WEST RIDGE — Staff members at an Anixter Center group home failed to properly care for a developmentally disabled elderly man who choked to death on a chunk of hamburger in November, according to a lawsuit filed by the man's sister.
Loren Braun, 61, had lived at a group home in the 5600 block of North Rockwell Avenue since 1997. His older sister, Barbara Chyette, said he had a strict care plan that included instructions on how the toothless Braun should be fed.
"It’s something way beyond my understanding," said Chyette when reached by phone in Ohio. "All I can say is I would sit next to him and I break up his food. My brother needs to be watched or he would choke to death. And then this happened."
Braun and his seven housemates were under constant supervision at the home, Chyette said.
On Nov. 1, the group went on a trip and ate at the McDonald's at Ridge and Devon avenues in Edgewater, according to Chyette's attorney, Margaret Battersby. When the group returned to the group home, Braun was found unresponsive inside the center's van with a hamburger lodged in his throat, according to the suit.
The suit alleges an inattentive and negligent staff was to blame.
The Anixter Center did not respond to messages requesting comment on the lawsuit.
Chyette said her only brother had lived with their father in Chicago until he became ill in 1997. Then he moved to the group home.
She said her brother was developmentally disabled and in his teen years was diagnosed with schizophrenia, which worsened his ability to live on his own.
Chyette, 67, said she would visit him six or seven times a year.
She said Braun enjoyed rock and roll music and eating new foods.
Even before he died, Chyette said she had concerns about the quality of care her brother was receiving and began to look at other places for him to live.
She said she had meetings set up with other homes later in November before he died.
"I was always the protector of my brother from when he was very young," she said. "My father, his wish was I would always take care of Loren. ... I think he would have been pleased."
The suit seeks in excess of $50,000 in damages.
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