Our Baltimore nursing home abuse lawyers represent victims of Maryland nursing home negligence and their families. Nursing home operators should be held liable when abuse or poor care causes a patient to suffer serious injuries, illness, or death. For more information, please visit our Maryland Nursing Home Lawyer Blog for more information.
Unfortunately, incidents of nursing home neglect and abuse throughout the US are not uncommon. Recently, a jury awarded the family of one elderly woman $91.5 million in their nursing home negligence case blaming assisted living facility Heartland of Charleston, which is owned by HCR ManorCare Inc., for her wrongful death. HCR Manor Care is a Carlyle Group nursing home subsidiary.
According to attorneys for the plaintiffs, Dorothy Douglas’s health deteriorated to the point that she was near death during her three-week stay at the nursing home in 2009. By the time she was transferred to another facility, the 87-year-old woman, who suffered from Parkinson’s disease, dementia, Alzheimer’s, and several other conditions was unresponsive, severely dehydrated, and had lost 15 pounds. She died soon after.
The plaintiffs accused Heartland of medical negligence and of not having enough nurses on staff to properly care for Dorothy. A number of the nursing home’s former workers testified during the civil trial that it was impossible to give all patients the proper care that they needed. Employee turnover rate at Heartland in 2009 was reportedly 112%.
Heartland is owned by ManorCare Inc, which operates hundreds of US nursing homes. Of the $91.5 million verdict, $11.5 million is compensatory damages and $80 million is punitive damages.
Maryland Nursing Home Negligence
It is important that assisted living facilities have not just enough staff members but that they are properly trained and have the experience to give patients the care that they need. Making sure that a patient is properly fed, and hydrated is part of providing basic care. People who are sick and/or elderly cannot afford to become malnourished or dehydrated. These conditions can cause serious health complications and even deaths that could have been prevented were not for the negligent nursing care a resident received.
You want to work with experienced Owing Mills nursing home abuse and neglect lawyers that know how to prove that a facility and its staff were careless, reckless, or made mistakes.
Heartland must pay $91.5M in fatal neglect case, The Charleston Gazette, August 5, 2011
Carlyle Nursing Unit to Appeal $91.5 Million Medical Negligence Verdict, Bloomberg, August 8, 2011
More Blog Posts:
Nursing Home Sued in Two Different Wrongful Death Lawsuits, Maryland Nursing Home Lawyer Blog, July 25, 2011
Hospital to Pay $5.4M in Bedsore Injury Lawsuit, Maryland Nursing Home Lawyer Blog, July 19, 2011
Elder Financial Abuse Costing Victims Almost $3 Billion, Reports MetLife Mature Market Institute Study, Washington DC Injury Lawyer Blog, May 31, 2011