What constitutes a reasonable time frame? It’s a subjective question, of course. I remember reading an interview where Jeff Bezoz, the founder of Amazon.com, spoke about the change in consumer expectations in his business. First, people had a difficult time coming to terms with the idea that clicking a button on a webpage resulted in package being delivered to the door. Now, people expect an almost immediate response.
A resident at Alden Orland Park Rehab and Health Care Center in Orland Park, Illinois was forced to wait over 15 hours for an Xray that revealed a hip fracture. The resident was found sitting in front of his wheelchair. A wheelchair alarm had sounded, but responders were unable to prevent the nursing home fall.
The resident’s physician was notified and ordered an Xray to be taken as soon as possible. Notes of the ensuing hours are sparse, but one made 15 hours after the initial nursing home fall indicates that the nursing home was still waiting for the radiologist to read the results. The nursing home has a contract with a private outpatient radiology provider to provide services to their residents.
You might be wondering why the nursing home didn’t simply call an ambulance and send the resident to the hospital for an Xray. It’s a good question without a good answer. Many nursing homes are trying to provide more services “in house” in order to facilitate payments from Medicare and Medicaid.
During the investigation by the Illinois Department of Public Health Inspector, the Alden Orland Park Rehab and HHC Administrator refused to say whether or not that response time was common.
The Administrator also refused to provide the inspector with a service request from their outpatient radiology provider. It’s possible that many hours passed before a request for an Xray was even made.
The ambulance that transported the resident to the local Orland Park hospital after the Xray was finally obtained and read arrived at 4:15 PM, a total of 20 hours after the initial incident.
At my law offices, we have investigators who can discover the truth of a situation no matter how many unanswered questions there are. If you have a loved one who has been the victim of nursing home neglect in an Illinois nursing home, you can speak with one of our Orland Park nursing home lawyers for no fee and no obligation.
Other blog posts of interest:
Failure to revise care plan at Asta Care in Elgin
Fall from wheelchair at Meadowbrook Manor
Failure to give anti-seizure medication at Lexington of Orland Park