The government moved to terminate funding for the nursing home in Uptown, contending in court filings that violence, abuse and mistreatment put "the health and safety of ... residents in immediate jeopardy."

Authorities report it has been four years since a a federal termination order has been issued for a Chicago nursing home. Four Illinois nursing homes have been de-certified because of problems since 2005 -- those homes have been sold or closed.

The action follows a report by the Chicago Tribune, which identified 66 of the 300 residents as convicted felons with mental illness. The century-old former hotel was home to a chaotic environment of poorly-supervised residents who bit and punched each other, turned over tables and tested positive for drugs, according to federal inspection reports.

Former staff members told investigators that the Chicago nursing home was understaffed and its caseworkers were poorly trained. Somerset officials filed an emergency civil lawsuit in an attempt to stop the government action but were denied by a federal judge on Friday.

The home will receive Medicaid funding for another 30 days and may stay open while it tries to re-enter the Medicaid system or sell to a new owner.

One of the owners, who has a stake in a dozen Illinois nursing homes, declined to comment to the press. The nursing home is one of the largest in the state and reported a profit last year of almost $2.3 million.

Chicago police investigated 15 alleged assault and batteries inside the home between April 2008 and July 2009, as well as five reported cases of criminal sexual assault and five cases of narcotics possession.

One resident, who had been prostituting herself and using crack cocaine while living there, was later found murdered, according to The Tribune.

At least 86 cases of sexual assault or rape have been reported in 30 of the city's 119 nursing home in the past two-and-a-half years.

State law requires nursing homes to immediately report such instances of Chicago nursing home abuse to authorities. However, The Tribune found no police reports were filed in connection with at least nine alleged sexual attacks reported by the Illinois Department of Public Health.

Most of the cases involved residents attacking other residents. Others involved attacks by employees or visitors -- the sole case to be prosecuted involved an orderly.

As reported in November by the Chicago nursing home abuse attorneys at Abels & Annes, the state is scrambling to address a three-part Tribune series detailing the mixing of mentally ill felons with nursing home residents, incomplete background checks, low staffing levels and a breakdown in reporting serious crimes against residents.

Government records show that the 30 Chicago facilities where rapes were reported were about twice as likely to house convicted felons and mentally ill patients.

The Tribune reported that most of the 30 Chicago nursing homes with alleged sexual assaults had substandard staffing levels. In addition to the 48 felony sexual assaults reported at the homes since 2007, another 28 criminal sexual abuse complaints were filed, which can include molestation or groping and can be either a misdemeanor or felony.

With just one arrest among the 48 rape reports, the rate of prosecution for sexual assault in nursing homes falls far below the closure rate for such cases citywide. Last year, Chicago police investigated 1,446 criminal sexual assault reports and made 450 arrests.

Chronic underreporting, lack of communication among state and local investigators and other challenges, including the mental or physical health of the alleged victim or suspect, were all cited as reasons for the lack of successful prosecutions in cases of sexual abuse in Chicago nursing homes.

The charges were upgraded Dec. 15 against the 62-year-old accused resident, who authorities described as a psychotic felon living in the same facility with the victim. The man is accused of repeatedly punching the victim in the head after the victim reportedly entered his room and began eating his food.

The victim was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital. He died Sept. 18.

As the Chicago nursing home neglect and abuse lawyers at Abels & Annes reported on its Illinois Nursing Home Abuse Lawyer blog, the Aug. 21 incident and an investigative report by the Chicago Tribune prompted state lawmakers to look into the issue of violent felons being housed in Illinois nursing homes.

The accused resident, who has a history of drug conviction and aggressive behavior, told authorities he assaulted the victim for eating his lunch of pot roast, green beans and potatoes.

The Breaking News Center reported the nursing home, Columbus Park Nursing and Rehabilitation, was recently investigated by state public health officials for allegations of violence to some of its residents.

The Chicago Tribune reported the home revealed two other assaults had occurred during the previous 90 days while Chicago police reported 11 alleged batteries inside the facility during the same time period.

State health officials opened a broad investigation to determine whether Columbus Park is accurately reporting incidences of violence and abuse. However, health department spokeswoman Melaney Arnold said that the department is inundated with facility incident reports, and "unfortunately with the staffing that we have, we're not always able to connect the dots."

Columbus Park employees had documented the accused resident's history of "violent, aggressive behaviors," but the facility failed to protect the victim and other residents, the state health department investigation determined.

