Blog Post

Nursing Home Faces Abuse Lawsuit


May 30, 2008
Topic: Nursing Home Abuse

The new one-year-old management at the Berkshire Nursing and Rehab center at Roosevelt Road in Forest Park, Illinois is already getting a feel for what happens when patients under its care are ill treated. A former patient at the facility is suing the center for $50,000, and is alleging that staff at the center are not adequately trained or supervised to take care of patients.

The patient, 82-year-old Herbert Wik, has accused a staff member at the Berkshire Nursing and Rehab Center of nursing home abuse, jabbing him in the eyes with such force that it detached his retina, leading him to undergo surgery. The nursing home abuse incident happened on December 10, the plaintiff says. He has since then transferred himself to another facility.

Berkshire Nursing and Rehab is no stranger to legal troubles arising out of nursing home abuse and other violations. Under its former management, the 232 bed home had always found itself at the bottom of the heap when it comes to violations. The management spent most of their time battling the numerous cases that were brought by patients and their families, and paid heavy fines imposed by the Illinois Department of Public Health. In 2007, the nursing home found itself on a list of the 120 worst nursing homes in the country.

When the home went on the market in July last year, a management group stepped in to take over. David Berkowitz, a member of the group, was appointed as administrator of the Berkshire Nursing and Rehab. Soon after the management change, the number of nursing home abuse complaints against Berkshire Nursing and Rehab went down, the management insists.

Berkowitz, who claims surprise at the allegations of nursing home abuse, claims that he is not aware of the lawsuit. He also says that safety and health standards at his center are the highest they have been, with a marked improvement from the previous management.

Obviously, the turnaround has not been as dramatic as we would have hoped. Apparently, the staff thought nothing of using force to handle Herbert Wik. The center's defense against the allegations of nursing home abuse now include the lame plea that Wik jabbed himself in the eye. Why he would do such a thing to himself is entirely unclear. They say that they have orders not to restrain patients under any condition, and that this means that a staff employee could not have injured Wik. Wik, Berkowitz, says was a combative resident, and refused care.

Of course he was. He was 82-years-old. People who cross a certain age display behavior characteristics that may seem out of the ordinary, or aggressive even. There is a way to handle patients like Wik, and it certainly does not involve jabbing them in the eye. This is why people trust nursing homes for their aged parents, because they believe that the staffs there are trained to handle increasingly childish, sensitive and fragile people who are in the twilight of their lives. When the staff is clueless about patient handling, who, you wonder, takes care of the patients?

Regardless of whether Berkshire Nursing and Rehab has cleaned up its act or not, any complaint against it should seriously investigated. If the new management at Berkshire Nursing and Rehab wants to avoid any rerun of the old sorry state of affairs at the center, it will have to face up to its responsibility in the assault against Herbert Wik, instead of indulging in silly mud slinging.

If you have a loved one who has been the victim of nursing home abuse, you need the help of an experienced California personal injury lawyer. Contact an attorney at The Reeves Law Group for a free consultation.


The California personal injury attorneys at The Reeves Law Group represent victims of accidents, injuries and wrongful death throughout California from our offices in Los Angeles County, Orange County, San Diego County, Riverside County, San Bernardino County, Ventura County, Fresno County, Kern County, Sacramento County, San Fernando Valley, Long Beach, Antelope Valley, Torrance, Glendale, Bakersfield, Santa Ana, San Jose, San Francisco, Oakland, Ontario, and Victorville.