Alzheimer’s Man Beaten To Death In Nursing Home In Oak Park, IL

Blunt head trauma and Craniocerebral injury are fairly insipid terms for what happened at the Oak Park Health Care nursing home in Oak Park, Illinois, but that’s what police investigators are calling it.

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Crainiocerebral injuries are injuries to the head where the brain is also injured. It’s typically found in car accident victims. I think it’s important in this case to note the incredible level of violence inflicted. This man was struck in the head with such force that his skull was shattered and his brain injured.

The man beaten to death was a resident at the Oak Park Health Care home and suffered from Alzheimer’s disease. He was 80-years-old. According to police, he was found at 8:40 PM Sunday night in the Alzheimer’s ward of the facility, and he died Tuesday from his injuries.

I find it very interesting that multiple news articles say that the victim was “found.” As I mentioned earlier, this was an act of tremendous violence. The fact that the reports are not saying “rushed to the scene” or “witnessed” is quite disturbing. Where was everyone? This had to be a loud event, and it wasn’t even 9 PM.

According to multiple sources, the attacker was another resident of the facility in his mid-sixties. Although I haven’t found it in any specific
reports, I would imagine that since the incident took place on the Alzheimer’s ward, both the man beaten to death and the attacker suffered from the disease.

(Learn more about resident on resident violence in nursing homes.)

Resident violence is one of the many different faces of nursing home abuse and neglect. Families put their loved ones in nursing homes because they aren’t safe living on their own anymore. They trust the nursing home will have the facilities and staff available to provide that safety. Sadly, it isn’t always true. (See Nurse Sentenced To 10 Years For Nursing Home Abuse)

Most people associate Alzheimer’s disease with memory loss, and rightly so. But there are other symptoms that are less well known. They include disorientation, agitation, and sometimes, violent outbursts. These symptoms are quite well known to medical professionals. When a person has displayed these symptoms, it’s essential that the nursing home take action to protect them from themselves, and to keep them from injuring others. (See 

Clearly, the nursing home failed to do so, and as a direct result, a man was beaten to death.