clean [the resident’s] front (abdominal fold, top of mons pubis and in between thighs) while wearing the same soiled gloves.”
The survey team reviewed another patient’s Medical Record that shows that the resident “is on isolation for CRE [Carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae] and Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) of the urine according to urine culture.” Both CRE and MRSA are highly contagious bacterial infections that can easily transfer to other residents, visitors, employees, and nursing staff.
Two CNAs (Certified Nursing Assistants) were observed rendering incontinence care to the highly contagious resident whose “incontinence brief was saturated with urine.” One CNA cleaned the resident’s “Peri-area and buttocks, while still wearing the same soiled gloves.” The CNA “proceeded to apply a clean incontinence brief, straightened clothing and bed linen and repositioned [the highly contagious resident].” The CNA “wore one set of gloves throughout [the resident’s] care and did not wash hands from the dirty to clean tasks.”
A different set of CNAs “rendered incontinence care to [a third resident] who had a bowel movement.” One CNA cleaned that resident’s “buttocks and the catheter tube, applied a new incontinence brief and straightened clothing and bedding and repositioned [the resident].” That CNA “changed gloves but did not wash or sanitize hands from the dirty to clean tasks.” The other CNA “assisted during the care [and then] left the room without handwashing or sanitizing hands.”
The investigators interviewed the facility Director of Nursing who said that “staff must wash hands [before] providing resident care, once gloves are soiled, remove gloves and wash hands [before] donning a new set of gloves to prevent infection.” The Director said that “staff must also wash hands before leaving the resident’s room.”
Was your loved one injured or did they die prematurely while living at River View Rehabilitation Center? If so, call the Illinois nursing home abuse and neglect lawyers at Nursing Home Law Center at (800) 926-7565 now. Our network of attorneys fights aggressively on behalf of Cook and Kane counties victims of mistreatment living in long-term facilities including nursing homes in Elgin. Contact us now to schedule a free case review to discuss how to obtain justice and resolve a financial compensation claim.
Our skillful attorneys have successfully resolved many victim cases involving nursing home abuse and neglect. We can work on your behalf to ensure your family receives the financial compensation they deserve. We accept every case concerning wrongful death, nursing home abuse, and personal injury through a contingency fee arrangement. This agreement will postpone the need to make a payment for our legal services until after our attorneys have resolved your case through a jury trial award or negotiated out of court settlement.
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 our team begin working on your case today to ensure you receive adequate compensation. 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