Illinois Nursing Home Abuse Attorneys
The decision to place a loved one in a nursing home is a difficult one. Finding the right home is an emotional and stressful process. Even after the most diligent search, you may end up with a nursing home that fails to provide adequate care and treatment.
Too many Illinois nursing home residents are victims of elder abuse and/or neglect. The result of such abusive treatment is devastating to the innocent victim, family members and other loved ones.
In response to this rising problem, our law firm established a practice group that focuses on nursing home abuse and neglect in Illinois. To discuss your case and learn more about how our highly experienced and compassionate nursing home abuse attorneys can help you, call or reach us online today and receive a free consultation.
Work With Our Chicago Nursing Home Abuse Attorney To Put A Stop To Abuse Today
The National Center for Elder Abuse (NCEA) estimates that about 84 percent of abusive situations involving older adults go unreported or unrecognized. For this reason, nursing home abuse has been called the “hidden crime.”
The Elder Abuse and Neglect Program of the Illinois Department on Aging (IDoA) says there were 10,949 cases of elder abuse reported in the state in 2011, marking an increase of 10.9 percent from the previous year. Since 2002, the Elder Abuse and Neglect Program has seen a 47 percent rise in reports.
Thirty-nine percent of elder abuse or neglect victims in Illinois in 2011 were functionally impaired. This means they had difficulty performing daily tasks such as walking, personal care, meal preparation, laundry and housecleaning.
Because of their impairment, the fact that they live with and are afraid of their abusers, or because their mistreatment is concealed by the abusers, elderly adults most often need others to report the abuse they are suffering, the IDoA says.
The types of elder abuse most often reported in Illinois in 2011 were:
- Financial exploitation
- Emotional abuse
- Passive neglect
- Physical abuse (i.e., assault and battery)
- Willful deprivation (of food and water, or other necessities)
- Confinement (or unnecessary physical restraint)
- Sexual abuse (i.e., molestation or rape)