Yandle
The daughters of Aubrey Giles are suing Midwest Rehab and Respiratory Center and its management company, Senior Healthcare Management, after their father ran away from the nursing home.
The lawsuit was filed Tuesday in St. Clair County Circuit Court by attorney Staci Yandle of O'Fallon.
Terri Dancy and Linda Woods claim the nursing home was negligent and violated the Illinois Nursing Home Care Act by failing to implement appropriate care plan interventions and updating Giles' care plan to prevent him from escaping the nursing home, failing to monitor and supervise Giles who had a history of attempting to leave, failing to inform Giles' doctors and his family about his escape attempts, failing to notify local law enforcement and Giles' family of his escape from the nursing home on Jan. 14, and failing to staff the home with enough nursing personnel to meet the need of the residents.
Dancy and Woods also claim that Senior Healthcare Management failed to properly supervise, the staff at the nursing home, failed to take reasonable steps to prevent, eliminate and correct deficiencies noted by the Illinois Department of Public Health in its surveys and inspections and failed to assure that the nursing home complied with federal and state laws, rules, and regulations designed to protect the health and safety of its residents.
Aubrey Giles died after wandering away from Midwest Rehab and Respiratory Center in Belleville on Jan. 14.
He was found two days later in a frozen creek less than one block from the nursing home. Giles was 77 years old and suffered from dementia. He had resided at the home for seven years.
"Based upon the information we have been able to gather so far, Midwest's negligence is glaring and inexcusable," Yandle said in a statement.
"The state and the police have completed their investigations. Now it's time for us to take the next step. We intend to pull together the remaining pieces of this unfortunate puzzle and to hold Midwest and its management accountable. Hopefully we can prevent other families from suffering the way this family has."
The case is St. Clair County Case number 12-L-95.