5 Ways Nursing Home Understaffing Can Cause Patient Death

 Posted on January 23, 2026 in Nursing Home Neglect

When you place a loved one in a nursing home, you trust that facility to provide safe, attentive care. Unfortunately, understaffing at nursing homes is a serious problem across the country, including in Illinois. Understaffing happens when nursing homes try to save money by hiring fewer workers than they need. 

When facilities do not have enough people on duty, residents can easily get into life-threatening situations. If you have a loved one in a nursing home in 2026, our Des Plaines nursing home neglect attorney can help you understand the risks and your legal options.

Staff members become overwhelmed trying to care for too many residents at once. Important tasks get delayed, and residents can be unattended for hours. The result can be tragic. Below are five common ways that nursing home understaffing can lead to patient deaths.

Choking is a Common Hazard for the Elderly 

Many nursing home residents need help eating safely. People naturally have a harder time swallowing as they get older, and some have extra trouble because of strokes, dementia, or Parkinson's disease. Many residents need careful supervision during meals in case they choke.

Choking can kill a person in minutes. If no one notices right away or if help arrives too late, residents can die from a lack of oxygen. Under the Illinois Nursing Home Care Act (210 ILCS 45), facilities must provide enough staff to meet each resident's needs, including help with eating safely.

Unsupervised Residents Can Wander Into Danger

Residents with dementia or confusion often wander. They may try to leave the building or just get lost inside the facility. Exit alarms only work if staff members are available to respond when alarms go off. If residents get out of buildings in extreme weather, they can die from exposure to heat or cold. 

Others fall down stairs, walk into traffic, or get injured in areas they should not be able to access. With enough staffing, workers can watch these residents and respond quickly when someone goes missing.

Nursing Home Understaffing Leads to Medication Errors

Many nursing home residents take several medications every day. These medications must be given at the right time, in the right dose, and to the right person. Staff must also watch for drug interactions and dangerous side effects.

Overworked nurses can rush through medication rounds and give the wrong medication, give double doses, miss doses entirely, or fail to notice a bad reaction. Medication errors can cause strokes, heart attacks, internal bleeding, and organ failure. Some mistakes kill residents within hours. Others start slow declines that end in death weeks or months later.

Nursing Home Residents Are at High Risk for Infections

When facilities are understaffed, residents may not get bathed often enough. Wounds do not get cleaned and monitored. Bedsores happen when residents sit or lie in the same position too long, and these wounds easily become infected. Urinary tract infections can happen when residents cannot get to the bathroom consistently or when catheters are not maintained correctly. If residents cannot get the breathing treatments they need, they might get pneumonia.

For elderly residents with weak immune systems, minor infections can quickly become life-threatening. Sepsis, a blood infection, can kill within days if not treated immediately.

Understaffing Leads to Falls for Nursing Home Residents

According to the National Institute on Aging, falls are the leading cause of injury-related deaths in older people. Many nursing home residents need help moving around safely. Understaffed facilities cannot respond quickly enough when residents need help moving. Many residents will try to get up alone rather than wait for help. They fall trying to reach the bathroom, get out of bed, or move from a chair. They are then left on the floor for long periods while they wait for someone to come help them.

Falls can cause broken hips, head injuries, and internal bleeding. For frail elderly residents, even a "minor" fall can be the beginning of the end. Head injuries are especially dangerous.

Call a DuPage County Nursing Home Neglect Lawyer Today

If your loved one died because of poor staffing at an Illinois nursing home, you may have grounds for a wrongful death claim. The lawyers at Grauer & Kriegel, LLC understand how devastating and frustrating these situations are for families. We have decades of experience and have won over $150 million for clients. Our practicing lawyer is willing to aggressively fight cases and go to trial.  Contact our Des Plaines nursing home abuse attorney at 847-240-9010 today for a free consultation.