Illinois Injury and Mass Tort Lawyer Blog

There are several different types of claims that can be filed against nursing homes for injuries caused to residents. These claims include those based on intentional abuse, medical malpractice, and general negligence. A negligence claim is a common claim against a nursing home, and it arises from a provision of care that does not meet the standard expected of nursing homes.

Nursing homes may be liable for acts or omissions that cause injuries to residents. Nursing homes are required to exercise reasonable care in caring for and protecting residents. Thus, in general, a nursing home has to exercise the degree of care and skill normally used by other long-term care facilities under the same or similar circumstances.

Woman’s Family Claims Nursing Home Failed to Resuscitate Her After She Was Found Not Breathing

According to a news article, a family recently brought a lawsuit against a Highland Park nursing home, alleging that staff caused a woman’s death by failing to administer CPR when she was found not breathing in her bed. The resident, who was 52 years old, had diabetes and suffered from kidney failure, but she was only supposed to be at the home for a few weeks while recovering from pneumonia. Last month, a nurse went into her room at around 4 a.m. and found the woman “lifeless and not breathing.” The family alleges that the nurse misread the woman’s chart, which stated whether she wanted to be resuscitated. The family said she wanted to be resuscitated, but no one administered CPR.

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Although lawsuits against nursing homes may be brought for a variety of reasons, these lawsuits often require experts. Experts can help explain the standard of care the home was required to follow or the cause of a resident’s injuries. As in any negligence claim, in a claim alleging the negligence of a nursing home facility, a plaintiff must establish that the defendant owed a duty to the plaintiff, the defendant breached that duty, the breach caused the plaintiff an injury, and the plaintiff sustained damages.

In nursing home lawsuits, once the plaintiff establishes that the nursing home owed a duty to the resident, the next question is whether the defendant’s conduct fell below the standard of care required under the circumstances. For example, a nursing home is normally expected to keep residents properly bathed and fed and to provide them with their medications. To prove that the staff was negligent, the staff’s conduct must have fallen below the relevant standard of care. Many nursing home residents are sick and elderly, and many residents die in nursing homes—thus, the fact that a resident died in the home’s care is insufficient. In order to succeed in a nursing home lawsuit, a plaintiff must show that the nursing home failed to properly care for the resident in order for the home to be held responsible. Accordingly, generally, expert testimony is required to establish the standard of care and to show that the nursing home’s conduct fell below the expected standard.

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In a recent case, a state supreme court had to decide whether an arbitration agreement, governed by the Federal Arbitration Act and entered into by a nursing home patient and her power of attorney, was enforceable against her husband after he brought a wrongful death action. The man brought a lawsuit against a nursing home after his wife died at the home, alleging that the home was negligent in the care of his wife and that this negligent treatment caused her death. The nursing home responded by arguing that the case had to be resolved through arbitration, and the trial court agreed. The plaintiff appealed, claiming that he could not be bound to his wife’s arbitration agreement as a wrongful death beneficiary.

At the time the wife was admitted to the nursing home, she had executed a power of attorney in favor of her husband. Her husband then signed an arbitration agreement, stating that claims subject to arbitration included any claims arising out of her stay at the home. The agreement also stated that it applied to the patient and the nursing home, as well as the parties’ successors, assigns, and intended and incidental beneficiaries. It also stated that it applied to “any parent, spouse, child, executor, administrator, heir, or survivor entitled to bring a wrongful death claim.”

Considering the language in the contract and other similar cases, the court found the arbitration agreement did bind the woman’s beneficiary. Thus, the agreement required him to resolve the claim through arbitration, and he could not bring the claim in court.

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