The incident highlights the need to research a nursing home before choosing where to place a loved one. It also underlines the need for visitors and other guests in nursing home facilities to help police the system.

The Illinois nursing home neglect and abuse lawyers and Chicago nursing home attorneys at Abels & Annes continue to monitor this issue closely -- the well being of vulnerable seniors is clearly at stake as dangerous felons and the mentally ill continue to be housed in nursing facilities.

The Senate committee hearings Nov. 5 will include testimony from elder advocates, as well as state agencies in charge of nursing home safety, including the departments of human services, family services, health care, aging and public health.

The Chicago Tribune reported the hearings are in response to the newspaper's three-part series detailing the mixing of mentally ill felons with nursing home residents, incomplete background checks, low staffing levels and a breakdown in reporting serious crimes against residents.

You can read more about that series on our Illinois Nursing Home Abuse Lawyer Blog.

"At the end of the day, we need substantive results, and we need to protect our families," Sen. William Delgado, D-Chicago, told the Tribune.

Gov. Pat Quinn has also convened the Nursing Home Safety Task Force, which held the first of six meetings last week. And Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan has called on public health officials to increase inspections, improve data-keeping of alleged crimes and review the criminal histories of all 3,000 felons living in nursing homes.

"I want to ask the Public Health Department what (its) plan is to improve enforcement in nursing homes, whether we need legislation or more staff," said Sen. Heather Steans, D-Chicago. Steans said she has a special interest in the issue because her North Side district has among the highest concentrations of mentally ill nursing-home residents in the state, and some of the homes generate a large volume of police service calls.

The Illinois nursing home neglect and abuse lawyers and Chicago nursing home attorneys at Abels & Annes continue to monitor this issue closely -- the well being of vulnerable seniors is clearly at stake as dangerous felons and the mentally ill continue to be housed in nursing facilities.

The Senate committee hearings Nov. 5 will include testimony from elder advocates, as well as state agencies in charge of nursing home safety, including the departments of human services, family services, health care, aging and public health.

The Chicago Tribune reported the hearings are in response to the newspaper's three-part series detailing the mixing of mentally ill felons with nursing home residents, incomplete background checks, low staffing levels and a breakdown in reporting serious crimes against residents.

You can read more about that series on our Illinois Nursing Home Abuse Lawyer Blog.

"At the end of the day, we need substantive results, and we need to protect our families," said Sen. William Delgado, D-Chicago, told the Tribune.

Gov. Pat Quinn has also convened the Nursing Home Safety Task Force, which held the first of six meetings last week. And Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan has called on public health officials to increase inspections, improve data-keeping of alleged crimes and review the criminal histories of all 3,000 felons living in nursing homes.

"I want to ask the Public Health Department what (its) plan is to improve enforcement in nursing homes, whether we need legislation or more staff," she said.Sen. Heather Steans, D-Chicago. Steans said she has a special interest in the issue because her North Side district has among the highest concentrations of mentally ill nursing-home residents in the state, and some of the homes generate a large volume of police service calls.

The home faced two fines stemming from the sexual molestation of several female patents by a resident at the home, according to a report from the Associated Press.

While officials would not say who resigned and who was fired, they confirmed the departure of the home's administrator, director of nursing and director of social services.

The Associated Press reported that the home was fined $20,000 by the state and faces another $20,000 fine from the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

The Times in Ottawa, Illinois reported that the Illinois Department of Public Health found the home at fault earlier this year for not protecting at least 10 women from molestation by a male resident of the home.

The home's interim administrator also pointed out that the nursing home's nutritional consultant works for the firm that provides the home's food, a possible conflict of interest.

Putting a loved one in a nursing home is one of the most difficult tasks many of us will face. Despite every effort to ensure that your loved one is cared for in a safe and secure environment, Illinois nursing home neglect and abuse is an all-too-common occurrence.

The state offers a number of resources to those faced with the difficult decision to place a loved one in a nursing home. Click here for information on how to file an Illinois nursing home complaint and for tips on how to select an Illinois nursing home.

If you suspect neglect or abuse is occurring in an Illinois nursing home, talking to an Illinois nursing home neglect and abuse lawyer can help provide added protection for both a loved one and other residents of the home.

The Chicago nursing home neglect and abuse lawyers at Abels & Annes continue to monitor the issue of unqualified employees or residents -- including convicted felons -- being hired by or housed in Illinois nursing homes and elder care facilities.

