Illinois Personal Injury Lawyer Blog
Meadowbrook Manor–a large nursing home in Bolingbrook with 298 beds– is one of the nursing homes facing the worst COVID-19 outbreaks in Illinois. As of May 29, 2020, the facility had reported 188 confirmed cases of COVID-19 among residents and 40 deaths–the highest reported death toll at any nursing home in the state. Considering that the average number of residents at Meadowbrook Manor is usually 244, these numbers are shocking. At this occupancy rate, as many as 77% of the residents at Meadowbrook Manor in Bolingbrook may have been infected with COVID-19. Even if every bed at Meadowbrook Manor was occupied, that would still work out to 63% of residents possibly infected. It’s hard to fathom how that could happen.
For comparison, here are the statistics on COVID-19 at some other senior facilities in Will County or in nearby DuPage County:
- Meadowbrook Manor in Naperville, 245 beds, 37 cases, and 3 deaths
- Lakewood Nursing and Rehab Center, 131 beds, 2 cases, 0 deaths
- Heritage Woods of Bolingbrook: Assisted Living, 105 residents, 5 cases, 0 deaths
- Senior Star at Weber Place: Independent Living, Assisted Living, and Memory Care, 346 residents, 13 cases, 4 deaths
The scope of the coronavirus outbreak at Meadowbrook Manor in Bolingbrook would almost certainly have been reduced if the nursing home had paid attention to the warning signs about COVID-19 from nursing homes in Washington state and immediately implemented an infection control program to prevent the virus from spreading.
Past Inspections Resulted in Health Citations
Past health inspections show that Meadowbrook Manor had problems with infection control even before COVID-19. Inspections of the facility in 2017 and 2018 found that the nursing home had failed to “provide and implement an infection prevention and control program.” Meadowbrook Manor also received 14 health citations in an April 2019 inspection: one of them for failure to assist residents with eating, grooming, and hygiene, including failing to help residents with showering or toileting needs, another for failure to store and serve food under sanitary conditions, including multiple instances of failing to wash hands while serving food, and a third for failure to provide appropriate incontinence care to prevent urinary tract infections. If an effective infection control program had been in place, it’s very likely we would not be seeing such an extensive outbreak of COVID-19–with so many deaths– at Meadowbrook Manor in Bolingbrook.
Instead, Meadowbrook Manor struggled to provide sufficient PPE and care for seniors with COVID-19, according to an article in the Chicago Tribune. One family member–who asked to remove her father from the facility after he started showing signs of COVID-19 — was told that her father had tested negative for the virus, only to have him die 5 days later. A staffer who complained to her family about having to make her own masks and buy her own face shield and goggles–because Meadowbrook Manor did not have adequate PPE–died of the virus, leaving behind a young family. These tragedies might have been avoided if Meadowbrook Manor had acted appropriately.
Let Our Nursing Home Lawyers Investigate Your Claim
If your loved one has been diagnosed with COVID-19 or has passed away after contracting the virus while a resident at Meadowbrook Manor in Bolingbrook, the Illinois nursing home attorneys at The Collins Law Firm may be able to help. We can investigate the facts of your case and determine if the nursing home is liable. Fill out our contact form or call us at (630) 527-1595 for a FREE EVALUATION of your nursing home claim. You and your loved one deserve justice.
To learn more about past health citations at Meadowbrook Manor in Bolingbrook, click here.
For more information about the signs, prevention, and reporting of nursing home neglect or abuse, click here.