Justia Lawyer Rating for Robert D. Kreisman

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The owners of a chain of nursing homes housed in multiple states around the United States have been held to have committed fraudulent transactions in an attempt to transfer liabilities to a “shell company.” The owners of Fundamental Long Term Care Inc. have been the subject of multiple wrongful death cases related to negligence in handling nursing home residents.

Liabilities that included many judgments in Florida have never been paid to the families of the residents who died at the hands of the nursing home personnel. There were reports of four wrongful death judgments in Florida alone. The company filed for bankruptcy protection, but not without careful scrutiny by the court and the judgment creditors.

The U.S. Bankruptcy Court judge in Tampa, Fla., ruled that the owners of Fundamental Long-Term Care Holdings LLC engaged in a “carefully orchestrated sham transaction” by selling a unit of the company in 2006 to a retired graphic artist who didn’t even know he had purchased the shares of the company.

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John Tully, 80, had a history of an unsteady gait. He was living at a nursing home owned and managed by the California Department of Veteran Affairs. Tully had fallen twice within a 10-day period and, as a result of his last fall, he fractured his spine. Complications from that fall included the loss of use of his legs; he now requires a catheter to urinate and must undergo a fecal removal procedure three times a week.

Aided by his attorneys, Stephen Garcia and William M. Artigliere, Tully filed a lawsuit against the Veterans Administration alleging that its nursing care was negligent in allowing him to walk without the assistance of a walker, which resulted in his first fall. They also alleged that the facility’s nursing assistant attempted to transfer Tully using a mechanical lift without proper knowledge on how to do so, which led to his second and most damaging fall.

The lawsuit also alleged that the defendant’s employees chose not to provide a proper medical evaluation after the first fall and did not timely inform Tully’s family about these two incidents. The defendant denied the allegations of the lawsuit; however, the case settled before trial for $1,250,000.

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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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Sui Mee Chiu, 85, was admitted to the Arcadia Health Center for long-term care. A member of the Arcadia staff found a Stage I pressure sore on Chiu’s lower back. A care plan was then initiated by the nursing home staff. The plan included pressure-reducing measures, frequent bathing and wound care. However, the pressure sore progressed to Stage IV, necessitating 7 hospitalizations for wound care management. Chiu developed recurring urinary tract infections from her use of Foley catheters and required a year of antibiotic treatment.

Because of the antibiotic treatment, Chiu became antibiotic-resistant and died of pneumonia and respiratory failure about 15 months after the Stage I pressure sore was first discovered and diagnosed. She was survived by her two adult children.

Her family sued the nursing home and its licensee for negligence and for choosing not to implement the care plan in a timely fashion. It was claimed that had a proper treatment been implemented, Chiu’s pressure wound would have healed without a problem. The family also maintained that the nursing home chose not to keep adequate documentation regarding Chiu’s treatment at the nursing home.

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In a case that was filed in confidential style, Ms. Doe, an 85-year-old woman with dementia and other medical issues, lived in a nursing home that was owned by Kindred Healthcare Inc. A nursing aide penetrated Doe’s vagina with an object while the two were in a bathroom next to her room. Despite Doe’s heavy vaginal bleeding after the incident, Doe was not taken to the hospital for several days.

Doe was diagnosed later as having suffered vaginal trauma and bruising resulting from this sexual assault.

Doe’s family sued Kindred Healthcare claiming liability and injuries to Doe because of the sexual assault. The jury entered a verdict in favor of Doe’s representative in the amount of $2.01 million.

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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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An appellate court in Ohio has ruled that a family’s motion to compel was wrongly granted because there had not been an in camera inspection of the requested documents under that state’s peer review laws.

In this case, the nursing home decedent was living at Manor Care of Mayfield Heights. Her health had deteriorated while living there. The family sued Manor Care and others claiming negligence, statutory violations under the laws of the nursing home care law of the state and other claims. During the course of the litigation, the family of the decedent moved to compel production of documents related to an alleged investigation into the nursing home resident’s death. The trial judge granted that motion.

The appellate court reversed the trial court noting that although 42 C.F.R. §483.10 provides nursing home residents with timely access to their own records, under 42 U.S.C. §13.96(r) disclosure of records from a quality assessment and assurance committee is limited.

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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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