The Cochran Firm Legal Blog

It is one of the most difficult decisions you will ever have to make in your lifetime. The placement of an elderly family member in a nursing home is a heart-wrenching decision, filled with feelings of guilt and fault. It is important to remember that aging and ill-health are no one’s fault, but just the next step in the process of life.

It is a fact of life that, unfortunately, elderly people in a nursing home are vulnerable to those that provide their care and are easy targets for nursing home abuse and neglect. Due to understaffing, overcrowding and inadequate training, nursing home residents often fall victims to physical and emotional abuse and neglect.

Nursing home residents are subject to malnutrition and dehydration, prescription and medication dosage errors, bedsores from failure of the staff to turn them at appropriate intervals when they are bedridden, broken bones from falls, wandering away from inadequate staff supervision, and bruises and injuries inflicted by physical abuse. A recent finding in several Chicago area nursing homes has uncovered sexual abuse of residents committed by unregistered convicted sex-offenders residing in area nursing homes.

Nursing home abuse and neglect can lead to serious injuries and death and it is reported that over one million elderly residents of nursing homes nationwide suffer the consequences of abuse and neglect every year.

If you suspect a loved one has been the victim of nursing home abuse and neglect, please contact the Chicago, Illinois office of The Cochran Firm today to protect your legal rights and the legal rights of your loved one.

Labels: Chicago