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Chicago North Shore Nursing Home Faces Wrongful Death Lawsuit for OD’ing Patient on His Own Meds

| Jan 6, 2017 | Nursing Home Negligence

A resident’s recent death at a Chicago-area nursing home has triggered a lawsuit against the facility, according to the Cook County Record. The deceased resident’s wife, who was also the special administrator for the estate of her husband, filed an action accusing the nursing home of his wrongful death. Unfortunately, acts of negligence occur too often in nursing homes around Illinois. In this case, the nursing home staff allegedly overdosed the man on his own medications, and that overdose contributed to his death.

The case arose from the death of John Hobart. After Hobart died, his wife sued Whitehall of Deerfield, the nursing home where her husband was a resident. The nursing home, the complaint alleged, committed negligence by failing to provide proper care to the now-deceased man. Specifically, the nursing home’s staff was negligent by failing to administer Hobart’s medications in a proper manner. Due to this lack of proper attention to the delivery of Hobart’s medications, the staff gave the man an excess of medicine, and, according to the lawsuit, this overdose contributed to Hobart’s death.

The Hobart case is not the only time recently that Whitehall has faced litigation for its alleged negligence. Last year, the Cook County Record reported on a woman named Helen Grilli, who also sued Whitehall in Cook County for negligence. According to Grilli’s lawsuit, Whitehall staff, over a period spanning roughly two and a half months, injured her by practicing careless judgment.

Specifically, Grilli alleged that the care she received over the late November 2013-early February 2014 period caused her to develop stage IV decubitus ulcers on her buttocks and lower back. A decubitus ulcer is a type of pressure sore. A stage IV sore is the most severe. The medical website WebMD describes a stage IV sore as “very deep, reaching into muscle and bone and causing extensive damage. Damage to deeper tissues, tendons, and joints may occur.” These ulcers, also commonly known as bedsores, can be a sign that a nursing home patient is being neglected or otherwise not receiving proper care.

In a nursing home wrongful death case, like Hobart’s, there are several hurdles you must clear to achieve success. You have to prove that the nursing home staff’s actions were reckless or negligent and that this recklessness or negligence caused the fatal injuries your loved one suffered. That standard exists in any wrongful death case. In a nursing home case, however, this proof requirement also means establishing with persuasive evidence that the care provided by the nursing home either violated or fell short of the requisite standard of care or safety. This can involve evidence related to the treatment, as well as expert opinion testimony.

Nursing home negligence and wrongful death cases require a detailed understanding of the facts of your case and the law regarding standards of care, which is why your case needs the skills of experienced nursing home negligence counsel. The determined Chicago medical malpractice attorneys at Katz, Friedman, Eisenstein, Johnson, Bareck & Bertuca have been representing injured nursing home residents and their loved ones for many years and are ready to help you with your case. To set up a free case evaluation, contact us at 312-724-5846 or through our website.

More Blog Posts:

Diagnosing the Causes of Medical Malpractice, Chicago Injury Attorneys Blog, Jan. 5, 2016

Tips on protecting yourself against medical errors, Chicago Injury Attorneys Blog, Sept. 24, 2014

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