A new Illinois law is setting stronger protections for one of the state’s most vulnerable populations—nursing home residents. House Bill 2474, signed into law by Governor JB Pritzker in March 2025, addresses a longstanding issue: retaliation against residents who speak up about mistreatment, unsafe conditions, or inadequate care.
State investigators recently determined that medication mismanagement on the part of the Goldwater Care nursing home in Gibson City directly led to a resident’s death. The resident died after receiving the wrong dosage of a powerful blood thinner for nearly a month.
You can discover the worst nursing homes in Illinois by visiting Medicare’s Nursing Home Compare, checking IDPH’s quarterly reports, and reviewing ratings and rankings from reputable advocacy organizations. Learning more about a Chicago nursing home’s ratings helps you steer clear of facilities with a history of abuse and neglect when choosing a nursing home for a loved one. If your loved one’s current nursing home has poor ratings or a history of poor care, you could move him or her to a different facility or be vigilant and address issues proactively.
When you’re injured due to a temporary dangerous condition in Chicago, you may have a viable personal injury case. The key to a favorable outcome is establishing that the property owner, tenant, or legal occupier was aware or should have been aware of the temporary unsafe condition that caused your accident. Cases involving temporary conditions pose unique challenges, such as the likelihood of the temporary hazard being cleaned up or fixed right after the incident.
The long-term effects of nursing home abuse include a drastic decline in a resident’s mental and physical health, strained relationships, financial distress, and even premature death. Nursing home abuse can have adverse effects on the victims, their families, and society as a whole. Understanding more about the far-reaching consequences of nursing home abuse is critical in comprehending the magnitude of the issue and prompting people to take action to combat and prevent it and its effects.
A suspected nursing home abuse case may result in criminal sexual assault charges after a disabled resident at a Geneva, Illinois, facility was found to be 33-weeks pregnant. Long-term care facilities have a responsibility to keep residents safe. Thus, suspicions of or witnessed abuse should be reported, and are investigated seriously.
Caregivers — whether professionals or family members — are instrumental in reporting elder abuse. They’re required to be adept at identifying the subtle and overt warning signs of abuse and knowing the right channels for reporting it. Some professionals are mandated by state laws to report elder abuse cases, even if they only have suspicions of the abuse.
The statute of limitations governs the timeframe within which a lawsuit must be filed after an elderly person suffers an injury due to nursing home abuse. In Illinois, the nursing home abuse statute of limitations for most cases is two years. Exceptions may apply in cases involving special circumstances.
After instances of nursing home abuse, families often wonder, “When can a nursing home be held liable for abuse committed by staff members?” You can hold an Illinois nursing home liable for abuse committed by an employee using the doctrine of vicarious liability or a breach of contract case. You could also hold the facility liable if it was noncompliant with federal and state standards or was negligent, thus enabling the abuse by its staff to occur.
Physical neglect, emotional neglect, and medical neglect are the three main types of neglect in a nursing home. Nursing home neglect causes physical injuries, emotional distress, and, in some cases, death. In one study, 95% of nursing home residents said they were victims of neglect or witnessed another resident being neglected. Statistically, neglect incidents are grossly underreported. It’s crucial to understand the types of neglect that commonly occur in nursing homes, their warning signs, and what you can do to address instances of neglect in Chicago.
