Widow Sues Veterans Home For Husband’s Dehydration Death: Luane Krall, the widow of 69-year-old Randy Krall, has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the Wisconsin Veterans Home at Union Grove; the Wisconsin Department of Veterans Affairs, which oversees the home; Secretary Mary Kolar, head of the Department; and 14 of the home’s employees involved in her husband’s care, alleging that their “reckless, wanton, demeaning and inhuman treatment” of her husband led to his chronic dehydration that resulted in her husband being transported to the hospital for treatment after which he was returned to the Wisconsin veterans home, where he died nine days later from what was stated on his death certificate as “failure to thrive.”
The Wisconsin Veterans Home at Union Grove has been cited for 62 violations and has received fines totaling $250,000 since 2017. Dehydration has been a chronic problem at the veterans home.
Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers, whose administration oversees the Wisconsin Veterans Home at Union Grove and two other veterans facilities in the state, said in an interview in June 2022: “we’ve been unable to fulfill our duties to these great veterans, by having adequate staff and adequately trained staff. We have to do a better job.”
A Department of Veterans Affairs spokeswoman wrote in an email: “Providing high-quality care for the veterans in our homes is the Department of Veterans Affairs’ top priority. The department denies the allegations in the lawsuit and will defend itself. DVA’s medical director previously reviewed the case and determined that appropriate care was provided. As with any ongoing litigation, we cannot comment further on the lawsuit.”
In March 2022, the Wisconsin Veterans Home at Union Grove was cited for failing to investigate reports of abuse to patients, not giving residents regular showers, and issues involving infection control and unsanitary conditions, according to Wisconsin Department of Health Services records. The abuse-related violation involved two cases, one in which a nursing aide at Union Grove flipped over a resident to clean his genital area in January 2022, ignoring instructions on how to carefully handle the patient or calling for a second aide as required. The aide later told an inspector, “I just went ahead and wiped (the resident) and finished.” The aide added the resident doesn’t “like me and I don’t like (the resident).”
Mary Kolar, head of the Wisconsin Department of Veterans Affairs, which oversees state veterans homes, blamed the problems at Union Grove on a lack of staff and frequent changes in leadership: “Union Grove is a challenge. We are still changing the culture. There needs to be a greater focus, as evidenced by the citations, on the requirements of a skilled nursing facility.”
If you or a family member received inadequate, negligent, or abusive care while a resident of a veterans home in Wisconsin or in another U.S. state, you should promptly contact a Wisconsin medical malpractice lawyer, or a local medical malpractice lawyer in your U.S. state, who may investigate your veterans home malpractice claim for you and represent you or your family member in a claim against a veterans home, if appropriate.
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