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

A jury found Life Care Centers of America guilty of negligence. The jury awarded $1.5 million in compensatory damages to the family of a former resident who died as a result of the nursing home's neglect and negligence.

Life Care Centers of America was sued by Dennis Matthews, son of the late Verdie Matthews. He proved the nursing home allowed Mrs. Matthews to develop severe dehydration and malnutrition which caused her death. 

Thomas Hornbuckle, attorney for Matthews, alleged the nursing home intentionally acted recklessly by falsifying fluid and nutrition records of Mrs. Matthews. Hornbuckle said evidence and witnesses had proved Life Care acted negligently and was at fault in the death of Mrs. Matthews.

Mrs. Matthews, 83, was a resident of the facility from the beginning of April 2006 to May 1, 2006. She was admitted to Bradley Memorial Hospital on May 1, 2006, and died on May 4, 2006. Medical records indicate at the time of admission to the nursing home Mrs. Matthews weighed 105 pounds. At the time of her death four weeks later, she weighed 92 pounds.

Attorney Steve Hornbuckle confirmed the jury found Life Care Centers guilty of negligence in contributing to the death of Mrs. Matthews.   The jury also found the nursing home acted "recklessly," according to Hornbuckle.

The jury will reconvene Monday morning to deliberate on awarding punitive damages. Both attorneys will be given a chance to argue the case.

Jury will decide punitve damages.

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The Virginia Supreme Court recently affirmed an $850,000 verdict obtained by Jeff Downey in a nursing home case in Danville, Virginia. The case, Musgrove v. Medical Facilities of America Inc., involved pressures sores, an amputation, and death by dehydration, malnutrition and wound complications.

The Defendant asserted numerous assignments of error, many dealing with pertinent nursing home and/or malpractice issues. The Court denied the writ finding no reversible error in the judgment. Some of the issues included:

· Allowing recovery of both survivorship and wrongful death damages in the same cause of action;

· Allowing a medical expert to testify regarding nursing standards of care;

Allowing a nurse expert to testify regarding causation on pressure ulcers and other adverse outcomes;

Allowing a nurse who works part time clinically, and spends a majority of her time as a testifying expert to qualify under Virginia’s clinical practice requirement;

Allowing expert administrative testimony regarding nursing home staffing inadequacies; and

Allowng expert testimony regarding the significance of gaps in the chart.

Defendant filed some 25 motions in limine along with motions to limit expert testimony (on medical cause of death) and summary judgment on punitive damages.

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The North Country Gazette had an article about a recent jury verdict involving a nursing home's negligence.  A Washington jury ordered Washington County to pay $300,000 to the family of a woman who died as the result of a fall at the county-owned Pleasant Valley Adult Home in Argyle.

Former Fort Edward resident Esther Nolan, 75, died at the adult home in March 2003 following a fall from a toilet. The woman’s death was caused by inadequate staffing and the improper installation of the toilet seat.

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Tucson Citizen had an article about a recent jury verdict where a jury awarded a Tucson family $6 million for a death involving an 81-year-old relative who died of a morphine overdose.  Mary Culpepper and two other relatives were awarded $2 million each.  Culpepper sued Manor Care, TMC, a doctor, nurse and pharmacy over the Dec. 8, 2003, death of her mother, Sylvia Culpepper.

She was admitted to TMC on Dec. 2, 2003, suffering from sciatica, a painful nerve condition.
On Dec. 4, 2003, she was prescribed 15 milligrams of morphine twice a day. Two days later, her dosage increased to 30 milligrams, twice a day.   When Culpepper was transferred from TMC to Manor Care, prescription orders contained both dosages.

The Manor Care staff failed to note the discrepancy in the prescriptions and gave her both dosages, both twice a day causing her death.  An autopsy determined that Culpepper died of acute morphine intoxication.

According to the jury's verdicts, the doctor, nurse and pharmacy weren't to blame for the death. The nursing home had the ultimate rersponsibility for the medications given to the resident at their facility.

