Families entrust nursing home staff to provide their loved one compassionate care to ensure they receive the best hygiene and health assistance. Unfortunately, many nursing home residents are victimized through mistreatment, abuse, and neglect by caregivers, other patients, visitors, and employees. Many residents are harmed by emotional, physical, mental and sexual abuse or develop avoidable bedsores that could have been prevented had the nursing staff followed established procedures.
The Illinois Nursing Home Law Center attorneys have represented many Knox County nursing home residents who were victimized at nursing facilities. If your loved one has been mistreated at Rosewood Care Center of Galesburg, contact our Chicago nursing home negligence attorneys. Our lawyers use the law to hold the negligent establishment both financially and legally accountable for their unacceptable behavior. Let us begin working on your case today to ensure your family receives adequate monetary compensation for your damages.
This Medicare/Medicaid-participating center is a 180-certified bed facility providing services to residents of Galesburg and Knox County, Illinois. The "for profit" long-term care (LTC) home is located at:
1250 West Carl Sandburg Drive
Galesburg, Illinois, 61401
(309) 344-5400
In addition to providing around-the-clock skilled nursing care, Rosewood Care Center of Galesburg also offers other services including:
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, nursing home regulators imposed a monetary penalty against Rosewood Care Center of Galesburg for $75,566 on March 2, 2017. Also, Medicare denied payment for services rendered on March 2, 2017. The facility received twenty formally filed complaints and self-reported one serious issue that all 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.
The Illinois care home regulatory agency routinely updates their statewide nursing facility database system. The IL Department of Public Health and Medicare.gov posts this information detailing a historical list of incident inquiries, dangerous hazards, filed complaints, health violations, safety concerns, and opened investigations of every facility in each county.
According to Medicare, the 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 two out of five stars for quality measures. The Knox County neglect attorneys at Nursing Home Law Center have found serious deficiencies and safety concerns at Rosewood Care Center of Galesburg that include:
In a summary statement of deficiencies dated July 19, 2018, a state surveyor noted the nursing home's failure to “perform hand hygiene between disposable glove changes and failed to ensure a urinary catheter bag was handled… to prevent contamination.” The deficient practice by the nursing staff involved two residents “reviewed for urinary catheter care.”
The nursing home also “failed to change disposable gloves after gloves were soiled and post an ‘isolation for caution warning’ sign for [one of four residents] reviewed for perineal care.”
The survey team reviewed the facility’s policy titled: Infection Control: Hand Washing dated September 2014 and the policy titled: Urinary Indwelling Catheter Maintenance from November 1998 that read in part:
“Times to Perform Hand Hygiene: Before putting on gloves and after removing gloves. Use of gloves is not a substitute for hand hygiene.”
“Keep drainage bag in a special bag to prevent the tubing from touching the floor and help prevent infection.”
“Remove soiled gloves, wash hands, and re-glove as necessary to avoid contaminating the resident’s clothing or the environment.”
Observations were made of two Certified Nursing Aides (CNAs) providing urinary catheter care and perineal care for a resident on July 18, 2018. During the care, one CNA unhooked the resident’s “urinary catheter bag from the bed frame and placed the bag on the foot of the bed.” As the CNAs continued with the resident’s care, “the urinary catheter bag dropped to the floor beside [the bed].” One CNA “retrieved the urinary catheter bag from the floor and placed the bag back on the foot of the bed.”
The resident’s “urinary catheter tubing was not secured in any manner to [the resident’s] thigh or clipped to the bed linens to prevent pressure on the urinary meatus (the point where the urine exits the body).” One CNA then completed the resident’s “catheter care and removed [their] disposable gloves and, without washing hands or using a sanitizer, donned new disposable gloves and cleansed [the resident’s] rectal area.” After the resident’s care was completed, the resident’s “urinary catheter bag was again hooked to the frame of [the] bed.”
In a summary statement of deficiencies dated July 19, 2018, the state survey team documented that the facility had “failed to track the use and document the duration of antibiotic for one of seven residents reviewed for antibiotic use.” The survey team reviewed the facility’s Antibiotic Stewardship Policy that reads in part:
“Antibiotics are powerful in providing [info and] preventing infections. However, widespread use of antibiotics has resulted in an alarming increase of antibiotic-resistant infections and a subsequent need to rely on broad-spectrum antibiotics that might be more toxic and expensive. In addition to the development of antibiotic-resistant, antibiotic use is associated with an increased risk of [infections] and adverse drug reactions.”
The survey team reviewed the resident’s medical records that revealed that one patient “frequently has blood in [their] urine and recurrent urinary tract infections.” The Director of Nursing said that since the resident “has frequent urinary tract infections” they were placed on antibiotics to treat the UTIs. The Director verified “that there was no duration for [the medication use].”
Failure to Immediately Notify the Resident, the Resident’s Doctor or Family Members of a Change in the Resident’s Condition Including a Decline in Their Health or Injury
In a summary statement of deficiencies dated June 16, 2017, the state investigator documented the facility’s failure to “notify the family or physician for a change in condition.” The deficient practice by the nursing staff involved two residents “reviewed for notification of changes.” The surveyor said that “this failure resulted in [the resident’s] pressure ulcer deteriorating and requiring surgical excision debridement.”
The survey team reviewed the facility’s policy titled: Skin Care/Wound Management revised in October 2004 that reads in part:
“Contact physician when a pressure ulcer progresses from one stage to another or when there is a significant change in the condition of the wound.”
