A 71-year-old male nursing home resident was arrested on Nov. 17 and charged with first-degree murder and aggravated battery of a person 60 years of age or older after beating a fellow resident to death on Nov. 17.
The reported incident occurred on the sixth floor at the Salem Village Nursing and Rehabilitation facility, located at 1314 Rowell Avenue in Joliet, IL.
How the Violent Incident Unfolded
Assisted living facility staff discovered the severely battered 61-year-old male victim shortly before contacting police officers, who arrived at the scene at around 9:25 p.m.
An altercation over the use of a laundry room washing machine had reportedly broken out between the assailant and the victim. While a facility staff member tried to de-escalate the situation, damage had already been done.
The arrestee had already apparently punched and struck their fellow resident with their walker. The violent contact led to the victim ultimately falling to the floor.
Nursing home staff rendered medical aid to the victim until responding officers and paramedics arrived and took over, but those efforts weren’t enough to save his life. Medical examiners with the Will County Coroner’s Office later pronounced him dead that fateful evening.
An autopsy aimed at confirming the victim’s identity and the cause of their death is pending.
Rights Victims Have When Assaulted by Assisted Living Facility Residents
Nursing homes have an obligation to take reasonable measures to ensure the safety of their residents.
These include:
- Keeping unapproved visitors out and ensuring that authorized ones don’t harm others
- Maintaining a watchful eye over staff members to ensure they are attentive to residents’ needs
- Instituting preventative measures aimed at keeping residents safe from physical violence inflicted by others
Whether a nursing care facility and its staff are liable for a deadly incident like the one described above may depend on a review of resident records and incident reports. These may document past strife between the two men and their handling of those disputes.
Even if the facility and its employees aren’t deemed liable for what happened, the victims’ surviving family members may be eligible to file a civil suit against the alleged perpetrator.
Damages such as funeral and burial costs and noneconomic losses like pain and suffering may be recoverable through the filing of a wrongful death lawsuit.
The Role of Nursing Home Attorneys in Cases Like This
Families like yours place their loved ones in residential living facilities like these, expecting them to receive more attentive care than they can provide at home.
Sometimes, however, this doesn’t happen, and residents suffer abuse or neglect and lasting health impairments as a result. And, in rare instances like this, resident-on-resident violence causes a person living in one of these homes to sustain disabling, or even fatal, injuries.
Any of our Chicago nursing home abuse attorneys can support you if you or a loved one has been harmed in an assisted care facility, whether by staff, an outside vendor, a visitor, a fellow resident, or anyone else.
Contact Thomas Law Offices today for a free, confidential consultation to discuss your rights and your potential compensation.
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