$7.5 Million Nursing Home Neglect Lawsuit Blames Defendants for 90-Year-Old’s Wrongful Death
Although it’s been nearly three years since Barbara Dickerson sued Evergreen Healthcare Management and Evergreen Milton-Freewater Health and Rehabilitation Center for her mother’s wrongful death, the nursing home neglect lawsuit won’t go to trial until 2010.
Dickerson is seeking $7.5 million in punitive damages for Alice Train’s death. She is also seeking about $36,000 for her late mother’s medical costs and $750,000 for Train’s pain and suffering.
Train, who was suffering from diabetes and dementia, was admitted to the assisted living facility on March 25, 2005. According to the nursing home negligence complaint, within two months the 90-year-old patient lost 16 pounds, became anemic, stopped being able to walk by herself, developed a rotting pressure sore in her coccygeal area, developed pneumonia, and her limbs began contracting.
Dickerson says when she visited her mother less than a month after the elderly woman was admitted to Evergreen Milton-Freewater Health and Rehabilitation Center, she found Train, who hadn’t been bathed in several days, sitting in her own urine.
Dickerson transferred her mother to another nursing home but says that the neglect that Train suffered at the first assisted living facility caused her death on June 30, 2005. The nursing home neglect case was scheduled to go to trial next week but a request by the defense for two more days to prepare has delayed the start date to April 19, 2010.
Nursing Home Neglect
Failing to bathe a nursing home patient or change his or her clothing and underwear can lead to infections and other health issues. Neglect of any kind is always harmful—especially if the person being neglected is already suffering from poor health. Nursing homes are paid to provide residents with the care that they need. Nursing negligence can cause injury or death.
Family seeks $7.5 million in wrongful death lawsuit, East Oregonian, November 17, 2009
Related Web Resources:
Nursing Home Abuse Overview, Justia
