Illinois Considers Death Reporting Law
Champaign County Coroner Duane Northrup investigated the May 2007 death of Mary Coombes at an Urbana hospital. The investigation revealed that septic shock killed Ms. Coombes and was the result of inadequate treatment of a bedsore at Pleasant Meadows Christian Village nursing home in Chrisman, Illinois. His complaint to the Illinois Department of Public Health led to an investigation, which uncovered quality of care problems at the facility. The end result? A $52,500 state fine.
The States of Missouri and Arkansas require all nursing home deaths be reported to local coroners for possible investigation. The State of Illinois does not currently have that law but is considering it. A year long study involving the Illinois counties of Morgan, Champaign, Effingham, Kane, Kankakee, Lake, LaSalle, Lee, McLean, and McHenry has just concluded. Nursing homes in the counties surveyed were instructed to report all resident deaths to the local coroner. Of the 3,669 nursing home deaths, eight suspicious deaths were reported in which investigators for the State of Illinois were able to verify care problems. Coroners were to investigate by phone, fax, or in person to determine if abuse or neglect contributed to a resident death.
Some coroners felt that the study was flawed because it was done using counties where most coroners investigate nursing home deaths. It was felt that there may be less abuse and/or neglect in counties where facilities know that substandard care could be discovered by the coroner. Many coroners would like to see such a law enacted to help prevent cases of passive neglect. The Illinois Coroner's Association is reportedly not going to push for legislation at this time because the results of the pilot project were not strong and such a law probably would not be state-funded.
