Nursing Home Top Executive Salaries Rise, Patient Care Need Left Unmet
Nursing home ownership and management can be lucrative for some, but the resulting greed has been known to overpower fiscally responsible care decisions. While busy lining personal pockets, investing dollars back into the care system to support staff and resident well-being will too easily fall off the priority list allowing the resulting struggles to quickly emerge.

• Overworked nurses
• Underpaid and underqualified certified nurse’s assistants (CNAs)
• Maintenance and housekeeping staff become limited
• Lack of:
  • rehabilitation services
  • medical supplies
  • resident nutrition
  • access to specialists
• Resident abuse and neglect

Also, profitable nursing…
Continue Reading How Much Do Top Nursing Home Executives Make?

Illinois Nursing Homes Named in Second Quarter Violators Report By IDPH
The Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) has released its second Quarterly Report of Nursing Home Violators for 2019. This report dates April 2019 thru June 2019 and highlights 113 Illinois facilities cited for violations of the Nursing Home Care Act, a statute that provides nursing home residents and their families with the assurance that proper and safe care will be received.
Facilities with violations in quarter two of 2019 include:

• Accolade Healthcare of Pontiac
• Alden Courts of Waterford
• Alden Estates of Northmoor
• Alden Estates of Orland Park
• Alden

…
Continue Reading List of Illinois Nursing Homes That Violate Safety and Rights Of Residents

Aperion Care Fined After Dementia Resident Was Sexually Assaulted 
The Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) has fined an Aperion Care nursing home in Jacksonville $25,000 for an alleged resident-to-resident sexual assault. According to the state agency’s report of Illinois nursing home violators, an investigation found the facility to have failed at adequately assessing and identifying sexual vulnerability and resident-to-resident abuse.
Here is what was found through IDPH’s report:

• The incident occurred March 9, 2019, at Aperion Care, located at 1021 N. Church St. in Jacksonville, Illinois.
• The assault involved two residents, a 72-year-old woman with dementia, and a

…
Continue Reading Sexual Assault Reported At Illinois Nursing Home

Senators Blame Government Regulating Office for Growing Number of Nursing Home Deficiencies
On Tuesday, July 23, bi-partisan members of the Senate Finance Committee, led by ranking committee member Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR), once again raised alarming concerns over the rising amount of physical, verbal, mental and sexual abuse incidences occurring inside U.S. nursing homes. In addition, and not for the first time this year, confusion regarding the current lack of oversight role the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is playing, and funding needs to support sufficient resident-to-staff ratios were recognized and discussed at great length.
Several lawmakers referenced…
Continue Reading Nursing Home Abuse Is Alarmingly On The Rise

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Margaret Battersby Black appears on Fox & Friends with her client Joan Biedel, whose mother is the subject of a nursing home abuse case that has gotten national attention.
Nursing home resident Margaret Collins, a 91 year old woman with dementia, was the subject of repeated harassment from two nursing home employees. The upsetting viral video has caused a backlash of anger against elder abuse and an outpouring of support for Margaret Collins and her family.
Video Transcript
Ainsley Earhardt: Hi everyone. Good morning.
Pete Hegseth: Good morning.
Ainsley Earhardt: Thanks, Janice.
Griff Jenkins: Thanks, Janice.
Ainsley Earhardt:…
Continue Reading Nursing Home Aides Seen Taunting Dementia Patient | Margaret Battersby Black on Fox & Friends

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Chicago News – CBS 2 News at 10:00 covers the story of Margaret Collins.
Nursing home resident Margaret Collins, a 91 year old woman with dementia, was the subject of repeated harassment from two nursing home employees. The upsetting viral video has caused a backlash of anger against elder abuse and an outpouring of support for Margaret Collins and her family.
Video Transcript
Voiceover: Live from the CBS2 Broadcast Center in Chicago. This is CBS2 News at 10:00.
Brad Edwards: Only on 2.
Joan Biebel: What the hell is he doing?
Brad Edwards: A 91 year old nursing…
Continue Reading CBS 2 News at 10 – Dementia Patient Margaret Collins Terrorized By Nursing Home Aides

