## Facts

- Mary Prillmayer, age 78, resided at Heritage Manor, a nursing home owned and operated by Heritage Enterprises, Inc.
- Two certified nurse’s aides (CNAs) attempted to transfer Prillmayer from a wheelchair to a bed using a mechanical Hoyer lift.
- During the transfer, Prillmayer fell about 18 inches, struck the lift’s bar, and fractured the tibia and fibula in both legs.
- The facility reported the incident to the Illinois Department of Public Health; an investigator concluded the fall was due to no fault of the facility or staff.
- Prillmayer died about two weeks later from causes not alleged to be related to the fall.
- The estate sued, alleging (as ultimately tried) a claim under the Illinois Nursing Home Care Act for negligent failure to provide “adequate” care, based on asserted errors in lift use, staff positioning, supervision, training, and equipment.

## Issues

1. In a Nursing Home Care Act claim based on CNAs’ routine custodial care, should the jury be instructed under ordinary negligence or professional negligence (medical-malpractice-style) standards?
2. Did the trial court commit reversible error by instructing that breach could be found only from expert testimony applying a “reasonably well-qualified CNA” professional standard?

## Decision

- The appellate court reversed the defense verdict and remanded for a new trial.
- It held that ordinary negligence instructions applied to the claim because it concerned routine custodial care by CNAs, not professional medical judgment.
- It found error in giving professional negligence instructions requiring jurors to decide negligence only from expert testimony and not from common knowledge.
- It concluded the instructional error was prejudicial because it altered the governing standard of care and could have affected the verdict.

## Legal Principles

- A Nursing Home Care Act claim alleging failure to provide “adequate” physical or personal care is governed by ordinary negligence when based on routine custodial tasks rather than medical or professional judgment.
- Professional negligence (medical malpractice) instructions are appropriate only when the claim involves a licensed profession and specialized standards beyond ordinary juror understanding.
- For routine caregiving conduct, jurors may evaluate reasonableness using common experience; expert testimony may be used but is not the exclusive basis for determining breach.
- Misstating the standard of care through jury instructions is reversible error when it likely affected how the jury assessed liability.

## Conclusion

The court held that CNA conduct during a routine patient transfer under the Nursing Home Care Act must be judged by ordinary negligence, and it ordered a new trial because professional-negligence, expert-only jury instructions improperly constrained the jury and misstated the applicable standard of care.


Myers v. Heritage Enters., Inc., 820 N.E.2d 604 (Ill. App. Ct. 4th Dist. 2004)