Nursing Home Neglect Leads to $42.7 Million Wrongful Death Verdict
A jury has awarded the family of Joseph Clint Offutt $42.7 million for his wrongful death by nursing home neglect. The 92-year-old had been living at Harborside of Madisonville just nine days when he died in 2008.
Offutt’s relatives contend that because nursing home staff was negligent in the care that they provided him, he ended up developing bedsores, suffering from malnutrition, dehydration, and infection, and eventually death.
Of the $42.7 million wrongful death award, $40 million is for punitive damages, $1 million is for Offutt’s pain and suffering, and $1.75 million is for the loss suffered by his widow Pearline.
In other recent nursing home news, a jury ordered Friendship Manor Care Center to pay $491,747 for Wilbur Jackson’s wrongful death. The 89-year-old had been at the nursing home for just 17 days of what should have been a short-term stay when one of the wheels of the gurney he was being transported in dropped into a crack in a walkway and overturned. His head struck the pavement during the fall accident and he never woke up again.
Following Jackson’s death, the federal government fined Friendship Manor $3,250. The nursing home has a history of violations. In 2008, the assisted living facility was fined $112,650 after an 89-year-old female patient died. Prior to her passing, her legs had to be amputated because of gangrene. The case with the federal government was settled for $75,379. In 2005, Friendship Manor employee Lesley Polek was convicted of sexually abusing patients.
Chicago Nursing Home Neglect
Negligent nursing care has been the cause of death one too many nursing home patients. If you believe your loved one died because an assisted living facility was reckless or careless in any way, you may be able to obtain Chicago, Illinois nursing home negligence recovery by filing a claim or lawsuit.
Family awarded $42.75 million in nursing home case, Kentucky.com, November 19, 2010
Jury: Grinnell nursing home must pay $491,747 in man's death, DesMoines Register, November 23, 2010