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Kathleen Glanville, a writer for The Oregonian, wrote an article about a $900,000 verdict for a resident who was treated ridiculously bad by a nursing home.  The jury ruled that an 86-year-old woman with Alzheimer's disease suffered a loss of dignity when Lake Oswego police forced her to the floor of her nursing home and handcuffed her.   The jury awarded more than $900,000 to the family of the late Elvera Stephan for the way she was treated the night of April 13, 2006, at The Pearl at Kruse Way in Lake Oswego.

The jury agreed that Avamere Health Services, the corporate owner of the Alzheimer's care center, had acted with malice or reckless indifference.  Stephan's children moved her into the Alzheimer's care center in early April 2006 after her husband became seriously ill and was hospitalized. Within a few days she became agitated, wandering the nursing home barefoot in her pajamas, confused and, according to her caretakers, dangerously aggressive.

The staff notified a registered nurse in another part of the nursing home, who called the woman's doctor for guidance. He said Stephan should be taken to the emergency room for evaluation and medication.  The nurse called 9-1-1 to summon an ambulance, and because she told the emergency dispatcher that the patient was extremely aggressive, Lake Oswego police responded as well.

But jurors said she didn't look dangerous on a surveillance video from the nursing home. She was gesturing with a telephone receiver but didn't try to hit anyone with it.

Two officers forced the elderly woman to the floor, where they rolled her onto her stomach and handcuffed her hands behind her back. She remained on the floor on her stomach for six minutes until paramedics put her on a stretcher and took her to the hospital, according to Kocher. She returned to The Pearl the next day, when a nurse reported that her wrists were bruised.

A state investigator found the nursing home at fault for failing to assess the woman's condition and intervene in a timely manner.   Stephan's son, James, testified that he didn't learn about what had happened to his mother for six days, when he was told by the relatives of another patient at The Pearl.

The video of the police subduing the woman was played for the jury.   Kocher had asked the jury to award Stephan's family $1 million to send a message to corporations that care for Oregon's elderly and vulnerable.

The jury agreed on $4,200 in economic damages -- the cost of Stephan's shared room for a month -- and $400,000 in noneconomic damages. The jury then awarded $500,000 in punitive damages. Under state law, 60 percent of punitive damages go to the state victims assistance fund.

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Trial Judge Denies Defendant’s Post-Trial Motions, Upholds Jury Verdict for Plaintiff in
Fall/Injury Case (Hawkins v. SSC Hendersonville Operating Company, LLC, d/b/a
The Brian Center Health and Rehabilitation)

On February 21, 2008 the trial Judge (the Honorable Judge Dennis Winner)  DENIED all of Defendant’s post-trial Motions in the fall/injury case, leaving intact the jury verdict of $800,000 ($200,000 in actual damages, $600,000 in punitive damages).

The case was tried in Superior Court in Hendersonville, North Carolina from November 6-16, 2007. Plaintiff proved that the Defendant failed to provide the reasonable and necessary care to prevent decedent, Neal Hawkins, from falling on three separate occasions in one day when it was documented he was a significant fall risk, and was suffering from a significant change in his condition.  Defendant failed to care plan or intervene for the known risk.

On February 11, 2006 Mr. Hawkins fell three times in a single day,  fracturing his hip on the last fall. The facility did not discovery the severe fracture for seven (7) more days. Mr. Hawkins underwent hip surgery. Five (5) weeks later he died of pneumonia. After nearly two (2) weeks of trial, the jury returned a verdict of $200,000 actual damages, plus $600,000 in punitive damages.

Defendant filed post-trial Motions on various alleged issues, seeking to eliminate the punitive damages award, challenging Plaintiff’s expert opinions regarding North Carolina’s "community standards" rule, and objecting to the Judge’s jury instructions. The trial Judge received Memoranda from both parties, heard oral arguments, and has entirely DENIED all of Defendant’s post-trial Motions. Defendant has indicated that they may appeal.

