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

The Sacramento Bee reported a $29 million nursing home abuse and neglect verdict upheld by the Court in California.  A Sacramento Superior Court judge upheld a $29 million verdict against Horizon West Healthcare in the 2005 death of a resident, Frances Tanner.  The case revolved around the last months in the life of Tanner, 79, a retired public servant who worked for agencies including the FBI and the Internal Revenue Service. Tanner had mild dementia when she moved into Colonial Healthcare. Seven months later, after a fall that resulted in a hip fracture that went undiagnosed for days, she was dead of an infected bed sore.

Judge Candee said "overwhelming" and "devastatingly powerful" evidence in the trial in May supported the jury's verdict and damage awards against Horizon, which owns 33 nursing homes.  The judge called the trial "a classic demonstration of how well the jury system works."  Candee said panel members were unimpressed by the testimony of staffers of Colonial Healthcare in Auburn, one of Horizon's facilities, who came across as "overworked, untrained and uncaring."

Testimony proved that Horizon West Healthcare illegally understaffs its facilities and runs its business "based, time and again, predominantly on a concern for the bottom line" instead of compassionate patient care, Candee wrote. He said the jury clearly intended to "discourage future wrongful conduct" in awarding $28 million in punitive damages.

The jury ruled that Horizon and Colonial committed elder abuse and awarded $1.1 million in damages for Tanner's pain and suffering and for her daughter's loss of companionship. A day later, after hearing evidence about the corporation's finances including its net worth of about $200 million, the panel made the $28 million punitive award.

Candee reduced the pain and suffering damages to $800,000. Including $1.2 million in attorney's fees, the total judgment is for $29.1 million, believed to be the largest ever for an elder abuse case in Sacramento County.

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The Toldeo Blade reported a significant verdict in a recent nursing home trial in Michigan.  The family of Burr Needham,  who died in 2002 of a morphine overdose while undergoing physical therapy at Mercy Memorial Nursing Center, has been compensated $4.85 million by a jury aftera three-week trial with the jury finding that a doctor and nurses were negligent.

Mr. Needham's family filed a civil lawsuit in 2005 against the home, contending that Dr. Arun Gupta and five nurses were responsible for the overdose of the painkiller administered to Mr. Needham after he entered the center April 26, 2002. 

The Wayne County medical examiner said the May 2, 2002, death of Mr. Needham was caused by acute morphine intoxication and ruled his death a homicide. The jury determined that nursing home staff were professionally negligent in the care and treatment of the 76-year-old man.

Court records showed that the jury awarded $3 million of the judgement to Mrs. Needham for the noneconomic loss of society and companionship she experienced in the loss of her husband. 
The panel decided that Mr. Needham should get $1.5 million for the pain and suffering he experienced in the nursing home. The remaining $350,000 was awarded to the family to pay for damages that Mrs. Needham incurred, including burial costs and the loss of gifts and valuables she would have received until her death on Oct. 24, 2007.

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WKYT News reported on the verdict of a nursing home negligence trial in Kentucky.  The jury determined that an aide at the Hillcrest Center was responsible for abusing resident Grace Fugate.   Fugate sued Hillcrest Nursing Home claiming an act of negligence changed her life forever.

She moved into the nursing home in July 2003 for short term rehab and recover from knee surgery. But on August 9th, when she needed help going to the restroom, the aide came in and  told Grace she knew she could transfer herself, that she was ‘busy, she had other things to do, get up and get to the potty.  Grace eventually attempted to move and reach the restroom herself. Her still mending knee could not handle the strain, however, and she ended up falling. 

She eventually lost so much blood after the fall that she had to be resuscitated at a local hospital. Fugate then fell and damaged her knee even worse.  The injury was so bad that 6 years later she lost her entire leg.  The aide that refused to help her get to the bathroom was uncertified and showed a history of poor work habits.

A Laurel Circuit Court jury agreed with Fugate and compensated her more than $7 million in damages.  Fugate wants to hire a nurse and move into a private home.

See article here.
 

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The Sacramento Bee had two articles here and here about the jury's verdict against Colonial Healthcare and its parent company, Horizon West of Rocklin.  The jury found that the nursing home committed elder abuse in the death of a woman in 2005.  After deliberating fewer than two days, the jurors unanimously agreed that Defendants were responsible for the death of Frances Tanner.

They awarded $1.1 million in damages for Tanner's pain and suffering and for her daughter Elizabeth Pao's loss of companionship. They also decided that the home's conduct was "malicious, oppressive or fraudulent," therefore punitive damages may be awarded also.  The jury will hear further testimony about the corporation's finances before deciding on punitive damages.

Tanner was 79 years old, spirited and mobile but suffering from mild dementia, when she moved into the home in March 2005. Seven months later, after a preventable fall caused by neglect that resulted in a broken hip, she was dead from an infected bedsore.  Jurors heard evidence of chronic understaffing, poor medical documentation and corporate greed. One former Colonial staffer said he would not place a relative at the home.  Colonial and Horizon put profits before good patient care.

Colonial, which recently changed its name to Hilltop Manor, has a history of problems with state regulators. The Tanner case was the fourth in recent years in which the home was cited in the death of an elderly patient.

"We have a corporate culture here that is callously indifferent to human life," Sacramento attorney Ed Dudensing said in closing arguments this week.  "They value money but not patient care."

Colonial "recklessly failed Frances Tanner in every way conceivable," Dudensing said, including allowing her to endure a fractured hip, keeping poor notes on her care and missing the skin condition that killed her.

One advocate, Carole Herman of Foundation Aiding the Elderly, said lack of proper staffing may be the most critical issue facing nursing home patients and their families.

Here and here are two article reporting the $28 million puntive award verdict.   "The jurors obviously felt that this is what they needed to do to send the message, to attempt to deter future bad conduct," Dudensing said. 

They decided on punitive damages after hearing evidence about the corporation's finances.  Horizon West is worth about $200 million. He suggested $10 million would be an appropriate punitive award for the chronic understaffing and inadequate care that he said led to Tanner's death.

Read more: http://www.sacbee.com/2010/05/14/2749834/nursing-home-ordered-to-pay-28.html#ixzz0nubuVtAc
 

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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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