USA: Jury Awards $3 Million In Nursing Home 'Neglect Death' Case

CHARLESTON, South Carolina (Charleston Injury Board), November 5, 2007: A jury in Platte County, Missouri rendered a verdict requiring the owner and operator of Barry Manor and White Oak nursing facilities to pay more than $3 million to the estate of a former patient who died in 2004. Of this amount, $500,000 was awarded in actual or compensatory damages. The balance of the award or $2.5 million was awarded as punitive damages or as punishment for the aggregiousness of the conduct. The decedent, who lived at both facilities between 2001 and 2003, developed bedsores on his body during his stay. The bedsores resulting in the decedent having to have a double amputation above the knees. The wounds became infected with dead tissue. The lawsuit alleged and the jury agreed that the nursing staff at these two nursing homes were negligent and failed to to provide proper care to the decedent. The jury verdict was rendered on the basis that the nursing homes neglected to provide sufficient care, failed to properly reposition or turn the decedent to avoid the bed sores, neglected to properly treat the wounds after surgery and failed to monitor his condition and alert a physician once the condition worsened. By Amy Rothschild © 2007 Claris Law