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Law Offices of Barry G. Doyle, P.C.

If you or someone you love has been injured in a nursing home accident, click the button below, answer a few questions, and we will get right back to you and let you know how we can help you.  

If you or someone you love has been injured in a nursing home accident, click the button below, answer a few questions, and we will get right back to you and let you know how we can help you.  

  Neglect Leads to Severe Pressure Ulcers with Bone Exposure at Loft Rehab of Decatur  

The Illinois Department of Health has cited and fined Loft Rehab of Decatur when nursing staff failed to provide proper wound care and timely incontinence assistance to a cognitively intact resident, resulting in multiple severe pressure injuries including a Stage IV pressure ulcer with bone and muscle exposure. The facility also failed to notify physicians about the wounds, implement pressure-relieving interventions, or provide recommended treatments, causing preventable suffering and worsening of the resident's condition.

The case involves a cognitively intact resident who was wheelchair dependent and frequently incontinent of both bowel and bladder. Despite facility policies requiring appropriate treatment for incontinence and prevention of pressure injuries, the resident developed multiple severe pressure wounds that were inadequately assessed, documented, and treated.

The resident was admitted to the facility with documented skin integrity issues, but the admission progress note indicated "skin is intact; old bruising from fall that caused hospital admission." The resident's Minimum Data Set assessment documented that they were "dependent for transfer and toileting, and requires substantial/maximal assistance of staff for rolling in bed" and "frequently incontinent of urine and bowel."  

About a month after admission, a nursing assistant discovered "an open area on right buttock" while providing evening care. The nurse documented cleansing the area and applying medical-grade honey, but there was no documentation that a physician or family was notified. No formal wound assessment was documented until three days later, when the wound measured 1.3 × 0.6 × 0.1 cm. Eventually this small wound had dramatically worsened, measuring 3.8 × 4.5 cm. Two weeks later, a Wound Nurse Practitioner documented it as a Stage IV pressure ulcer measuring 8.0 × 5.0 × 4.5 cm.

The resident also developed pressure injuries on both heels within three weeks of admission. These were initially documented as "blood blisters to both heels" measuring 1.2 × 1.5 cm on the left heel and 1.2 × 1.0 cm on the right heel. 

Despite orders for daily treatments, the facility's Medication Administration Record showed multiple days where treatments were not documented as completed. Both heels had "leathery black eschar approximately 2.5 inches in diameter."

The resident, who was cognitively intact, reported concerning issues with care, stating: "I put on my call light and very often the aides come in and turn off the call light and then don't return to help me. I have bed sores and they don't change my (adult diaper)." The resident described sitting for extended periods without incontinence care, saying "I (urinated) this morning in therapy and I have sat up in this chair since about 9:00AM without being changed." The resident also reported a specific incident where they "had become incontinent of bowel while standing in therapy" and a nursing assistant "came to resident's room and turned off the call light but did not clean resident." The resident stated it was three hours before they received incontinence care.

These concerns were not isolated incidents. Facility Resident Council Meeting Minutes documented complaints of "call lights taking 30 minutes or longer to be answered" and that "staff often answer the call lights, turn the light off, say they will be back, but then never return to meet the resident's need."

When interviewed, the Wound Nurse Practitioner expressed significant concern, stating "I was very concerned the facility did not report the area on (resident's) ischium until it was a Stage IV (pressure sore)." The Nurse Practitioner confirmed that the pressure ulcers were "avoidable" and that "if I had been aware of the wound on resident's Ischium sooner I could have made recommendations and evaluated and treated before the wound became so extensive."

The Wound Nurse Practitioner had recommended both pressure-relieving boots for the resident's heel wounds and a special low air-loss mattress, but observations showed these interventions were not consistently implemented. A nursing assistant who regularly cared for the resident admitted being unaware of the need for pressure-relieving boots. The resident stated, "the doctor said I should have a special mattress, but I haven't got one."

