Florida Nursing Home Neglect Lawsuit Results in $114M Verdict
A wrongful death lawsuit over a nursing home fall has resulted in a staggering $114 million verdict against a Florida nursing home.
The lawsuit was filed by the family of Juanita Jackson, 76, against IHS of Florida, now known as the Auburndale Oaks Healthcare Center, and its previous management companies, Trans Healthcare Inc. and Trans Healthcare Management. Jackson died five months after she was placed in the facility.
According to the Florida nursing home neglect lawsuit, the facility failed to put in place proper preventative measures to keep Jackson from falling, despite being warned she was an at-risk resident. After she was in the home for only two weeks she fell and suffered a closed-head trauma and fractured her upper arm. The lawsuit alleges that she never recovered from those injuries.
Although elderly and ill nursing home residents are often more prone to falling, nursing homes have an obligation to take steps to minimize the risk of falls, or they could be held liable through a nursing home negligence lawsuit. Accepted standards of care and federal nursing home regulations require every facility to perform a fall assessment on each new resident and develop a plan to lower the risk of a fall in a nursing home. This plan should be updated whenever the resident’s medical condition changes.
Following her fall, Jackson allegedly suffered from malnourishment and dehydration in the nursing home, as well as a number of nursing home bed sores, according to a report in The Ledger. The family removed Jackson from the nursing home in May 2003, after only being there for three months. She died two months later on July 6, 2003.
The family characterized the facility’s actions as nursing home abuse. The jury in the Tenth Circuit Court of Polk County agreed and issued a $114 million verdict against the company, which may be the largest monetary verdict ever in the county’s history.
2 comments
I don’t understand…these nursing home staff workers are PAID to take care of the residents…what are they doing???
I had to put my 83 year old Mother in a nursing home and she was there for 1 month. Within that month, she had fallen twice. That’s more times than she fell in 4 years of me taking care of her on my own. Then, I find out that they are giving her Adivan…something that should NEVER be given to a stroke patient. They stuck her in a wheel chair (without strapping her in). She fell! She had a huge hematoma on the right side of her head, broken upper right arm, and broken right hip. She died 1 week later!
What are these nurses and Dr.’s thinking????? Well, obviously, THEY’RE NOT!!! So, I say…GOOD FOR THE ONES THAT SUED THE PANTS OFF THEM!!!! I know that money can not compensate for the pain and anguish but, THEY NEED TO PAY FOR THE DAMAGE THAT THEY ARE TOTALLY RESPONSIBLE FOR!!!!!!
These insensitive animals that work in nursing homes dont give a damm about anyone. my grandmom just died in one of them. Politicians dont care either, Health departments dont care about them either. We are at fault. We pay our taxes to these corrupt politicians who dont care and these places despite the abuses remain open and employ the same kind of people. they need to be closed and those animals fired so they can go eat horsemeat. All our relatives are bound to have the same fate unless we do something about this indifference and discrimination against elderly people. the nursing homes mask this . they talk they are against it, but they are not. they are in for the money they make from the residents insurance companies and no body does shit about it.