I just read a disturbing report of an inexcusable death in a Chicago area nursing home.
The family of an elderly man who was beaten to death by a fellow resident of a nursing home last month has filed a lawsuit against Oak Park Healthcare Center (Cook County, Illinois) claiming the facility failed to protect the 80-year-old from abuse and neglect.
The resident, who suffered from dementia, was assaulted by a 66-year-old resident with a violent criminal background. A nurse found the 80 year old resident unconscious in the Alzheimer’s and dementia ward at the facility. The elderly victim was taken to a local hospital where he died two days later. An autopsy determined his death was due to brain injuries and blunt head trauma from an assault, and was ruled a homicide.
My Take: This should never…ever happen. The facility knew it had a resident with a “violent criminal background.” Did the nursing home take sufficient steps to supervise the aggressive resident to make sure he did not harm other residents? Did the facility have enough staff to prevent a resident from being “beaten to death?”
I think we all know the answer.