By the time of the investigation, the situation had become critical. The surveyor observed that the "resident's Ischium/Coccyx wound measured approximately four inches in diameter and three inches deep with malodorous yellow drainage. Muscle and bone were visible. Both heels had leathery black eschar approximately 2.5 inches in diameter."

The situation was deemed so severe that the facility was cited for "Immediate Jeopardy"—the most serious level of violation. 

One of our core beliefs is that nursing homes are built to fail due to the business model they follow and that unnecessary accidental injuries and wrongful deaths of nursing home residents are the inevitable result.  Our experienced Chicago nursing home lawyers are ready to help you understand what happened, why, and what your rights are.  Contact us to get the help you need.                                 

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Once you complete the contact form, you will receive a call from a member of our team getting some additional details about your case. 

You will then be scheduled for a phone call with a lawyer for an initial phone consultation. Assuming that we are both interested in working together, we will schedule a meeting, either in person or by Zoom, to go over the case in detail and sign paperwork to move forward. There is no charge for the phone calls or the initial meeting.  

There are no fees or costs for you until we get a verdict or settlement in your favor. There are no up-front fees or costs, and if we do not get a verdict or settlement, you do not owe us anything.

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I am a former client of the Law Offices of Barry G. Doyle.

My mother fell in her room at her nursing home and broke her leg and her ankle in the fall.  Barry had been recommended to me by a nurse that I was working with, and I am glad that I called.  It turned out that even though everyone knew that my mother was a fall risk, they never did a fall prevention plan like they were supposed to.  That is something that I never would have found out on my own, and the nursing staff never would have told me. 

I was extremely pleased with how Barry handled my Mother’s case against the nursing home. It is amazing how much investigation and work goes into a case like that. Barry worked with intensity, and always kept me up to date in every aspect of the case. I commend Barry’s passion and hard work that brought about a conclusion with a justified settlement.

I am very grateful to him for his excellent service and am happy to recommend him to others.

Marie Gresziak - Former client

About Barry Doyle

Barry Doyle is the head partner and founder of the Law Offices of Barry G. Doyle, P.C.

The law firm was founded in 2004 with two commitments: (1) to aggressively and creatively represent their client’s interests and (2) to keep clients informed of the strengths and weaknesses of their cases so that they can make informed decisions about their cases, consistent with their own values, goals, and tolerance for risk.  

Mr. Doyle practices exclusively in the area of complex personal injury and wrongful death litigation, with a special emphasis on nursing home abuse and neglect lawsuits. Well over half of his professional time is devoted to the prosecution of cases against nursing homes.

He is an accomplished trial lawyer, and has been called upon by continuing legal education organizations to lecture to other lawyers about nursing home and wrongful death litigation. He has multiple publications for consumer and legal audiences. He is a past co-chair of the Tort (Personal Injury) Litigation Committee of the Young Lawyers Section of the Chicago Bar Association and is a former Adjunct Professor at Loyola University of Chicago School of Law.  He is a member of the Illinois State Bar Association, the Illinois Trial Lawyers Association, and the American Association for Justice, where he is a member of the Nursing Home Litigation Group.  Mr. Doyle graduated from the University of Michigan in 1991 and from Loyola University of Chicago School of Law in 1994, with honors.

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I am a former client of the Law Offices of Barry G. Doyle.

and I am happy to recommend their services to anyone who has either been in an accident themselves or who has had a family member injured or killed in an accident. 

My mother was in declining health and after a hospital admission, we as a family made a decision to admit her to a nursing home.  At the time of her passing, she had developed some bed sores and we were concerned that some of the issues we had with the care that she had been getting in the nursing home caused them. 

I contacted Mr. Doyle’s office and arranged for a meeting with him.  Not only is he very easy to talk to, he understood right away what it was we were talking about and why we were upset with the nursing home.  We decided to hire him and that is a decision I am very pleased with. 

