Negligence Causes Multiple Falls at Granite City, Illinois Nursing Home
When 95 year old River Reed was admitted to the Stearns Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Granite City, Illinois, she was suffering from the effects of Alzheimer's disease and dementia. The nursing home was well aware of her symptoms and made notes that she was known to wander, was often disoriented and confused.
On May 29, 2007, Ms. Reed got up in the middle of the night and began to roam the corridors. She fell and broke her left help. Ms. Reed was then confined to a wheelchair from her injuries. Just over a week later, she was left alone again. Her wheelchair had no restraints and her personal "fall" alarm had been turned off. She fell out of her chair and broke her other hip. Ms. Reed suffered intense pain from these injuries and incurred massive medical costs. There is just no excuse for leaving Ms. Reed alone without protections. Her guardian, Hazel Timmons is working with her attorney to recover for the losses and harms to Ms. Reed.
When they can no longer care for themselves, elderly people still deserve good care. They deserve to be treated with dignity. Sadly, nursing home corporations frequently do not provide humane treatment to our loved ones. The controlling nursing home corporation is often just too cheap to give good care. Short staffing is rampant in today's nursing homes. Employees are expensive for a corporation, to be sure. But nursing home corporations must staff their facilities with enough people - and qualified people - to care for the helpless people in their care. Nursing home corporate executives are often more interested in padding their profits, than they are in the vulnerable human beings who rely upon them for care. It is a betrayal of our trust – pure and simple - to neglect nursing home residents. Poor treatment causes painful (and even deadly) decubitus ulcers (bedsores), unsanitary conditions, repeated infections, dehydration, dramatic weight loss, falls, broken bones, and sometimes even death.
If we can be of service, do not hesitate to call me at 1-800-827-7898.
