Seven-Figure Verdicts Against Nursing Home: For the second time in 2022, the Estates at St. Louis Park (“Estates”) nursing home in Minneapolis-St. Paul, which has a one star rating under the five-star rating system used by CMS, was held liable by a jury in excess of $1 million for failing to protect its residents from serious harm.
In early September 2022, a Minnesota nursing home negligence jury held the Estates liable for the 2018 choking death of 62-year-old Raymond Bigus, who was admitted with a swallowing disorder and was placed on dietary restrictions. The nursing home choking death lawsuit filed against the Estates alleged that Bigus had many incidents in the facility during which he had difficulty while eating, including one in 2016 when he yelled, “I am choking” while eating lunch. On the day he died, Bigus was eating lunch when he began choking. A piece of meat was later removed from his mouth.
The Estates argued that Bigus was noncompliant with his restrictions and that he frequently ate fast food and candy, he failed to regularly wear his dentures while eating, and he declined offers to cut up his food.
A Minnesota nursing home negligence jury found against the Estates after a four-day trial and awarded the plaintiff $1 million.
The second verdict in excess of $1 million, which was reached in April 2022, involved a resident in his mid-80s who suffered from dementia. The man fell from a third floor window, his body hitting a tree on the way down, landing on his back, and fracturing his spine. The lawsuit alleged that on multiple occasions before his fall, Ronald Lund showed risky behavior associated with his dementia, such as talking frequently about needing to leave the nursing home to find and protect a young child that he did not have. The lawsuit further alleged that Lund had left the third-floor memory unit and was found wandering in the facility only days after being admitted. And four days before his fall, he removed the screws from a window and was observed yelling at people in the parking lot.
The Star Tribune reported that in March 2022, state inspectors determined that the Estates failed to provide proper respiratory care for two residents who relied on tracheostomy tubes to breathe: one of those residents died after staff failed to properly clean her airway and another resident was found to be in immediate jeopardy of serious illness or death as a result of the inadequate care. Two nurses reportedly told inspectors that they did not recall being trained on what to do in case of emergencies with tracheostomy tubes.
The for-profit Estates has reportedly been cited almost 50 times for violating federal health standards since early 2018, and has been fined nine times for a total of $136,000.
If you or a loved one suffered injuries (or worse) while a resident of a nursing home in Minnesota or in another U.S. state due to nursing home neglect, nursing home negligence, nursing home abuse, a nursing home fall, nursing home choking death, or the nursing home failing to properly care for a vulnerable adult, you should promptly find a nursing home claim lawyer in Minnesota (Minnesota medical malpractice lawyer) or a nursing home claim lawyer 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.
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