Thanks to enhanced regulation and inspection, nursing home negligence does not happen as much as it did in the past. However, it still does occur. One recent case dealt with a nursing home in Philadelphia, in the case of Williams v. Willow Terrace. The Pennsylvania Superior Court (No 14-1254), last July of 2014, upheld a verdict of $2, 901,602 against the nursing home for wrongful death, medical expenses and punitive damages for outrageous conduct.
Mr. Williams, a patient, was supposed to be turned every two hours due to his bed sores, but there were up to 33 eight hour shifts in one month in which, because of under-staffing, he was ignored.The failure to treat his pressure ulcers ultimately caused his death. The final verdict against the nursing home, consisting of both damages for negligence and punitive damages for outrageous conduct against a senior, was upheld on appeal.
After the verdict the family issued a statement: “The family hopes that the corporations that own and operate nursing
homes and medical facilities in southeastern Pennsylvania and beyond
take notice of this verdict, and operate their facilities the right way
so that other people are not harmed.”
The defendant in this case was affiliated with a large medical center in Philadelphia. The take home message is that if you have a friend or relative in a nursing home, you need an Advance Medical Directive which places one person in charge, and that person needs to view the charts and medical records often.This is a service provided to our clients using the Nurse Practitioner affiliated with our firm, or a geriatric care manager or health care advocate can also be of assistance in matters such as this.
Stay well until the next post.
Bob Gasparro, Esq.
robert.gasparro@lifespanlegal.com
(484) 451-6612
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