Just like anyone residing in nursing homes, people staying at assisted-living facilities have the rights to receive adequate care and treatment. However, such long-term care facilities are often subject to complaints of elder abuse and neglect.

For example, Sunrise Assisted Living has 19 facilities in Chicago, Illinois. The brochures used by the facility for their clients are impressive, detailing the adequate care they can provide for Illinois seniors. However, one family found out something else, after their mother died as a result of a Stage IV pressure sore.

The family filed a lawsuit against the Sunrise Assisted Living in connection to the preventable death of their mother. According to the report, the mother, who had multiple sclerosis and was using a wheelchair, began to stay in Sunrise Assisted Living in 2010. Her family chose the facility so that the staff could help her whenever she had to use the bathroom or do other activities.

However, the lawsuit alleged that the assisted living resident fell about 14 times at the facility because the staff failed to respond quickly whenever she had to use the bathroom. The victim’s daughter claimed that it takes more than 20 minutes before the staff responded to the call button request when she visited her mother.

The apparent elder abuse lawsuit accused Sunrise Assisted Living of failure to reposition and provide treatment to the victim in order to prevent her bed sores. The plaintiffs claimed that negligence of the facility contributed to the victim’s Stage IV pressure sore, which eventually killed her.

Families entrust their elders to assisted living facilities and nursing homes, but it seems that these are doing more harm than good for residents. Death as a result of  Illinois elder abuse  or nursing home neglect can be devastating for anyone. If it happens, the negligent nursing home facility may be legally responsible for the tragic loss.

Source:  CBS Chicago, “ 2 Investigators: Assisted-Living Facility Neglected Resident, Suit Says ,” Pam Zekman, Feb. 24, 2014

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