Choking Is Preventable With Appropriate Diet and Attentive Caregivers

Choking is a terribly frightening and distressing experience, and can lead to death. Knowing that your loved one choked in a nursing home is heartbreaking. You are right to demand answers if your loved one died or suffered brain damage because of a choking “accident” in a nursing home or assisted living facility. A detailed investigation should uncover answers to questions such as these:

• Did your loved one receive the proper level of supervision to safely eat or drink?
• If the choking incident took place in a dining area, was there enough staff present to keep all residents safe?
• If the choking incident took place in the resident’s room or apartment, was he or she inappropriately left alone to eat?
• Was your family member served the correct diet?
• If a doctor or dietician had ordered soft or pureed food but the facility served chunky food, did the food consistency cause the choking episode?
• Even if your elderly or disabled mother, father or other relative was served pureed food as ordered, was food from other residents available because of poor supervision?
• When a choking incident occurred, did staff fail to respond appropriately with a call to 9-1-1, CPR, or a Heimlich maneuver rescue attempt in a timely manner?

Action Plan

If you believe that a nursing home is providing inadequate care or causing harm to you or a loved one:

1. Document everything that occurs, including noting what you see, say, and hear: the nursing home staff are documenting, you should too. Don’t let their version be the only written version of events.
2. Talk to the dietician and the dietary manager about the food that is being served, watching to ensure that the right consistency (mechanical soft, pureed, etc.) is being served and that no other resident with food that would be dangerous to you or your loved one is seated nearby during meals.
3. Complain to the administrator, director of nursing, assistant director of nursing, and any other management or charge nurse who might have the ability to correct the problems you experience.
4. Report the poor care, intentional bad acts, and neglect to the Illinois Department of Public Health. Be specific, detailed and complete.
5. Call Konicek & Dillon, P.C., if you believe that you or a loved one has been injured due to nursing home negligence.

After A Choking Injury In A Nursing Home, Contact The Geneva Plaintiffs’ Lawyers of Konicek & Dillon, P.C.

If your loved one suffered an asphyxiation injury or died after choking in a nursing home, our skilled attorneys can help you hold accountable those who were negligent. It may have been the upper management who decided to cut staffing to dangerously low levels. It may have been a care manager who allowed the wrong diet to be served or to be accessible to him or her. We are on your side and can evaluate your case. Know your rights. Schedule a free consultation with one of our Geneva nursing home negligence attorneys by calling 630-313-2071 or in Chicago, 312-239-0283. You can also contact us online.