The investigators reviewed a resident’s Wound Care Specialist Evaluation dated May 19, 2017, against previous Medical Records that shows the improvement of a Stage III pressure wound. However, documents dated about a month later on June 15, 2017, shows that the “coccyx wound bed is 100% devitalized yellow tissue.” Observation of the resident’s Pressure Wound Bed” revealed that it was “covered with yellow slough.”
The nursing staff said that they “did not notify the physician of a change in the wound because [they were] unaware that the wound bed had changed.” The staff member stated that “the yellow tissue covering the wound bed indicated the wound condition had deteriorated and was now unstageable.” The investigators interviewed the facility Director of Nursing who said that they expect “nurses to immediately notify the physician if there is a change/decline in the resident’s wound.”
The survey team interviewed the resident’s physician who said “I was not notified of a change in [their] wound until last evening (June 15, 2017). I saw [the resident’s] coccyx wound today (June 16, 2017) and it had deteriorated. I expected it to be healed by now. The last time I saw the wound, it was very small. Wounds are to be measured weekly; someone is supposed to do that. I expect to be notified right away if there is a change in the wound. I was on vacation last week, but they could have sent [the resident] to the Wound Clinic to have the wound assessed. I had to surgically debride the necrotic [dead] tissue today, and the wound is much larger.”
In a summary statement of deficiencies dated June 16, 2017, the state investigative team noted the facility's failure to "identify and investigate a potential abuse allegation for one of thirteen residents reviewed for abuse.” The investigators reviewed the facility’s policy titled: Abuse Prevention dated November 2016 that reads in part:
“Verbal abuse is the use of oral, written, or gestured language that willfully includes disparaging or derogatory terms to the residents or family, or within their hearing distance, regardless of their age, ability to comprehend, or disability.”
The surveyors reviewed a Compliment/Complaint Form used by residents to file grievances. One resident stated that a Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) “asked me to stop in the hall.” The CNA said the marks on [my] neck or not hickeys.” Another resident “and I were talking, and said they reminded me of hickeys in high school.” The CNA said that “they were from getting choked and said to ‘mind my own business.’ Among many more outbursts, yelled at me.”
The resident said that a Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN) “was at the desk and heard it. I asked [CNA] to please leave me alone, as I leave [them] alone.” The CNA “walked off still yelling.”
The surveyor said that on the Compliment/Complaint Form, the Administrator “responded on May 11, 2017, on the Resolution portion of the form stating, ‘both resident and staff are educated on appropriate conversation. A handwritten statement dated May 8, 2017, and signed by [the Licensed Practical Nurse] and a handwritten statement dated May 11, 2017, and signed by [the CNA] is attached to the agreement. There is no further documentation indicating [that the resident] was interviewed or other residents or staff members who might have witnessed the incident.”
A review of the resident’s Narrative Nurse’s Progress Notes and Social Service Notes “do not have entries regarding [the resident’s] concerns.” The facility Administrator “indicated the exchange between [the CNA and the resident] was brought to [their] attention by [the resident] submitting the May 8, 2017 Compliment/Complaint Form disagreements.” The Administrator indicated that the “State Agency was not notified of [the resident’s] allegation of verbal abuse, and a thorough investigation was not conducted.”
In a summary statement of deficiencies dated June 16, 2017, a surveyor documented that the facility had failed to “assess, document, and report the condition of a pressure ulcer for two of two residents reviewed for pressure ulcers.” The surveyors say that “this failure resulted in [the resident’s] pressure ulcer deteriorating and requiring surgical excision debridement.”
The survey team reviewed the facility’s policy titled: Skin Care Pressure Ulcer/Wound Management revised in October 2004 that reads in part:
“Re-assess the wound weekly and more often as necessary to measure progress or decline in the wound status.”
“Document the wound status on the Wound Documentation Form weekly.”
“Contact the physician when a pressure ulcer progresses from one stage to another or when there is a significant change in the condition of the wound.”
“The Director of Nursing will review the reports: Weekly Pressure Ulcer Report, Weekly Skin Report and Weekly Pressure Ulcer Recap (Recapitulation) weekly.”
Documentation shows that a resident’s coccyx wound had deteriorated over the month and had become “covered with yellow slough.” A staff member said that they “did not notify the physician of the change in the wound because [they] did not know the time of the condition of the wound bed had changed.” The staff member stated that “the yellow tissue covering the wound bed indicated that the condition had deteriorated and now was unstageable.”
A review of the resident’s Wound Documentation (Weekly and Monitoring Sheet) dated May 19, 2017, documents the resident’s “pressure wound on the sacrum.” The resident’s “neck sacral pressure wound assessment [were not documented until] nearly one month later.” The Director of Nursing said that the resident’s “medical record contained no measurements or assessments of [the resident’s] sacral pressure ulcer from May 19, 2017, to June 14, 2017.”
Do you have suspicions that your loved one was injured or harmed while a resident at Rosewood Care Center of Galesburg? If so, contact the Illinois nursing home abuse and neglect attorneys at Nursing Home Law Center at (800) 926-7565 today. Our network of attorneys fights aggressively on behalf of Knox County victims of mistreatment living in long-term facilities including nursing homes in Galesburg. Contact us now to schedule a free case review to discuss how to obtain justice and resolve a financial compensation claim.
Our knowledgeable attorneys have years of experience in handling cases that involve nursing home abuse occurring in private and public nursing facilities. We accept every case involving nursing home neglect, wrongful death, or personal injury through a contingency fee arrangement. This agreement postpones the need to make a payment to pay for legal services until after your case is successfully resolved 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 successfully resolve your case, 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 Lawyer Nursing Home Law Center LLC Home