Evercare at Edwardsville: Dialysis Denied for Weeks - IL
The resident, identified in inspection records as Resident 2, had end-stage renal disease, meaning her kidneys had permanently failed and dialysis was not optional. It was keeping her alive. When she finally reached the hospital on October 20, her lab work told the story of what two weeks without treatment had done to her body.
Her potassium had climbed to 6.2 milliequivalents per liter. Normal is between 3.4 and 5.0. Elevated potassium at that level can trigger fatal heart arrhythmias. Her BUN, a measure of how much waste her blood was carrying, had reached 74. Normal tops out at 25. Her creatinine, another marker of kidney function and waste buildup, was 9.17, against a normal ceiling of 1.02.
Hospital records from that day noted that the nursing facility had been contacted, and a nurse there told hospital staff they had not been able to set up outpatient hemodialysis sessions before the resident transferred to the facility. The record described Resident 2 as "asymptomatic" at that point, but noted she needed dialysis. She told hospital staff she had not received dialysis since arriving at Evercare. She said she was not sure why.
She was admitted to the hospital for five days.
When inspectors spoke with her attending physician, he said he had checked on her the day before her hospitalization and her labs looked acceptable given that she was a dialysis patient. He said he was not informed she was not receiving dialysis. If he had known, he said, he would have sent her to the hospital for treatment.
Nobody had told him.
Resident 2 was discharged back to Evercare on October 25, according to her hospital records. Her discharge diagnoses included hyperkalemia, end-stage renal disease requiring dialysis, hypertension, and insulin-dependent diabetes.
The deficiency was cited under a federal tag that requires facilities to notify a resident's physician promptly when there is a significant change in condition, a need to alter treatment, or a situation that requires physician intervention. Inspectors rated the violation as causing minimal harm or potential for actual harm, and noted it affected a few residents.
That rating sits near the bottom of the federal harm scale. Whether it fully accounts for two weeks without dialysis and a five-day hospitalization is a question the rating system itself cannot answer.
What the inspection record makes clear is the gap between what the facility's own policy promised and what happened. The facility's change-of-condition policy, undated, stated that staff would inform residents and consult with the physician when there was a significant change in physical status, a life-threatening condition, or a need to alter treatment significantly, including a need to stop or start a form of treatment. A dialysis-dependent patient arriving at a facility that had not arranged for her dialysis to continue would seem to fit more than one of those categories.
The physician said he was not informed. Resident 2 said she did not know why she was not receiving treatment. The hospital noted that the facility acknowledged it had not set up the sessions before she arrived.
Five days in the hospital. Potassium at a level that can stop a heart. A doctor who said he would have acted if anyone had called him.
Nobody called.
Full Inspection Report
The details above represent a summary of key findings. View the complete inspection report for Evercare At Edwardsville from 2025-10-30 including all violations, facility responses, and corrective action plans.
Additional Resources
Data source: Official federal inspection data from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).
Editorial process: AI-synthesized regulatory data, reviewed for accuracy by our editorial team.
Professional review: All content reviewed by Christopher F. Nesbitt, Sr., NH EMT & BU-trained Paralegal.
Last verified: June 23, 2026 · Our methodology
EVERCARE AT EDWARDSVILLE in EDWARDSVILLE, IL was cited for violations during a health inspection on October 30, 2025.
When she finally reached the hospital on October 20, her lab work told the story of what two weeks without treatment had done to her body.
Health inspections identify deficiencies that facilities must correct. Violations range from minor documentation issues to serious safety concerns. Review the full report below for specific details and facility response.