Articles Posted in Assisted Living Facilities

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Mary Dwyer was 87 years old when she was admitted to Harbor View Heath Care Center for a short-term rehabilitation after she had surgery. During the following three months, she lost 20 pounds and developed multiple pressure sores, including a Stage IV sacral wound. Dwyer required two surgical debridements, application of a wound vac to remove fluid from the wound and a diversionary colostomy.

She then suffered a complication, which necessitated the reinsertion of her bowels into her abdomen. Following the surgery, Dwyer died several days later and was survived by her three adult children.

Dwyer’s family filed a lawsuit against the nursing home’s corporate owners and several affiliated companies claiming inadequate nursing home staffing. Specifically, the lawsuit claimed that the defendant nursing home did not have enough certified nursing home aides available to turn her every two hours or a full-time dietician who could assist nursing home residents like Dwyer during meals. After a jury trial, the jury returned a verdict of $13.2 million for this wrongful death action.

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Peter Piel, 62, resided at the Mirajoy Home. When a nurse’s aide attempted to transfer Piel from his bed to a shower chair, he fell, hitting his head, fracturing his left hip and injuring his right leg. He required surgery for the hip and was diagnosed as having brain damage and chronic pain. His injuries and permanent condition are all related to his fall at the assisted living facility.

Through his guardian, Piel filed a lawsuit against the nursing home and its owner claiming improper staffing and training. Among other things, the lawsuit claimed that there should have been two aides transferring Piel to that shower chair.

The defendants argued that his injuries were not related to his fall. They contended that the aide had caught him before he hit the floor and that his injuries were not as significant as claimed. Before the case went to trial, the parties settled for $1,500,000. The attorneys representing Piel’s guardian were Michael F. Moran and Alexander H. Feldman.

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A Georgia jury has awarded $43.5 million in damages related to the abuse and neglect of an 80-year-old man, Morris Ellison. Ellison was a resident of a nursing home where the ownership held title to a string of nursing facilities in and around the state of Georgia. Ellison eventually died in this nursing home.

Along with the neglect and possible abuse, Ellison was found to have been malnourished, dehydrated and lacking sufficient nursing and medical care, all of which was a contributing factor in hastening his death. But the background of this catastrophic case was that the nursing home owners had bilked Medicare and Medicaid out of tens of millions of dollars.

In this case, the nursing home’s individual owner and his wife ran three nursing facilities or long-term care facilities in Georgia. According to newspaper reports, this couple had a net worth of almost $100 million, relying almost exclusively on Medicaid and Medicare payments to operate their nursing home empire. According to the testimony in the case, one of the nursing home directors stated that the facilities were so lacking in funds that they were unable to pay for laundry, essential supplies and personnel wages for the nursing homes. The owners were systematically draining money out of the nursing homes, which resulted in a lack of food supplies, water, medicine, personnel and basic cleaning supplies.

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Alice Horne was suffering from Alzheimer’s disease and diabetes. She was confined to her bed at the Lexington Healthcare of Orland Park nursing home. Horne was 82 years old; the staff discovered bedsores on her heels and sacrum. The nursing home staff began repositioning her, but the staff did not notify Horne’s family about her condition.

The wounds on her heels and sacrum became infected, and Horne remained in pain until she died from unrelated causes several months later.

Horne’s family filed suit against the nursing home claiming that it had chosen not to provide adequate nutrition and to timely notify the family about Horne’s declining medical condition.

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In a measure passed by the Florida State Senate, lawsuits that allege nursing home abuse could be subject to smaller awards.  The bill would shield many private equity firms that own nursing homes around the state of Florida.  The bill is directed to shield from financial exposure in lawsuits for those in ownership positions and take no active role in the management of the facilities.  It would limit actions against any ownership party who had no impact on the day-to-day activities in the nursing home facility. 

The proponents of the bills say its purpose is to allow for private equity firms and other private investors to take a more active role in investing in nursing home facilities in the state.

According to the report, this bill was targeted at Tampa attorney James Wilkes, who has a reputation for successfully representing plaintiffs in nursing home abuse cases. The bill has the support of the Florida Healthcare Association, AARP, the Florida Justice Association, which represents a host of Florida trial lawyers. 

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Marie Gardiner purchased a long-term care policy from insurance company giant CNA in 1993.  The idea was to have security in knowing that in the event of her need for a nursing home or an assisted living facility to take care of her, she would have this policy in place.  Gardiner unfortunately broke her hip in 2008 and moved into The Village at Buckland Court (Village).  She then filed a claim with CNA, and it was approved.  When her health improved, CNA terminated the coverage for the claim in 2011 advising Gardiner that if her “care needs change or increase in the future,” the company would review her policy.

In 2012, Gardiner fell down a flight of stairs and fractured her sacrum.  She reapplied for benefits at CNA under the long-term healthcare policy.  CNA denied her claim, noting that the Village was “not a qualified provider.”

In the lawsuit Gardiner filed against CNA, she stated that a company representative denied her claim because a nurse was not on the premises at all times and because the Village was a “managed residential community,” not a licensed assisted living services agency.

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