The average cost of nursing home care in this country hovers around $6,000 per month. Half of the nation's 18 million nursing home beds are operated by large chains and two-thirds of all nursing homes are for-profit companies.

The Tribune investigation found some residents who had a history of violent crime went on to commit assaults or other serious crimes inside the homes where they lived.

Illinois became the first state to require background checks for all residents as part of a 2006 law meant to address the growing number of mentally ill felons entering the state's nursing facilities. The checks are used to screen high-risk individuals who require close monitoring or private living quarters.

But the Tribune's review of 45 recent cases found many instances of incomplete assessments that left out crucial details, including criminal convictions. The report also found long delays in completing the checks -- sometimes resulting in felons living among residents for more than a year.

And of the more than 3,000 convicted felons living in Illinois nursing homes this summer, less than 30, or 1 percent, were classified as high-risk, which requires homes to place them in single rooms near nurses' stations.

Two-thirds -- a total of 2,077 felons -- were classified as "low risk," meaning the nursing homes are permitted to treat them no different than residents without criminal records.

With the aging Baby-Boomers set to further crowd a system that is a routine target for state and federal budget cuts, more and more Illinois residents will be forced to rely upon the state's nursing homes for care. The federal government estimates that half of those over 65 will spend time in a nursing home.

Chicago nursing home neglect and abuse lawyers at Abels & Annes fight for the rights of residents abused in Illinois nursing homes.

The report found the home failed to prevent the male resident from abusing 10 female residents and propositioning others, including some who couldn't speak or suffered from dementia, ABC7 News reported.

"When I would leave for a short time he would wait until I was gone for moments and put his hands on, or target the dementia women," one activities aide testified in the report. "Sometimes he would pull back when I'd return or tell me to get out."

It is disheartening to those who deal with nursing home abuse that in this case staff members apparently were aware of the behavior. Nursing homes have a duty to provide a secure environment free of abuse.

The ongoing debate among Illinois lawmakers over the state budget has come with increased scrutiny of proposed cuts to health and human services programing, including resources for the elderly that opponents contend could force even more of our seniors into nursing home care.

Additional reductions in state and federal aid will further stress a system in which neglect and abuse is already a distressingly common occurrence.

And the aging Baby Boomer population will further stress available resources.

Still, with the average monthly cost of a private nursing home stay hovering around $6,000 nationwide -- and with more than half of the country's nursing homes operated by for-profit companies -- these facilities have an obligation to provide an environment for seniors that is free of neglect and abuse.

Illinois lawmakers have outlined the rights of nursing home residents in the Nursing Home Care Act.

In this instance, the alleged abuse began in December and lasted until June 5, when the male resident was moved to an inpatient psychiatric unit, according the report.

"Due to Administrative staff's failures to implement policies and procedures for abuse, failure to recognize abuse, and failure to effectively manage facility resources, sexual abuse occurred for 10 residents," the report said.

No criminal charges have been filed and administrative fines or sanctions have not been announced.

If you are faced with the tough decision of admitting a loved one into a nursing home or elder care facility, the Illinois nursing home neglect and abuse lawyers at Abels & Annes want you to know there are resources available to help you with your decision.

Click here for advice on finding an Illinois nursing home through the Illinois Department of Public Health.

And click here for reports of Illinois nursing homes with recent violations.

The Illinois nursing home neglect and abuse lawyers at Abels & Annes continue to monitor the impact of social networking sites on personal injury and wrongful death cases, both in the Chicago area and across the country.

While these virtual support groups no doubt provide emotional support for victims' families, there is also a cautionary note: Information posted on sites like Facebook and MySpace is increasingly finding its way into a courtroom. If you are involved in a case, it is generally not a good idea to discuss it online. A good rule of thumb is to never post anything online that you would be uncomfortable answering for in a courtroom.

That said, such virtual support groups are providing meaningful relief for families dealing with the neglect or abuse of a loved one who was entrusted to a professional nursing home or elder care facility.

The Minnesota Albert Lea Tribune published a story this weekend about social networking's impact on a horrific nursing home abuse case in which several teenage girls are accused of sexually abusing and humiliating Alzheimer's patients in the Good Samaritan Society nursing home.

The families of the alleged abuse victims have formed under a group called Families Against Nursing Home Abuse, opening pages on Facebook, Twitter and MySpace. They also have videos on YouTube. One writes a blog.

