Lemont Nursing Home Denial Contradicts Medical Examiner's Finding

LEMONT, IL — As Patch previously reported, on March 27, the Cook County Medical Examiner's Office confirmed a 65-year-old woman with an address associated with Franciscan Village had died from the coronavirus. On March 30, Franciscan Village posted a letter on their website titled, "The FACTS in Response to the Patch Article posted on 03/28/2020."

In the letter, vice president of clinical services Kathy Kelly writes, "There was much confusion and fear created by the article posted by the Lemont Patch which identified a resident of Independent Living or Assisted Living at Franciscan Village as having passed away from the virus. That is NOT true."

Patch did not refer to the woman as a resident of the facility, but correctly reported that the medical examiner's office listed an address for her on Franciscan Drive, which is the address of Franciscan Village, an assisted and independent senior living facility in Lemont. But earlier this month, Franciscan Village said in a statement that "to date we have had one positive exposure identified in one of our communities in a resident who was with us for a brief time. The resident has been hospitalized since 3/22/2020, due to a medical condition."

In an email to Patch after the woman's death, the facility also called her a resident, stating, "We are unaware if this former resident passed due to the virus or her other conditions."

The letter states that the woman was a short-term rehab patient at Mother Theresa Skilled Nursing and Rehabilitation Center. The rehabilitation center is one of the facilities located within Franciscan Village.

The letter from Franciscan Village details the woman's medical history and states she went out to a doctor's appointment March 2. At the appointment, it was found the woman needed to be readmitted to the hospital for wound issues. The woman stayed at the hospital until March 18, when she was readmitted back to Mother Theresa, a facility within Franciscan Village. She stayed in a private room, which Patch reported earlier this month.

The woman was sent back to the hospital March 22 due to a fever.

"In consultation with the local health department, we followed their guidance in terms of additional precautions/protection for staff and residents with a confirmed case having resided in the building. Their recommendations, at this time, are to continue monitoring all residents and staff in all levels of care. There is no recommendation to test anyone for the COVID-19 virus unless they would become symptomatic," Kelly wrote.

The statement posted on the Franciscan Village website was similar to the one sent to Patch via email, but it referred to the woman as a "patient" instead of a "resident."

"We are unaware if this former patient passed due to the COVID-19 virus or her multiple pre-existing conditions," Kelly said.

In its March 27 article, Patch reported the medical examiner's findings, which stated, "The woman died as a result of septic shock due to the coronavirus infection with high blood pressure, psoriatic arthritis and complications of right knee surgery as contributing factors."

Information from the Cook County Medical Examiner's Office is public information and any member of the public can file a FOIA request to receive that information. The below screenshot is taken from the daily case ledger of the office of the medical examiner for the morning of March 27. The below information was given in a list of all of the autopsies the medical examiner's officer performed. The name of the woman has been removed to protect her family's privacy. The information lists the doctor who performed the autopsy, the address of the incident, the address of the woman, the time of death and the place of death.

In a follow-up email also sent on March 27, the Cook County Medical Examiner's Office confirmed eight additional coronavirus infection deaths. One of the eight deaths was a 65-year-old woman with an address associated with Franciscan Village. The exact email text can be found below:

"#ME2020-01663: 65-year-old woman died as a result of septic shock due to COVID-19 infection with hypertensive cardiovascular disease, psoriatic arthritis and complications of right knee surgery as contributing factors. The manner of death is natural. The woman was pronounced dead March 26 in Chicago."

Kelly wrote that no additional residents or staff members are exhibiting any signs of infection, and there are no cases in staff members or residents.

Editor's Note: In these difficult times, facts are more important than ever. To claim the truth is a lie is not only misleading to the public, but it is extremely dangerous as well.