Video of Dementia Resident Taunted by Nursing Home Caregivers Was Shared on Social Media 
Levin & Perconti is representing the family of a 91-year-old woman after two of her care aides, formerly employed by Abington of Glenview Nursing Home in Glenview, violated the Illinois Nursing Home Care Act and state privacy laws through abuse and the use of social media. The workers, Brayan Cortez and Jamie Montesa, were caught publishing a Snapchat video of themselves taunting Margaret Collins, an elderly resident with dementia. Snapchat is a multimedia app and popular social media channel used by over 180 million people every…
Continue Reading Nursing Home Workers Post Video Taunting A Dementia Resident

Nursing Home Residents on Medicaid Suffer Most 
Most whose financial situation would be characterized as low income and need to remain in a nursing home for longer than expected, Medicaid will quickly become the primary payer for their long-term care. Designed as a public assistance program for individuals with limited financial support, Medicaid funds a person’s physician visits, hospital, and long-term care, drugs, medical equipment and transportation, and other medical services.
The Buffalo News recently reviewed data from New York’s Department of Health and found that five-star nursing homes in the…
Continue Reading Medicaid Residents Struggle To Receive Quality Care

Senate Hearing Regarding U.S. Nursing Homes Called Attention to Unfixed Issues and Reform 
An estimated 1.5 million individuals receive care from nursing homes nationwide each day, many of whom are living with serious physical and cognitive impairments, leaving them frail and remarkably vulnerable to abuse and neglect injustices. On July 23, 2019, members of the Senate Finance Committee Hearing once again heard pleas from elder community leaders about the constant struggles of Americans dependent on Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services
(CMS) regulated skilled nursing facilities face each day. These guests discussed the continual lack of follow thru to…
Continue Reading Leaders Say Nursing Homes Continue To Fail

Nursing Home Chain Failures Highlight a Greater Need for Ownership Regulation and Closer Government Review 
Some of the most troubling elder abuse and neglect stories stemmed from nursing home private ownership in the U.S. recently emerged thanks to an NBC News investigation featuring a man named Joseph Schwartz and his responsibilities over nursing home and long-term care facility chain, Skyline Healthcare. The mogul swiftly built his empire out of a small New Jersey office and then across the Midwest. It failed miserably leaving life-long pain and suffering for more 7,000 elderly Americans in more than 100 facilities in 11 states.
Continue Reading Investigative Reporting Uncovers Problems With Nursing Home Ownership

First Came the Record-Setting Award, and Now the Nursing Home Is Paying Legal Fees
On July 18, 2017, a record-setting $4.1M award was won by Levin & Perconti’s legal team of Margaret P. Battersby Black, Steven M. Levin, Susan L. Novosad, Daniel A. Goldfaden and sole practitioner Michael W. Rathsack on behalf of the estate of Dolores Trendel. On June 28, 2019, Justice James Fitzgerald Smith wrote in an unpublished order allowing the estate to recover the cost of litigation from the negligent nursing home at the center of the case – Clare Oaks.
The Nursing Home Care Act requires…
Continue Reading Nursing Home Will Also Pay Legal Fees

New Rule May Help Justify Antipsychotic Drug Use in Nursing Homes 
For some nursing home residents battling psychosis and severe mental disorders conditions such as schizophrenia, antipsychotic drugs may help when prescribed and administered responsibly. But for decades these narcotics that come with a “black box” warning and dangerous side effects have been overused in dementia residents to hush or lessen their needs on nursing home staff, despite rules against the misuse of these drugs as chemical restraints and drugging patients without their consent.
Earlier this month, the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) proposed a rule that could…
Continue Reading Some Nursing Home Residents Don’t Need Antipsychotic Drugs