Symphony Nursing Homes

Levin & Perconti represented the family of Catherine Hudson, who was admitted to a Symphony home in the spring of 2011. Hudson was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis and required assistance with daily activities due to her developing disease. When she was admitted to the nursing home, staff developed a plan of care to address her needs. During Catherine’s residency, she suffered several injuries as a result of the staff’s failure to follow this plan. In the spring of 2013, Catherine developed multiple infected pressures sores. In June 2014, she fractured her left knee. Two months later, doctors placed a feeding tube in her stomach to ensure that she received proper nutrition. On August 19, 2014, her feeding tube became dislodged. The staff reinserted the feeding tube without confirming proper placement using X-ray imaging. They continued to feed her through the improperly inserted tube, and this caused liquid food to leak throughout her body and widespread infection. The following day, Catherine was admitted to a local hospital where she died 11 days later as a result of her injuries caused by the tube’s improper positioning.

Most recently, several Symphony homes have been in similar legal battles over alleged negligent care that led to the death of residents, including an elderly woman who suffered a stroke which was not promptly diagnosed or treated and died several days later and another resident who suffered from blindness and required assistance with eating but choked when nursing home staff failed to properly supervise her. The woman ultimately died from cardiac arrest. In 2017, a Symphony home in west Chicago was also fined for failing to immediately report violations involving staff to resident abuse and hiring people with a legal history of abusing, neglecting or mistreating residents.

In addition, many nursing homes in the Symphony network have been cited and fined for these issues.

• Failing to give residents proper treatment to prevent new pressure sores or heal existing bed sores.
• Ensuring each resident receives an accurate assessment by a qualified health professional.
• Taking measures to protect residents from unnecessary medications and drugs through proper management and monitoring.

Nursing homes and staff must be held accountable for these horrible failures to properly care for and pay attention to their residents. The failure to follow protocol has proven to be the difference between life and death.