Family Of Bolingbrook Man Who Died At Nursing Home Files Suit

BOLINGBROOK, IL — The family of a Bolingbrook man is suing a Forest Park nursing home after the man bled to death at the facility — and after an employee at the nursing home allegedly stole his iPhone after he died.

Jaime Hernandez, 66, was recovering from a kidney transplant at Aperion Care Forest Park nursing home in Forest Park. In the afternoon of Oct. 25, Hernandez was found dead in a bathroom after bleeding out, according to law firm Levin & Perconti.

According to the family, staff at the nursing home failed to regularly check in on Hernandez, with staff knowing that the man was at risk of blood loss in his left forearm due to a "circulatory condition," the law firm said in a state.

“He was very determined to get better after years of dialysis and then the transplant,” Hernandez's daughter, Maria Gutierrez, said in a statement. “This was his second chance at life. He told me in Spanish “I’m going to win,’ but he did not get proper care there. He died there –alone—on the bathroom floor.”

A doctor's order required staff to check his left forearm three times daily for any signs of infection or abnormality, but records show that missed that criteria at least 48 times since Hernandez began his stay on Oct. 8, according to Margaret Battersby Black, the lawyer with Levin & Perconti that is representing the Hernandez family.

Nursing home staff allegedly told police that they had checked on Hernandez within two hours of his death, but surveillance footage examined by police showed that the patient was not checked in on in three hours, Battersby Black said in a statement.

After going to retrieve his belongings, the Hernandez family found that Jaime's iPhone was missing. Family was able to use GPS tracking apps to find the phone, which showed it traveling for the Dan Ryan Expressway, the lawyer said.

Police determined the employee who stole the phone was a man with warrants out of Iowa for theft and dependent adult abuse, among other charges, according to Battersby Black.

The Aperion facility in Forest Park has run had run-ins with regulators before. It is one of a number of Illinois nursing homes considered "much below average" by the federal government this year. Thirteen Aperion facilities in Illinois earned that designation, according to the list.

The Illinois Department of Public Health has cited the facility in Hernandez's death, saying workers failed to properly report the incident, according to the law firm. The department listed the death as "an unusual occurrence, not an injury (or death)," the law firm said.

Lawyers for Levin & Perconti filed the suit on behalf of Hernandez's widow and five children. The suit, seeking monetary damages, cites 17 specific failures at the nursing home and claims the death has caused Hernandez's next of kin grief and "mental suffering."

A spokesperson for Aperion did not respond to a request for comment Monday.