At these sites, people can read reactions to elder abuse and get to know the alleged victims of abuse in words and photos.

Jan Reshetar, co-founder of the group, said she and the others decided to branch out to these Internet sources to enact changes on the local, state and national level.

“We’re trying to get the community involved,” Reshetar told the newspaper. “We’re trying to get the attention of our local people.”

Then, hopefully, once people get involved, they will call their state and national representatives and senators and voice their concerns.

At her blog, Reshatar wrote: “It’s been over one year since we first got the phone call that Mom ‘may or may not, be a victim of what may or may not be abuse.’ It’s been over 12 months … over 365 days … over 8,760 hours … over 525,600 minutes … over a lifetime ago.”

The Facebook page can be found at Facebook.com

The Twitter, MySpace and YouTube pages can be found by doing a search. In most cases people have to be a member of the Web site to access them.

The 24-year-old woman is accused of improper care at an Itasca nursing home that led to a resident dying after wandering outside in the cold. She faces five years in prison -- instead of the original 14-- if convicted of the remaining elderly neglect and obstructing justice charges, according to an article in Daily Herald.

The Chicago nursing home abuse and neglect lawyers at Abels & Annes monitor such cases to better assist clients who seek to recover damages for nursing home neglect or abuse. The proper supervision of nursing home residents is critical to their well-being and one of the primary reasons loved-ones seek professional care for an aging parent or grandparent.

In this case, the accused nursing assistant has remained in jail since March 4. She is accused of failing to check on an 89-year-old resident after an alarm alerted staff that an outside door had opened at The Arbor nursing home in Itasca.

Four of the eight charges against her were dropped on Tuesday because of a legal technicality involving the legal wording of the state law regarding nursing homes.

Police say she turned off the alarm and went back to watching episodes of "Dog the Bounty Hunter," according to the newspaper's account. She also is accused of lying to police about finding the resident in her bed during a 3 a.m. well-being check.

The elderly resident, formerly of Chicago's West Side, was wearing an electronic ankle bracelet because she suffered from dementia and was prone to wandering. Staff found per body in an outside courtyard in near-freezing temperatures.

Her daughters have filed a wrongful death suit.

The paper reported the nursing home fought moves by opposing attorneys to photograph and document the nurses's station, television area, the resident's room and the hallway leading outside.

An estimated 18 million nursing home beds are operated in this country -- half by large chain corporations and two-thirds by for-profit companies. The government estimates almost half of those over 60 in 1990 will spend time in a nursing home.

If you are faced with placing a loved one in a nursing home, the State of Illinois offers a number of resources.

Click here for advice on finding an Illinois nursing home through the Illinois Department of Public Health.

And click here for reports of Illinois nursing homes with recent violations.

The case alleges the staff at the home should have better supervised Koch, who had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. Yet her room was not near a nurses station and she was allowed into the stairwell unsupervised, according to the newspaper's account of the lawsuit.

Sacred Heart Home declined comment on the matter.

The aging Baby Bommers and a tight economy, which has led to state and federal cuts in subsidized elder care, are just two of the factors that will continue to put the burden of monitoring the care of a loved one on the shoulders of his or her family.

Nationwide, there are 1.8 million nursing home beds in 17,000 facilities. Half are part of large chains and two-thirds are operated for profit, according the federal statistics. The government estimates that almost half (43 percent) of those over 65 in 1990 will spend time in a nursing home.

The Illinois nursing home neglect and abuse lawyers at Abels & Annes work to help loved ones determine whether the circumstances of a family members injuries or death in a nursing home rises to the level of neglect or abuse.

The Chicago nursing home neglect and abuse lawyers at Abels & Annes want you to know there are resources available when considering a nursing home:

Click here for advice on finding an Illinois nursing home through the Illinois Department of Public Health.

And click here for reports of Illinois nursing homes with recent violations.

The American Association of Retired Persons issued a statement last week decrying the impact of the new state budget on elder care and an Illinois newspaper slammed a court ruling against hiking fines against nursing homes for serious violations of care standards.

You heard that right. The state is making drastic cuts to elder care to balance its budget even as its court system ruled it cannot raise fines for abuse and neglect violations to generate income.

"By neglecting the needs of hundreds of thousands of Illinois residents, children, families and the elderly, this budget puts our state's worst foot forward," said Bob Gallo, state director for the AARP in Illinois. "At a time when people need state programs the most, like those that help people have access to healthcare and relief from high prescription drug costs, this budget pulls the rug out from underneath them."

