In the Courts: Trial Court Did Not Err in Instructing Jury on Professional Negligence

​The Appellate Court of Illinois, first district, has found that a trial court did not err in instructing the jury on both institutional negligence and professional negligence, affirming judgment in favor of the defendant nursing home.

The decedent was 90 years old when she broke her right arm and both thumbs in an accident at her home. She was treated at a hospital, then discharged to the nursing home. During her two-week stay at the nursing home, the patient was in a "sad or anxious mood." By a week and a half into her stay, she had pressure ulcers with damage to underlying tissue and "partial loss of skin or a shallow skin crater or both," as well as frequent bladder and bowel incontinence. She had also deteriorated cognitively. After discharge from the nursing home, she was returned to the hospital, where she was diagnosed with failure to thrive and infection. She died two weeks after...