South Carolina Nursing Home Blog : South Carolina Nursing Home Lawyer & Attorney : Poliakoff & Associates Law Firm : Elderly Care, Senior Care

Ventura County Reporter had an article about the recent verdict involving abuse of a resident in a nursing home.  A  jury compensated the family of a 71-year-old stroke victim who filed an elder abuse lawsuit against the Fillmore Convalescent Center.  The trial, which featured a videotape of the woman being abused, lasted 22 days. The jury deliberated for two days before announcing the verdict: $2.75 million in actual damages and $5 million in punitives.  The verdict splits liability among three defendants: the center, 40 percent; owner Eduardo Gonzalez, 40 percent; and Garcia, 20 percent.

Johnson said he offered to settle the case with the center in July for $500,000.   “They never offered me one dime,” he said. “They never offered to go to mediation, nothing. There was a lot of arrogance.”

In 2006, Maria Arellano, 71, was a resident with brusies of unknown origin that family members discovered during a visit. They complained to management but the nursing home refused to  investigate. So the family set up a hidden video camera on a side table in her room.

The camera caught employee Monica Garcia slapping Arellano, pulling her around by the hair, bending her neck, fingers and wrists, and treating her violently in a shower chair.  During the ordeal at the center, the Arellano family met another resident, Daniel Sanchez, 83, who was staying across the hall. His family suspected he, too, was being abused.

“The Sanchez family, they found bruises and hair pulling,” said Johnson, who’s filed a lawsuit on the family’s behalf that is slated for trial in January. “Mr. Daniel Sanchez has since died. They (Arellano and Sanchez) were both stroke victims who were non-verbal.”

About two weeks ago, Fillmore Convalescent received a five-star rating, the highest, from the Nursing Home Compare system, run by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

“The five-star rating doesn’t always reflect what’s going on today or what went on yesterday,” Stein said.

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The Columbus Dispatch had an article about the tragic case of Peter Southard who died from a lack of water.  A mild stroke had left him debilitated, forgetful and always in need of water to drink. He died two days after leaving Whetstone Gardens & Care Center in 2005.  A jury found that his care was deficient and negligent and compensated his family for his wrongful death in the amount of $6.5 million.  Jurors found the nursing home solely responsible for Southard's death

"He could be told to take a drink of water and 10 minutes later forget the conversation," said Gerald Leeseberg, attorney for Southard's widow. "He lived moment to moment."

Diana Southard had cared for her husband since the stroke in 1984.   "After Peter suffered a brain aneurysm in 1984, my priority in life was taking care of my husband," Diana Southard said . "When I returned from this particular respite, I was devastated to see the shape he was in.

 She occasionally admitted him to a nursing home to give herself a break.  In May 2005, she took him to the Whetstone center.  When she returned 15 days later, she found the 61-year-old Navy veteran incontinent with clothes strewn about his room and a bloody rash on his groin from urine-soaked bedding.

"Two days later, he passed away as a result of the lack of care he received while I was away. I lost the love of my life." Doctors said he died of dehydration that caused kidney failure.

The nine-day trial included testimony from doctors who said the care at the nursing home fell below minimum standards and from aides who said they were never told of Southard's critical need for water.  A glass of water was left by his TV stand. But brain damage had left Southard both thirsty and forgetful, which meant that someone had to make sure he drank enough water by watching him do it.

Jurors awarded Southard $500,000 for his pain and suffering before death and $6 million to his wife, their two daughters and three grandchildren for compensatory damages and mental anguish.

Attorneys for Whetstone argued that the dehydration death probably was the result of diarrhea after he left the nursing home.   They also countersued Southard's primary-care physician, claiming negligent care and instruction.

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An Arizona jury awarded a landmark verdict of $11 million to the widow of a 36-year-old man with traumatic brain injury who died after ingesting foreign objects while in the care of Liberty Manor Residency, a Phoenix assisted living facility. The verdict included $2 million for the decedent, $5 million for the wife and $4 million in punitive damages. It was the largest verdict ever awarded against an assisted living facility in the United States.

Earl Scherrer suffered a severe traumatic brain injury as a result of a car accident in 1996.  He lapsed into a coma and was not expected to recover.  Despite doctors' assessment that Mr. Scherrer's condition was permanent, Lydia Scherrer refused to disconnect her husband's life support.  Earl Scherrer remained in a coma for 16 months before he began to slowly emerge.  With his wife's nurturing and support, he slowly started to speak, albeit slowly.  Mrs. Scherrer worked with her husband day after day, using first-and second-grade reading and math textbooks and other elementary learning tools to stimulate his brain function and coax him to reach his full potential.

Lydia Scherrer devoted many hours per week to her husband's recovery, but she also had to work and was forced to turn to assisted living and residential facilities to provide the 24-hour care her husband needed. For years, she visited him faithfully on her days off, every Tuesday and Wednesday, checking him out of the facility and taking him home.

On April 7, 2006, Mrs. Scherrer placed her husband in Liberty Manor Residency, a facility that purported to provide 24-hour supervision of its residents.  One month later - on May 7, 2006 - she received a call saying her husband had been vomiting.  Mrs. Scherrer rushed over to Liberty Manor, brought her husband home and gave him a bath. Within a matter of minutes, he began vomiting black matter and died in her arms.

Autopsy results showed a number of items - including plastic bags, unopened catsup packets, candy wrappers and paper towels - were found in Earl Scherrer's stomach and small intestines. The medical examiner determined these foreign objects were significant contributing factors to his death. The autopsy read in part, "hypertensive heart disease due to mechanical obstruction of the GI [gastrointestinal tract] from the foreign objects."

Lydia Scherrer brought claims against Liberty Manor for abuse and neglect, wrongful death and punitive damages.

At trial, it came to light that Liberty Manor made numerous false entries in its charts with respect to Earl Scherrer's care, including notations of care on days when Mrs. Scherrer had checked him out of the facility.  Liberty Manor was also unable to produce Mr. Scherrer's alleged caregiver, an employee named Raul.

"Lydia Scherrer did not walk away from her husband, in life or in death," said her attorney, Craig Knapp. "Her hope is that this verdict will force the assisted living facility industry to set and meet higher standards of care for their residents, resulting in enhanced protections for the defenseless individuals trusted to the care of others.

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A couple of weeks ago there was a  nursing home trial over in Tallulah, Louisiana. Tallulah is a small town about 20 miles west of Vicksburg, MS.

After a five-day trial, on Friday, November 2, 2007, a 12-person jury found that the nursing home committed medical malpractice and awarded the plaintiff $250,000 in survival damages and $500,000 in wrongful death damages. The jury also found that the nursing home was negligent in failing to clean Mr. Nelms of his own waste, and awarded the plaintiff an additional $250,000 on that basis.

The lawsuit was styled Everline King, Individually and on behalf of the Estate of Leon Nelms v. Brown Development, Inc. d/b/a Olive Branch Senior Care and D. Brown Enterprises, Inc., Case No. 05-348.

In the two months preceding his nursing home stay, Mr. Nelms lived in his daughter’s home without suffering any significant injuries or complications attributable to his declining health condition. Twenty-six days after entering Olive Branch Senior Care, however, he had to be transferred to a local hospital due to Stage IV infected pressure sores, weight loss, malnutrition, and dehydration. He died six days later as a result of his infected pressure sores, one of which was so advanced that it went to the bone and was infected with his own feces. Mr. Nelms was 84 years old at the time of his death.

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