Among the cuts opposed by the AARP:

-Community care programs slated to be cut in half, leaving 26,000 without the care they need to remain in their communities and subjecting them to more costly instituional care, such as nursing homes.

-Eliminating the Elder Abuse and Neglect Program -- meaning 11,000 cases won't be investigated.

-Closing all four Illinois veteran's homes.

- Cutting home services for the disabled.

Meanwhile, the Peoria Journal Star points to a ruling from a Sangamon County Judge earlier this year that limits the Illinois Department of Public Health's ability to issue fines to $10,000 per incident of abuse or neglect.

The paper notes fines were increased under former Gov. Blagojevich and were opposed in court by nursing homes that were fined for infections, beatings and health problems that led to the deaths of residents.

"We're told by those who represent residents' concerns at the 114 nursing homes in the Peoria region that the average price of a private-pay nursing home approaches $5,000 a month," the paper wrote in an editorial. ""If the maximum fine for any offense, no matter how extreme, is $10,000, then a mere one month's rent of one double-bed room covers it. That's a slap on the wrist that is unlikely to induce a substandard facility to get any better."

With the aging of Baby Boomers, the state and federal resources for elder care should be expanding. Instead they are shrinking -- which in and of itself can lead to substandard care, overcrowding, and neglect or abuse.

Thus, the responsibility for researching a potential home for a loved one increasingly falls on the public.

The Illinois Department of Health offers a number of resources:

The Chicago nursing home abuse and neglect lawyers at Abels & Annes want to remind those faced with placing a loved one under care of a facility to know there are resources available to you. Click here for advice on finding an Illinois nursing home through the Illinois Department of Public Health.

And click here for reports of Illinois nursing homes with recent violations.

An Associated Press analysis earlier this year found U.S. nursing homes have become a dumping grounds for young and middle-age people with mental illness. And Illinois ranked highest among the states in the number of mentally ill adults under age 65 living in nursing homes -- more than 12,000.

Elderly abuse and neglect will continue to be an issue as the Baby Boomer population ages. Of those over 65 in 1990, nearly half (43 percent) will spend time in these facilities, according to federal statistics.

In this case, the lawsuit accuses Maplewood Care's administrator of attempting to cover up a rape by calling it consensual sex, according to the Associated Press article.

An executive with the home's parent company, which operates seven other Chicago-area nursing facilities, declined comment according to the Associated Press. The civil lawsuit claims the woman's family was not told the nursing home had admitted young adult residents "with a history of violent and aggressive criminal behaviors."

The Agency for Health Care Administration reports the average cost of a nursing home in Chicago was $165 a day in 2000 and has steadily increased since then. Nationwide, there are 1.8 million nursing home beds in 17,000 facilities.

Nursing home operators have a duty to provide a safe, secure environment for their clients. But residents and those looking to place a loved one need to keep in mind that elder care is also big business. More than half the nation's nursing homes are part of a chain of facilities and two-thirds are operated for profit.

The rights and responsibilities of nursing homes and residents, as well as enforcement, violation and penalty and remedy information are outlined in the Nursing Home Care Act as passed by the Illinois General Assembly.

The lawsuit was filed against the Chesapeake Health and Rehabilitation Center in Norfolk Circuit Court. The suit is asking for $29,000,000 in damages and also names the nurse as a defendant.

In November, 2008 the male nurse plead guilty to aggravated sexual battery in criminal court, and last week he was sentenced to 6 months in prison, with an additional 9 1/2 year suspended sentence. The abuse was brought to light when another employee observed the nurse with his mouth on the comatose woman's breast.

Sexual abuse of a nursing home patient can be a family's worst nightmare. You put your trust into a facility to care for your loved one, and that trust gets violated in the worst way.

If your loved one have been the victim of abuse or neglect at a Chicago Area nursing home, contact a nursing home abuse lawyer at Abels & Annes for a free consultation.

A former employee of the facility claims to have made the recording at the end of March. It involves a resident with Alzheimer's or dementia. The employee believes that her actions led to her being fired 2 weeks later. However, the nursing home denies that that is the reason for the employee being let go and that the facility itself notified the State after they became aware of the recording. The employee also claims that a noise on the tap is another employee striking the resident on the hand.

The nursing home scored low on a recent State evaluation. They were in the bottom twenty percent in the State of New York in 7 out of 19 categories, and they were fined $12,000.

Click here to read more.