As the average life expectancy of Americans continues to increase, the number of nursing homes and senior assisted living facilities continues to increase at a rapidly growing rate.
Although many nursing homes provide good healthcare, experienced staff and properly equipped facilities, many have become "warehouses" of the elderly resulting in the neglect or abuse of senior residents.
The most frequent incidents of nursing home neglect include improper protocols to prevent risks of serious falls and fractures, the failure to prevent bedsores (decubitus ulcers), and incidents of residents suffering from malnutrition.
In the late 1990's, Mr. Phillips represented a nursing home resident at trial before a jury in a claim for damages stemming from numerous infected bedsores, which the staff had neglected for a number of months. The jury's verdict in favor of the nursing home resident, was the highest verdict in Illinois history for injuries related to bedsores.
In the year 2000, Mr. Phillips obtained a record-setting settlement on behalf of a nursing home resident who had suffered an amputation of her leg due to infection caused by numerous bedsores that were neglected by the facilities' staff.
