(210 ILCS 28/20)

Sec. 20. Reviews of nursing home resident sexual assaults and deaths.

(a) Every case of sexual assault of a nursing home resident that the Department determined to be valid shall be reviewed by the review team for the region that has primary case management responsibility.

(b) Every death of a nursing home resident shall be reviewed by the review team for the region that has primary case management responsibility, if the deceased resident is one of the following:

(1) A person whose death is reviewed by the Department during any regulatory activity, whether or not there were any federal or State violations.

(2) A person about whose care the Department received a complaint alleging that the resident's care violated federal or State standards so as to contribute to the resident's death.

(3) A resident whose death is referred to the Department for investigation by a local coroner, medical examiner, or law enforcement agency.

A review team may, at its discretion, review other sudden, unexpected, or unexplained nursing home resident deaths. The Department shall bring such deaths to the attention of the teams when it determines that doing so will help to achieve the purposes of this Act.

(c) A review team's purpose in conducting reviews of resident sexual assaults and deaths is to do the following:

(1) Assist in determining the cause and manner of the resident's assault or death, when requested.

(2) Evaluate means, if any, by which the assault or death might have been prevented.

(3) Report its findings to the Director and make recommendations that may help to reduce the number of sexual assaults on and unnecessary deaths of nursing home residents.

(4) Promote continuing education for professionals involved in investigating, treating, and preventing nursing home resident abuse and neglect as a means of preventing sexual assaults and unnecessary deaths of nursing home residents.

(5) Make specific recommendations to the Director concerning the prevention of sexual assaults and unnecessary deaths of nursing home residents and the establishment of protocols for investigating resident sexual assaults and deaths.

(d) A review team must review the sexual assault or death cases submitted to it on a quarterly basis. The review team must meet at least once in each calendar quarter if there are cases to be reviewed. The Department shall forward cases pursuant to subsections (a) and (b) of this Section within 120 days after completion of the investigation.

(e) Within 90 days after receiving recommendations made by a review team under item (5) of subsection (c), the Director must review those recommendations and respond to the review team. The Director shall implement recommendations as feasible and appropriate and shall respond to the review team in writing to explain the implementation or nonimplementation of the recommendations.

(f) In any instance when a review team does not operate in accordance with established protocol, the Director, in consultation and cooperation with the Executive Council, must take any necessary actions to bring the review team into compliance with the protocol.

(Source: P.A. 93-577, eff. 8-21-03; 94-931, eff. 6-26-06.)