$1,000,000 Settlement – Neglect Resulting in Subdural Hematoma (Key West)

Nursing homes are supposed to be places that take care of the elderly and vulnerable.  When they don’t, tragedy happens.

An elderly woman was neglected in a Key West nursing home.  The neglect became so severe that the woman fell and struck her head numerous times, finally causing a subdural hematoma (brain bleed). John Elliott Leighton brought suit against the nursing home and proved that the staffing was inadequate and treatment was negligent.  Mr. Leighton proved through discovery that the nursing home had a long history of violating regulations.  Staffing was negligent, because the more staff they had the less profit the facility made.  Thus residents were neglected. Nursing home care suffered. It was a case of profits over safety.

Our client was repeatedly ignored and failed to get the proper care she needed.  With early-onset dementia, she required care and was a recognized fall risk. In fact, the nursing home had even identified her risk for falls by putting a notice on her door to alert all staff of her risk.  That warning went ignored.  When she finally suffered her most serious fall (which resulted in a brain bleed), the staff that was supposed to be on duty was half of what was reported to the State. By the time she received treatment, her brain bleed became a fatal injury.

After thoroughly deposing the staff involved, Mr. Leighton extracted facts that included calls by the nursing staff to the administration requesting additional staff because the limited number of staff was insufficient to safety care for the patients.  Mr. Leighton also learned that staff was shifted from one facility to another when the regulators performed inspections to make it appear that they had more employees and staff than were actually there.

This wonderful woman lost her life…but we were able to bring to light safety violations that resulted in a safer nursing home for the future.

Mr. Leighton obtained a settlement for the institution’s full policy limits of $1,000,000 was obtained. B.J. v. XYZ Nursing

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