On August 11, 2023, a Florida nursing home negligence jury returned its verdict after a four-day trial and four hours of deliberations in the amount of $2.3 million against a Florida nursing home for the death of a resident that the plaintiff alleged was due to the nursing home’s failure to provide appropriate care to prevent the resident from developing a bedsore that led to her death.
Claretha Davis died in 2021 after developing the bedsore at the nursing home facility in late December 2020. The Florida wrongful death lawsuit alleged that the nursing home failed to provide proper care that led to the development of the pressure ulcer that resulted in the resident’s death four months later.
During closing arguments to the jury, the nursing home’s defense lawyer cited the resident’s multitude of health problems, including dementia and kidney disease. The defense attorney also pointed to the resident having developed a pressure ulcer back in April 2020 despite receiving appropriate care. The defense argued the trifecta of defense theories in bedsore cases: the nursing home provided appropriate care; the development of the pressure ulcer was unavoidable; and, the cause of death was due to the resident’s other health issues. The defense attorney also reminded the jury that the resident’s bedsore was treated at a hospital that later discharged her to another nursing home months before her death (the plaintiff’s lawyer countered that the resident’s death certificate stated a cause of her death was the bedsore).
The plaintiff argued that understaffing at the nurse home resulted in inadequate care, including the failure to timely reposition the resident so that she did not develop the bedsore. The plaintiff also faulted the nursing home for failing to adequately check on the resident and failing to notice that the air mattress intended to help relieve pressure on the resident’s body had deflated.
The plaintiff’s attorney told the jury, “It was a company, a for-profit business that broke the promise [to care for the resident], betrayed this victim, and caused that deadly injury. If this case isn’t a textbook example [of] negligence in a nursing home, then I don’t even know why we have laws, because if we haven’t proven negligence in this case, I don’t know how we ever could.”
The plaintiff’s attorney stated after the verdict, “Bedsores occurring at health care facilities have become a widespread problem in Florida. The excuses made by these facilities and their lawyers claiming that the bedsores are unavoidable or unpreventable are usually just that, excuses. It is gratifying to know the jury could see through those excuses and it is fulfilling for justice to be served, not only for this family but for Floridians in general, because this is not an isolated event and things like this get brushed under the rug far too often.”
If you or a loved one suffered harm while a resident of a nursing home in Florida or in another U.S. state due to nursing home pressure ulcers, nursing home understaffing, nursing home abuse, nursing home neglect, nursing home negligence, nursing home resident on resident assault, or the failure to provide appropriate care for a vulnerable adult, you should promptly find a nursing home claim lawyer in Florida or in your state who may investigate your nursing home claim for you and file a nursing home claim on your behalf or behalf of your loved one, if appropriate.
Visit our website to be connected with medical malpractice attorneys (nursing home malpractice attorneys) in your U.S. state who may assist you with your nursing home claim, or call us toll-free in the United States at 800-295-3959.
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