Nursing Home Resident Awarded $3.5 Million After Amputation of Right Leg
A Smithton, Illinois nursing home resident recently won a lawsuit in Saint Clair County after losing her right lower leg. In 2022, the 64-year-old lived at Bria of Smithton, a skilled care nursing facility. During her time there, she developed an infection in her right large toe. According to her lawsuit, she alleged the infection was improperly treated for many months and this led to sepsis, a bone infection, and gangrene. The nursing home resident was eventually sent to a hospital emergency room and later had a below-the-knee amputation. She then had a stroke that affected the left side of her body and lost her lower right leg. The plaintiff is now confined to a wheelchair. On August 27, 2024, an Illinois court awarded her $3.5 million.
According to her lawsuit, the plaintiff had an infection for a long time before July of 2022, but the facility did nothing to treat the infection. Ultimately, she developed gangrene in her toe, and her family wasn’t even told. Her attorneys say that the nursing home had been cited by the Illinois Department of Public Health for improper nursing care and violating the patient’s rights. Sometimes it takes a personal injury lawsuit to ensure that a nursing home takes proper care of its vulnerable residents.
The Center for Disease Control noted that America has 15,300 nursing homes with 1.3 million residents. Over 70% of these facilities are operated by for-profit companies. Nurses and their aides are notoriously overworked and underpaid. Some of these companies strive to make ever greater profits at the expense of the most vulnerable people in the country. State organizations work to protect nursing home residents. The Illinois Long Term Care Ombudsman has a resident’s Bill of Rights that states, “Your facility must treat you with dignity and respect and must care for you in a manner that promotes your quality of life. Your facility must provide services to keep your physical and mental health at their highest practical levels.”
Analyzing the lawsuit
This is a startling example of nursing home neglect. In this case, the nursing home failed to timely diagnose the patient with an infection in her toe. At the time, the infection was treatable. But because the facility allowed the infection to turn malignant, the plaintiff lost her leg.
Nursing homes are expected to ensure that their patients receive the prevailing standard of care endemic of the profession. In this case, the facility failed and severely injured one of their patients. The patient is now confined to a wheelchair for the rest of her life due to the nursing home’s neglect.
Talk to a Decatur IL nursing home abuse and neglect attorney today
Patel Law, PC represents the interests of nursing home residents who have been abused or neglected by nursing home staff. Call our Decatur personal injury lawyers today to schedule a consultation, and we can begin investigating your lawsuit right away.
Source:
lawfirmnewswire.com/2024/08/illinois-nursing-home-found-liable-for-amputation/
