Two Nursing Home Abuse & Wrongful Death Cases

Residents in nursing homes and care facilities are often vulnerable and in need of extra care. 

A jury in the Sacramento Superior Court returned with a verdict in early March of 2013 in a case of a nursing home accused of wrongful death and abuses. The case was against Emeritus Corp, which is the nation’s largest assisted living company.

Filed on behalf of an elderly woman by her two sons and daughter, the lawsuit stated that the bedsores she developed were a significant contributing factor to her death, which occurred several months after she left the facility. She was an Alzheimer’s patient who resided at the Emerald Hills facility in the memory care unit until 2008.

The lawsuit said that she was left without supervision during the night because the facility was very understaffed.

The jury came back with a guilty verdict of malice, oppression, and fraud. The jury decided that the facility will be held responsible for $3.875 million for her pain and suffering, as well as $250,000 for her children’s loss of companionship. The next phase of the trial will be to determine punitive damages that the facility will have to pay.

Another nursing home negligence and wrongful death case, this one in Illinois, came back with a guilty verdict against the facility in the amount of $273,607.

The family of a 66 year old woman who had been admitted on a short term basis to Rosewood Care Facility filed the complaint after her death at the facility due to a medication overdose. She was at the facility for their skilled nursing care and help with chronic pain management for which she was prescribed a Fentanyl patch. Fentanyl is a powerful narcotic and can be absorbed through the skin via a patch. A nurse at the facility placed a second patch on her skin, not realizing one was already in place. The woman lost consciousness and had to be transported to the hospital where she passed away from what was assumed to be an overdose.

The facility did not accept responsibility for the incident, instead blaming the woman’s death on previous years of smoking and her declining health. They claimed that there was not enough evidence of a connection between the application of the second patch and the woman’s death.

Nursing Home Abuse Attorneys

If a family member or loved one has died as the result of nursing home negligence and abuse, contact a nursing home abuse attorney to discuss your case. Nursing home abuse attorneys are skilled at investigating nursing home abuse cases and presenting evidence to the jury in a way that demonstrates liability.

Residents in nursing homes and care facilities are often vulnerable and in need of extra care. Oftentimes they are unable to advocate for themselves or notify family members of abuses. They deserve to be protected and well cared for, and it is truly egregious when nursing homes abuse the trust that family members place in them by entrusting the care of their loved ones to the facility.