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Attorney for Amel Trezza asked the jury to compensate for his wrongful death at a nursing home  which occurred on May 31, 2001. The total verdict in the case regarding nursing home negligence amounted to $2,522,232.08. The total monetary figure makes the case the largest nursing home negligence case in Connecticut history.

Amel Trezza died on May 13, 2001 after he was administered the wrong food at the Country Manor Healthcare Center in Prospect.  During 2001, there was a widespread strike amongst nursing home employees stemming from a demand for improved wages and conditions of employment.

A replacement worker made the mistake of serving Mr. Trezza, who was blind, food that was supposed to be for a patient on a regular diet. Mr. Trezza was administered a soft diet, which meant that all of his food was put through a food processor, thus making it easier to swallow.

After serving Mr. Trezza the wrong meal and failing to look at the name card, the replacement nurse moved on to other patients in an adjoining room. Meanwhile, Mr. Trezza began to choke after unknowingly beginning to eat the wrong meal. 

Mr. Trezza was found unconscious after he had already lost a great deal of oxygen to his brain, leaving him with severe brain damage. He was subsequently intubated, which was not according to his wishes, and died 10 days later.

The case of wrongful death was tried in Waterbury Superior Court in the recent weeks. Because Connecticut doesn't provide the framework for punitive damages, according to Atty. D'Amico, the case was settled on the basis of non-economical damages. The state of Connecticut enacted such a system as a detriment to lawsuits against nursing homes.

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After a 2 week trial in Hendersonville, North Carolina, the jury awarded $800,000.00 to the Plaintiff. Plaintiff was represented by Poliakoff & Associates of Spartanburg, South Carolina. The jury award was $200,000.00 for personal injury suffered by the decedent while a resident at Brian Center - Hendersonville, and $600,000.00 in punitive damages. The Brian Center - Hendersonville is a nursing home owned by SSC Hendersonville Operating Company, LLC which is a subsidiary of  SavaSeniorCare. The Defendant denied all liability, and vigorously defended the entire suit.

The Plaintiff argued that the decedent, Neal Hawkins, Jr., was identified by the Brian Center as being high risk for falls, but that the facility did little to address this problem in the care plan for the resident, and failed to revise the care plan on occasions when changes in his condition compelled such. Further, on February 11, 2005, Mr. Hawkins fell 3 times in one day at the facility, apparently fracturing his hip on the 3^rd fall. Plaintiff further argued that the nursing facility failed to properly assess the patient, failed to follow procedures, failed to follow doctor’s orders, and allowed Mr. Hawkins to remain in the facility in pain for 7 days following the fracture, until he was finally transferred to the hospital.

The Defendant denied that it was liable or responsible for the falls or any resulting injury, and argued that it followed appropriate procedures. On November 16, 2007, the jury awarded a total of $800,000.00 in actual and punitive damages.

Plaintiff’s experts were Dr. Jonathan Klein of Falls Church, Virginia; Janet White of Emporia, Virginia; and Katherine Johnson, of Orlando, Florida. The case was tried for the Plaintiff by lead counsel Gary W. Poliakoff, Raymond P. Mullman, Jr., and Lara Pettiss Harrill. Also participating were attorney Matt Yelverton and attorney Greg Newman, both of Hendersonville, North Carolina.

As of the time of writing of this entry, the Defendant has indicated a possibility of appeal.

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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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Resident's family obtained a $3 million verdict against a regional nursing home operator named Sharo Shirshekan in Missouri.   The case involved pressue ulcers on both heels of the resident.  The feet had to be amputated because of the neglect.  Defendants attempted to blame the resident's pre-exisiting conditions including peripheral vascular disease.  However, the jury realized that PVD does not cause pressure ulcers, neglect does.

 The jury returned $500,000 in actual damages for pain and suffering in the first stage and then $2.5 million in punitive damages against Mr. Shirshekan and his operating company in the second stage.

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Chad Trammel and his team of nursing home lawyers did a great job in a difficult trial.  The multi chain (and infamous) Beverly Enterprises has been found negligent in the death of  resident and ordered to pay $1.4 million in compensatory damages.