He got the medical records in and had them reviewed fairly quickly and explained to me what it was he saw and what the issues were in the case.  With that in mind, we started to negotiate with the insurance company and reached a settlement agreement which was satisfactory to everyone.  When it came time for me to make that decision to go ahead and accept the settlement offer, it was one that I was really comfortable making because he was so clear about explaining to me what the issues were in my mother’s case.  I felt like I was a partner in making the decision – that it wasn’t something that was being made for me. 

Going through this kind of situation is something that I wouldn’t wish on anyone, but you never know what life will bring you, and if you have to go through something like this, hiring Barry Doyle as your lawyer is a smart move – and one you can feel good about.

Joe Valdivia - Former client

Types of Cases Handled

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We lost our mom in a clear case of Senior Care negligence resulting in her premature death. We spoke with 4 different attorneys before choosing Attorney Barry Doyle.

He was the 4th and we clearly made the right choice.  

From day one, Barry showed a more genuine interest in our mom's case than the other 3 lawyers/firms had combined.  

In the 2 years working with Barry thru this complex issue we found him to be honest about the pros and cons of our situation, timely in response to our questions, very knowledgeable in the law we were facing and well respected by the Judges and Adverse attorneys and Insurance Companies. 

This resulted in an overall fair resolution to our mom's passing and is very much appreciated and to be commended,

Thanks Barry for helping us put this issue to rest.

Verle McGee - Former client

Areas Served

Our office serves communities throughout the State of Illinois. We have successfully handled cases in over 40 different counties in Illinois (see MAP) and are ready to bring our expertise in handling nursing home abuse and neglect cases and our reputation as skilled advocates for families to wherever the need calls for it.  We offer free on-line video teleconferencing and on-line document signing capabilities to our clients.  The bottom line: you will never have to travel to Chicago simply to meet with us.

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Barry Doyle did an amazing job with my case involving the nursing home negligence that caused the death of my father.

Barry worked tirelessly to resolve this case and move forward with a settlement without going to trial but was fully prepared had we gone this route.  He was always available and handled the emotional challenges with grace and dignity.  The settlement was very fair and  would not have happened without the leadership and experience from Barry.  I am very grateful for his work and counsel!

Bradley Ryan - Former client

A Record Of Success

We have a record of success in nursing home abuse and neglect cases of all sorts.  These are some of the cases in which we have achieved six-figure settlements through careful investigation and diligent prosecution:

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I am a former client and my husband is a current client of the Law Offices of Barry G. Doyle.

My father died as a result of medical malpractice and Mr. Doyle represented the interests of me, my siblings, and my mother regarding the settlement.  What I liked most about Mr. Doyle and the way that he handled things is that he did a great job explaining how things would proceed and made sure that we were all ready to testify when the time came.  When we finally had the hearing for our case, I felt like I was really ready for what would happen in that court room.   I was really pleased with the result. 

After the case for my father was over, we started to think about a case for my husband involving his hip replacement.  Once we decided that was something that we were going to move ahead with, we knew that Mr. Doyle’s office would be the one that we would call.  We just feel like he is the right choice for our family.  We felt like he did right by us the first time with my dad’s case and had confidence that he would do right by us for my husband’s case too. 

If you have been hurt in an accident, I can’t recommend Law Offices of Barry G. Doyle enough.  Good people, good lawyers.

Norma Johnson - Former client

Your Case Is Important

 Nursing home cases are important cases, not just for the family involved, but also for the families of every resident who is still in the nursing home or may have a loved one admitted to that nursing home.

For you – we can answer the questions that you have about why things happened the way that they did and what could have been done to avoid it.  Too often, we find that the seeds of failure had been planted weeks, if not months, in advance of the events which resulted in the injury to your loved one and that good luck, not good care was the reason that disaster had been avoided for so long before things finally went wrong.

Your case can help other families avoid the same pain that you have been experiencing.  There have been at least three cases we have handled where facility policies were changed or the staff was retrained in light of the things we found during the course of our lawsuit.  Moreover, we firmly believe that by holding the staff accountable for their shortcoming, change happens – and this can be all that is needed to save another family from going through what your family has experienced.

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