Briskman Briskman & Greenberg Attorney Decries Violations Found at Illinois Nursing Home

Chicago, IL (Law Firm Newswire) October 15, 2013 – Numerous health violations have been found at an Illinois nursing home.

Recent surveys by the Champaign-Urbana Public Health District and the Illinois Department of Public Health found several violations at the Champaign County Nursing Home. The violations include the failure to meet nutritional requirements for residents, unsanitary kitchen conditions and foreign objects found in food served to residents.

“These are serious violations that could easily result in a resident sustaining illness or injury,” said Robert Briskman, an attorney whose practice includes cases of nursing home neglect and abuse. “No nursing home resident should be subjected to these kinds of health risks.”

Nutritional violations were found at the nursing home by state inspectors in January 2012. One patient suffering from a serious illness had lost 10 pounds in one month. Although the patient was supposed to be served “health shakes” between meals, on the day of the inspection there was no dietary order for a health shake and the patient received only a half serving of food at lunch. Twenty-one other residents received only a half serving as well.

A December 2012 report said that a dietary manager found the finger part of a plastic glove and several other pieces of plastic in pureed meat that was being served in the nursing home’s dining rooms. The wife of a resident said that she found a piece of cardboard in her husband’s food. Residents were also found to have not been served a full portion of food during a meal, and inspectors found unsanitary conditions in the kitchen.

In April 2013, a local public health official found that a walk-in cooler could not maintain a proper temperature and condemned it for use until it was repaired. During the same inspection, the hot water heater was not functioning and water in the dishwasher was not reaching the proper temperature.

The Illinois Department of Health licenses, regulates and inspects nursing homes in the state and is responsible for ensuring that facilities meet state requirements. Approximately 200 inspectors with the Department conduct 1,300 inspections per year and respond to approximately 6,000 complaints.