After deliberating on Monday, the Ouachita County jury agreed on $875,000 in punitive damages in the case. The company was sued for the April 2005 death of Herman Johnson.

Johnson went into the nursing home March 18, 2005. Two weeks later, he was found unresponsive in his wheelchair in the dining room. Two nurses tried to revive Johnson before an ambulance took him to Ouachita County Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead. An examination of the body found bed sores and evidence of malnutrition and dehydration--clear signs of serious neglect.

The suit claimed the nursing home was insufficiently staffed to provide adequate care for Johnson. Lawyers for Beverly said Johnson's condition was due to long-term alcohol abuse and other chronic health problems, including anemia, diabetes, high blood pressure and kidney failure. They say Johnson also had a history of refusing to take vitamins and medicine prescribed for him.

The trial began earlier this month, and the jury announced its decision Friday along with the award of compensatory damages. The jury found the defendants also had acted recklessly and had deprived Johnson of his rights as a resident of the home.

Beverly Healthcare is one of the nation’s largest nursing home chains. Over the course of the eight-day trial, the 12-person jury heard testimony from a variety of Beverly representatives, medical experts, and other witnesses. Among the documents displayed during the trial were internal Beverly e-mails referring to the company’s own nursing assistants as “trash” and “misfits” who posed a “hazard” to the residents. According to Beverly’s own officials, the company was not able to retain quality nursing assistants because it refused to raise its wages by $1.00 per hour.

The plaintiffs also introduced evidence showing that the company recently paid its executives $138 million in bonuses. Finally, the jury heard from Beverly Director of Operations David Mills, who took the stand and compared running a nursing home to owning an automobile dealership.

“This jury sent a powerful message to Beverly and all the other nursing-home mega-chains that neglect their residents in order to boost profits,” said Chad Trammell, a partner with Nix, Patterson & Roach and the attorney who represented the plaintiffs. “The people they are abusing are our mothers, our fathers, and our grandparents. These companies have a duty to care for their residents, and that duty is more important than maximizing shareholder return and paying out huge executive bonuses.” 

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Here is an article discussing the recent $54 million verdict in a nursing home neglect case in New Mexico.

Lori Keith was awarded the compensatory and punitive damages against ManorCare Inc., a nursing home corporation out of Toledo, Ohio, for neglecting her mother causing her death.  At the time of her death, Barbara Barber was due to leave the ManorCare Camino Vista facility within a week to stay with family, Keith said. So when a phone call came about Barber's death, Keith said she knew something was wrong. 

The verdict reached yesterday in Albuquerque includes four million dollars in compensatory damages and 50 million in punitive damages over the 2004 death of 78-year-old Barbara Barber.

The doctor who did the autopsy said Barber died of internal bleeding. The family's attorneys produced evidence that the bleeding had been going on for several days without response.

Tthe nursing home tried to cover up the death by taking away sheets and other items in the room.

The corporation was responsible for the death, jurors decided, and they said the corporation owed Barber's family for it.   The company declined to comment on specific details of the litigation.

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A federal jury awarded $1.75 million to a woman who said her sister lost her dignity in the last days of her life because of unhygienic conditions and improper care at a Charleston nursing home.

Tammy Rectenwald, 44, lived at Meadowbrook Acres on Greenbrier Street from March 1999 until October 2003.

On Oct. 8, 2003, she had chest congestion and other signs of pneumonia, but nursing home staff did not call her family or an ambulance.  When the nursing home called Taylor 12 hours later, she insisted that Rectenwald be sent to the hospital.

Rectenwald died a week later at Saint Francis Hospital, where doctors found evidence that she had been neglected, such as an infected catheter site and dirty nails and skin. 

Taylor sued Harrell Memorial Nursing Home Inc., which owns the nursing home, and Nursing Care Management of America Inc., which manages it. Both companies are based in Ohio. The jury found on April 20 the company failed to provide adequate care for Rectenwald.

The award is West Virginia’s second-highest nursing home verdict. “The only way to punish a facility and make them clean up their act is financially,” he said.

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