Chicago Nursing Home Owner Fined Just $1,500 for 3 Heatwave Deaths
SLAP ON THE WRIST
The owner of the James Sneider Apartments senior home in Chicago has been fined just $1,500 after three residents died on May 14 because the building kept the heat on during a heatwave. The autopsy reports for all three women—Janice Reed, 68, Gwendolyn Osborne, 72, and Delores McNeely, 76—indicated that they died from “environmental heat exposure due to hot residential building during heat-related weather event.” The fines, reached via settlement, stemmed from about 11 code violations discovered in the aftermath of the deaths in the 90-degree heatwave, including an air conditioning unit on the roof that “does not appear suitable for exterior use,” according to the Chicago Sun-Times. The Buildings Department reportedly did not have the autopsies when they reached the settlement with the owner, the Hispanic Housing Development Corporation. Meanwhile, a spokesperson for the Chicago Police Department told the outlet that their probe “was concluded as non-criminal.”