Salem Village Sued Over Beating Death of Patient in Nursing Home

Days after Salem Village notified state of Illinois health care facility regulators that it was closing down its nursing home and rehab center on 1314 Rowell Ave, the nursing home was hit with a civil lawsuit for wrongful death brought by the family of a former patient who was allegedly beaten to death on the facility grounds. Police subsequently arrested a 71-year-old patient and charged him with first-degree murder.

According to the lawsuit, the culprit was known to Salen Village staff as a resident with severe anger issues and a “time bomb” who engaged in threatening, erratic, and abusive behavior to staff and other Salem residents. In the presence of Salem Village staff, the culprit is said to have threatened the victim, grabbed him out of his seated walker, and began punching him in the head, knocking him to the ground. Once the victim was on the floor, the culprit picked up his walker and began beating him in the head with it. The victim began experiencing seizure-like symptoms and the staff eventually called the Joliet Fire Department. The Fire Department sent an ambulance to Salem Village and tried to revive the victim, but he had no signs of life by the time they arrived.

Elements of negligence 

According to the negligence lawsuit filed by the plaintiff, Salem Village failed to properly monitor the culprit and the victim and failed to keep the victim safe from the abusive conduct of other residents. They also failed to employ safety measures to prevent assaults and failed to intervene when the victim was assaulted by a fellow resident. In addition, Salem Village failed to properly train its employees on preventing assaults, failed to properly supervise its employees, failed to take adequate steps to protect the plaintiff from assaults, failed to control its residents, and “as a direct and proximate result of one or more the defendant’s acts or omissions, the plaintiff suffered serious personal injury and death.

In a bizarre twist, the medical examiner has refused to list the plaintiff’s cause of death as a homicide, instead declaring it to be undetermined. Because of this, police have downgraded the culprit’s criminal charges from first-degree murder to aggravated battery.

Regardless, the plaintiffs are suing Salem Village for wrongful death and negligence related to the beating death of their loved one.

Nursing homes owe residents a duty of care to keep them safe. They can argue that the death was caused by pre-existing conditions, but those conditions were precipitated by a savage beating. The plaintiff would not be dead if not for the beating. So, ultimately, the nursing home bears some responsibility for failing to intervene sooner to save the life of the plaintiff.

Talk to a Springfield, IL Nursing Home Negligence Attorney Today 

Patel Law, PC represents the interests of Illinois residents who have lost loved ones to nursing home abuse or negligence. Call our Springfield personal injury lawyers today to schedule an appointment, and we can begin investigating your claims right away.

Source:

patch.com/illinois/joliet/salem-village-sued-negligence-family-man-beaten-death