Illinois Nursing Home Care Act

Illinois Nursing Home Abuse Residents- Know your Legal Rights

The Illinois Nursing Home Care Act provides residents with important rights and benefits regarding their care and treatment including:

• The right of a resident to recover for the actual damages suffered as a result of abuse or neglect. Actual damages include present and future medical expenses, attorney’s fees and the cost of litigation.
• The empowering of the Illinois Department of Public Health to monitor Illinois nursing homes, investigate complaints of abuse or neglect, the fining of nursing homes for violations of a resident’s rights and establish standards for the qualifications and training of nursing home employees
• Protecting residents who seek compensation for abuse or neglect they have suffered. The act states that a nursing home shall not transfer, discharge, evict, harass, dismiss or retaliate against a resident or a resident representative because of any report, testimony or complaints. This protection becomes especially important if the resident remains at the nursing home after the alleged abuse or neglect occurred.
• The Federal Nursing Home Reform Act enacted by Congress in 1987, creates a set of national minimum set of standards of care and rights for people living in certified nursing facilities. The act provides that a nursing home must provide services and activities to attain or maintain the highest practical physical, mental and psycho social well-being of each resident in accordance with a written plan of care commonly known as the Patients Bill of Rights.